Skill Resolution

Skill Success Roll: When a player has his character attempt to use a skill in a situation in which he or she might fail, the GM will ask the player to roll 1d20 and tell the player any modifiers that must be applied to the result. The result of the die roll, as modified, determines whether or not the character succeeds in using the skill. For a skill known at the Basic Familiarity level, the final result must be 16 or greater. For a skill known at the Trained level, the final result must be 13 or greater. For a skill known at the Skilled level, the final result must be 10 or greater. For a skill known at the Expert level, the final result must be 7 or greater. For a skill known at the Master level, the final result must be 4 or greater.

Modifiers: The GM may assign a modifier to the Skill Success Roll. A modifier may be of any appropriate amount, up or down, depending on the circumstances. For example, a magic sword may give a bonus in combat; scaling a cliff is harder without the right equipment; casting a powerful spell is much harder than casting a simple spell; being wounded might mean a penalty to most actions; etc. While the GM is free to assign modifiers as needed, here are some suggested modifiers:

 TASK COMPLEXITY    OTHER MODIFIERS
 Simple.......+4    Extra Time Taken..........................+2
 Easy.........+2    Frequently Performed Task.................+2
 Average.......0    Never Done This Before....................-1
 Hard.........-2    Wounded (less than 75% hits remaining)....-2
 Difficult....-4    Wounded (less than 50% hits remaining)....-4
 Daunting.....-7    Wounded (less than 25% hits remaining)....-6
 Nearly             Ill.......................................-3
 Impossible..-10    Very Ill..................................-6

Skill Versus Skill: If two characters pit their skills against each other (e.g. Sword attack vs Shield parry), the character who makes his/her skill roll by the greatest amount succeeds.

No Skill: Players will often have their characters attempt to do something for which they do not have a skill. If the GM determines that a Skill Success Roll is needed, the final result must be 18 or higher.

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Copyright © 2008 Randall Stukey