Gemstone and crystal polyhedral dice are investments. Unlike plastic dice that you can toss in a bag without a second thought, your natural stone, K9 crystal, and glass dice deserve a little care to maintain their beauty and rolling quality for years to come. This guide covers everything you need to know about cleaning, storing, and protecting your premium DND dice.
By Gideon Vance — longtime Dungeon Master and gemstone dice collector writing on dice materials, fairness, and play for EpicWinDND. Last reviewed June 2026.
Understanding Your Dice Material
Different materials require different approaches. Before you clean or store your dice, know what you're working with:
- Natural gemstone dice (bloodstone, tiger's eye, amethyst, lapis lazuli) — real mineral material that can be sensitive to certain chemicals and temperature changes
- K9 crystal and optical glass dice — highly durable but prone to chipping at corners if dropped on hard surfaces
- Cat's eye stone dice — synthetic glass composite, more forgiving than natural stone but still benefits from careful handling
- Resin dice — most durable of the premium materials, but can yellow over time with UV exposure
- Metal dice — most resilient, but can scratch softer surfaces and other dice
The care instructions below apply primarily to natural stone and crystal dice. Resin and metal dice are more forgiving and need only the basic cleaning steps.
How to Clean Your Gemstone Dice
Daily Cleaning (After Every Session)
After a gaming session, your dice have picked up natural oils from your hands, potentially some food residue, and dust. A quick clean keeps them looking their best:
- Dampen a soft microfibre cloth with plain water
- Gently wipe each die individually
- Dry immediately with a second dry cloth — never leave gemstone dice wet
- Allow to air dry completely before storing
Deep Cleaning (Monthly)
For a more thorough clean, particularly for natural stone dice that have become dull:
- Fill a small bowl with lukewarm water and one drop of mild dish soap
- Gently agitate each die in the water for 10-15 seconds
- Rinse under cool running water
- Pat dry with a soft cloth and air dry on a clean towel
Never use: bleach, ammonia, alcohol-based cleaners, ultrasonic cleaners, or hot water on natural gemstone dice. These can strip surface treatments, cause micro-fractures, or damage the mineral structure.
Restoring Shine to Natural Stone Dice
If your natural stone dice have lost their polish over time, a tiny amount of mineral oil on a soft cloth — buffed gently across the surface — can restore their lustre. This works particularly well for bloodstone, tiger's eye, and jade varieties. Use sparingly and buff away any excess.
How to Store Your Dice
What to Use
The best storage for gemstone and crystal dice:
- Individual velvet or felt pouches — prevents dice from knocking against each other
- Compartmented dice boxes — rigid protection with separated slots for each die
- Foam-lined display cases — for collections you want to show and protect simultaneously
What to Avoid
Common storage mistakes that damage premium dice:
- Loose in a bag with metal dice — metal is harder than crystal and gemstone, and will scratch them over time
- Direct sunlight for long periods — UV exposure fades some natural stones and yellows resin over months
- Extreme temperature changes — rapid thermal shifts can cause micro-fractures in natural stone. Don't leave dice in a hot car.
- Stacking without padding — crystal and gemstone dice are hard enough to chip each other's corners
Protecting Your Dice During Play
A dice tray is non-negotiable if you're rolling premium polyhedral dice. A hard roll onto a wooden table can chip a corner off even a quality K9 crystal die. The tray also keeps the dice contained and makes numbers easier to read — they stop against the felt walls rather than skidding off the table entirely.
Rolling on character sheets and books is better than bare table, but not as protective as a dedicated tray. If you're serious about your gemstone investment, a rolling tray is a small, worthwhile addition.
Reading Your Dice: Number Legibility
One overlooked aspect of crystal and gemstone dice care is maintaining number legibility. The engraved numbers on premium dice are filled with paint or metallic ink, which can fade or chip if cleaned too aggressively. A few tips:
- Use only soft cloths — never abrasive paper towels or kitchen scrubbers
- Don't soak the dice for extended periods; the ink fill can absorb water and lift
- If numerals start fading, a dice ink refill pen (available from hobby suppliers) can restore them
Dice That Need Extra Care
Labradorite dice: The labradorescence that makes these dice spectacular comes from internal light scattering between mineral layers. Harsh chemicals can affect the surface finish. Stick to water only, no soap.
