Damage roll

A damage roll is an action taken behind the scenes in NWN2. When you go to attack an enemy, first an attack roll would be done. Next, the damage roll is done. In D&D, players would roll their own set of polyhedron die (a type of special die used mainly for D&D gaming) in order to figure out how much damage was actually done after they have found out that their attack will indeed hit. In NWN2, all of this is done in seconds, whereas it may take a D&D player nearly half a minute or more, depending on the amount of math involved, to complete the necessary rolling and mathematical actions required to properly find the amount of damage inflicted on their enemy.

How It Works
When a damage roll is undertaken in NWN2, the game figures out what type of dice must be rolled. This is based on your strength, weapon, feats, etc. Once this has been tallied there will be a damage range for a normal, basic attack. The game will then choose a random number in between those two numbers. For example, it ends up coming out between 17 and 35. So, you could do anywhere between 17-35 damage (modified by resistances, feats, etc) on a basic, non-critical attack. In D&D it would most likely be limited to the dice in front of the player. However, in a computer, it is indeed possible to roll a 37-sided dice if there is a need to do so. The computer (or game, however you look at it) then "rolls" the "dice" and picks a random number between the top and bottom number on the "dice". You'll end up with a number that could still change based on resistances, magical effects, etc.

The Language of the Die
Indeed, there are acronyms for explaining which dice to roll and how many. Look at the example below to see how it works.

You are told to roll 2d20.

-The 2 refers to how many die are being rolled. So, from the example, you would pick up and roll 2 dice.

-The d part refers to the word "dice". So, you know what you're picking up 2 of.

-The 20 refers to the type of die being rolled. So, you would roll 20-sided die.

In the example above, you would then pick up and roll two twenty-sided dice.

How It Is Done In NWN2
In NWN2, as explained above, it is all done with the computer picking a random number. You do not need to cast the die yourself, now, the computer will do it for you!