Dice

The game uses a dice set consisting of a 20, 12, 10, 8, 6, and 4-sided dice. These dice are represented by "d" and the number of sides on the dice in the rules (i.e., a twenty-sided dice is d20 and a six-sided dice is d6 if you need to roll more than one die it will show as 2d20 for 2 twenty sided dice or 4d6 for four six sided dice). The most used die in the game is the d20. It is used for skill checks, to hit rolls, and opposed rolls, among others. The other dice are commonly used to determine the amount of damage caused by an attack or the severity of other conditions.

Skill Checks/To-Hit Rolls

When rolling a d20 for a to hit or skill check, the person rolling is successful when their result is equal to or higher than the Difficulty Class (DC) of the action as determined by the GM (i.e., The DC of an attack is 15 and the player rolls a 16 so they are successful. Had they rolled a 14 or below the attack would be unsuccessful). During some situations there may be modifiers that give you Advantage or Disadvantage to your d20 roll. The table below lays out the possible results of a d20 roll.

Advantage (ADV)

Favorable conditions or actions taken can result in the GM declaring that you have Advantage on your d20 to hit or skill check roll. With Advantage, you roll 2d20 dice and take the higher of the two rolls as your result (e.g., Jonas attacks a troll from behind and the GM rules he has Advantage on a DC 12 to hit. Jonas rolls 2d20 and gets a 5 and 14 on his rolls. He takes the 14 and that beats the DC, so he hits the troll).

Disadvantage (DIS)

Unfavorable conditions or actions taken can result in the GM declaring that you have Disadvantage on your d20 to hit or skill check roll. With Disadvantage, you roll 2d20 dice and take the lower of the two rolls as your result (e.g., Jonas is attacking a dire wolf while standing on a frozen lake and the GM rules he has Disadvantage on a DC 10 to hit. Jonas rolls 2d20 and gets a 4 and 16 on his rolls. He takes the 4 and that does not beat the DC, so he misses the wolf).

Cinematic Advantage

During an encounter, players can describe something heroic, dashing, complicated, or otherwise highly cinematic for their action. The GM will come up with an appropriate skill check DC and if the player succeeds on the skill check they gain Cinematic Advantage on their upcoming roll. If the player fails the skill check, they are given Disadvantage on their upcoming roll or some other equally disastrous outcome the GM comes up with. The player has already described the amazing thing that will happen if they succeed, and the GM should provide appropriate details of what happens when they fail as well. The player has the choice to attempt to make the skill roll for Cinematic Advantage or not based on the knowledge of what will happen on success or failure.

As an example, Laura’s character has entered a barroom in the middle of a brawl and sees her friend is about to be attacked by three thugs. She declares that her character will jump on the nearest table, grab the chandelier, and swing into the gang of thugs to knock them down as a group. This is pretty cinematic, so the GM states that Laura must make a DC12 Feats of Agility skill check. If she makes it, she has Advantage on her to hit roll to swing into the thugs (and possibly another ADV if her character is also ruled as surprising the thugs with her attack) and if she fails the skill check she will fall to the floor in front of the thugs and have Disadvantage on her next roll. Alternately, the GM could say that instead of Disadvantage on a failure, her character will slip and hit the table behind the thugs so hard that she loses her action next round. With that information in mind, Laura can now choose to attempt the skill roll to gain Cinematic Advantage or deem the risk of failure to be too high and change her action to a standard action or attack.

Additional Advantage/Disadvantage Rules

If multiple situations occur that provide Advantage or Disadvantage you can stack the rolls up to two Advantage or Disadvantage dice (e.g., Karl attacks a cultist from behind and describes a maneuver that grants him cinematic advantage. For his roll, Karl used 3d20 and takes the highest number rolled as his to hit for the attack one die for cinematic advantage and one die for regular advantage for attacking from behind). If you have a situation that provides Advantage and Disadvantage, they cancel each other out and neither is applied to the roll (e.g., Karl attacks a cultist from behind which gives him Advantage, but he has to wade through mud to get to them which gives him Disadvantage, so they cancel each other out and Karl rolls a normal attack roll.

Opposed Rolls

d20 roll from both sides, highest roll wins, bonuses and penalties can apply. Examples of opposed rolls are listed throughout the rulebook.

Critical Success and Failure

Critical Success and Critical Failure are outlined in the Combat section of the rules.