Lapis lazuli dice: Lapis is relatively soft (Mohs 5-6) and porous. Avoid prolonged water exposure and never use acidic cleaners — the pyrite flecks that give lapis its characteristic gold sparkle can oxidise.
Amethyst dice: Natural amethyst can fade with extended direct sunlight exposure. Store away from windows.
K9 crystal dice: More forgiving than natural stone, but the corners are the vulnerability. A chip on a crystal die is visually obvious. Always use a rolling tray and store in a compartmented box rather than loose in a pouch.
Travelling with Your Dice
If you bring your dice to game nights away from home, transport adds another risk layer. A few practical steps:
- Use a hard shell case for crystal and stone dice during transport — soft pouches compress and allow dice to knock together under pressure in a bag
- Separate by material — metal dice in one compartment, stone and crystal in another
- Don't mix dice sets in transit — the K9 crystal from one set is hard enough to chip the natural stone from another
A small foam-lined tin or pill organiser works well for transporting a single 7-piece set safely. Compact, rigid, and cheap — better than most dice-branded travel cases for actual protection.
When to Retire a Die
Some damage affects rolling fairness, not just appearance. A significant chip on a face changes the geometry of that face, which can theoretically bias rolls toward that number. In practice, the effect is minimal for minor chips — but if a die has lost a visible chunk of a face, it's time to retire it to display duty and replace it for active play.
Display is genuinely a good option for damaged premium dice. A chipped amethyst D20 still looks beautiful in a small glass dish or on a shelf alongside your character sheets and campaign mementos. The dice don't stop being meaningful just because they're no longer rolling.
Our Crystal Series and Jade Series are available as full 7-piece replacement sets. If one die in your set gets damaged, it's worth picking up a matching replacement rather than mixing materials mid-campaign.
Final Thoughts
The care routine for quality polyhedral dice is simple: wipe clean after sessions, store separated, roll on a tray, keep away from harsh chemicals and prolonged sunlight. That's genuinely all it takes to keep gemstone and crystal dice in excellent condition for years.
Dice that are cared for properly become campaign artefacts. The amethyst set that survived your wizard's arc from level 1 to 20 carries genuine history. The labradorite D20 that rolled the natural 20 that ended a boss fight — that die deserves a proper home. Five minutes of care after each session is a small investment against losing something genuinely irreplaceable. Take care of them.
Hardness here refers to the Mohs scratch-resistance scale used by mineralogists. See the reference page for the underlying source material.
Standard D&D polyhedral sets have a defined geometry going back to the 1970s. See the reference page for the underlying source material.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you wash gemstone dice with water?
Wipe with a slightly damp cloth — never submerge. Many natural stones (especially porous ones like lapis lazuli or kambaba jasper) absorb water, which can dull color and degrade polish over time.
What surface is safest for rolling gemstone dice?
A felt or rubber-lined dice tray. Hardwood and stone tabletops cause the corner chipping that destroys gemstone dice — especially the sharp edges of the D4. A $10 tray protects a $50 set indefinitely.
How do you store gemstone dice to prevent chips?
Use a soft fabric pouch or felt-lined compartment, and never store them with metal dice. The most common damage isn't from rolling — it's from dice rattling against each other in a loose bag during transit.
Do crystal dice scratch each other?
K9 crystal dice can develop fine surface scratches if stored loose together over time. They don't chip each other under normal handling, but a felt-lined compartment keeps the optical clarity intact for years.
When should you stop using a gemstone die?
Retire any die with a visible crack at a corner — cracks spread and an unbalanced die will roll skewed results. Surface scratches and slight color variation are cosmetic and don't affect rolling; replace only when structural integrity is compromised.