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Paladin Roleplaying Review: Antique Bronze (Bonus: Slyph & Slate)

We’ve had a dice-heavy couple of weeks – but damn if I don’t still love ’em! This week, we’re checking out a completely new company, for this blog – Paladin Roleplaying!

I stumbled onto these guys by complete accident – seeing one of their products listed on Amazon. I contacted Neil and asked him for recommendations, his favorite sets currently offered, and snagged them all for a nice highlight review for you guys. There are hundreds of dice companies popping up all over the place, so it’s important you know who you’re investing your time and money into – and by the end of this review, i hope you’ll feel as comfortable as I do with Paladin dice. Let’s jump right in!

Antique Bronze

We’ll start out looking at one of their metal dice offerings – these dice share a lot in common with Dragonsteel Dice and Ancient Dragon Dice – but such is the nature of these things. These companies have boiled down their options to what works and is most profitable, so they can continue to grow and develop new products. But we’ll look into how these dice are a little different in the review.

Storage

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Love it or hate it, these pressed metal tins are going to be a common sight moving forward in the Dice world. I think that Paladin has done a great job utilizing their case, however. The branding is small and well designed, the contrast for the brand-name and icon are lovely, and the entire tin mirrors the color of the Ancient Bronze Dice – I love this idea!

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It may seem like a problem that would never arise, but as these dice become more and more affordable and popular, people will buy more – from possibly different companies. I praised Darksilver Forge for it before, and I’ll do it again here – When possible, every company should try to make the material of the tin reflect the dice inside. It’s aesthetically pleasing as well as wonderful for storing and finding a particular set you’re looking for.

Color

As far back as my  Legendary Copper review – I’ve made it clear that I am not a die-hard fan of warm colors. But my word – I’m growing to love these warm metals!

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The rustic looking worn bronze look is absolutely wonderful. The dice are gently distressed, giving them that gorgeous antique luster one would expect from an old statue. The finish is not matte, nor is it polished, it’s actually a “dry brush” look that works very well.

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In the hand, they feel smooth and hefty but have a very slight texture to the faces of the die – like wood-grain or raw metal – very interesting and appreciated.

Weight and Cut

The cut of these dice are quite similar, as state above, to offerings from Darksilver Forge and DnDice.UK – but throwing them onto the scale – I was a little surprised!

This is, strangely enough, the heaviest d20 we’ve ever reviewed on this blog, weighing in at a very hefty 1.10oz (a Chessex brand set of plastic dice weighs 0.9oz). Be prepared for the heft! Look at my reviews for Dice Trays PLEASE – lest you destroy your tabletop rolling these brutes!

Style

Bonus points here, ladies and gents. These dice have slightly increased number sizes! Finally!

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Paladin has kept the angular non-rolled edges I love so much, tacked on a beautiful brushed metal finish, and with the added size and depth of the numbers – these may be my future go-to dice for any game with a steampunk vibe. Seeing these breaks from other companies in a similar value/style makes me quite happy – I hope they maintain this level of character in all of their dice!

Slyph and Slate: Plastic With Flair

Along with the set of Ancient Bronze dice, I picked up two sets of plastic polys from Paladin. Lotta Ps in that sentence. These struck me, at the time, for being a little different from anything else I owned – and when I broadcast a Periscope rolling these around, some of my fans went nuts! So here we are: the Slyph and Slate dice sets – for your viewing pleasure.

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Note: the letters are quite deep in the surface of the die, and each of them seem to be tumbled a little less than Wizkids or other stylized dice.

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The smokey swirls of blue, purple, white, and grey make for a gorgeous figure on every single die. But Slate isn’t to be out-done.

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The light that catches these dice are hard to photograph – but you can see the translucence woven through the deeper grey colors – a striking contrast that is easy to overlook at arm’s length. These dice are surprisingly gorgeous – which is the best kind, in my opinion!

Final Thoughts

Overall, I’m quite pleased with Paladin Roleplay – the dice are high quality, packaging was great, delivery was fast as hell. There is apparent care in the color selection and thought put into their metal dice offerings. The designs are very solid, and Paladin dice offers a FREE “VIP Club” membership to anyone who orders from them – they hand out samples, discounts, giveaways, and e-mails about special events: I enjoy seeing that level of interaction with customers.

Sadly, many of you will be dissuaded from these offerings just based on the price (which, I might add, is undercut IMMENSELY by the “free shipping on orders over $40” – meaning these dice themselves are completely competitive in value with every other offering on this blog as of this posting.

Give these a try – and tell Neil I sent you – I can’t wait to see what else Paladin has in store for the future.

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I don’t always advocate rolling, but when I do… be sure you have to Drop the Die.
Review by JB Little, Follow me on twitter for more “useful” information.

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