1.3. Dice Mechanics

Veteran Note: New terms and mechanics

This chapter discusses mechanics that may be partially or wholly different from what you've seen before. If you recognize a term below, you may still want to skim the section to learn what is different here in The Kleptonomicon.

Tests

While adventuring, the GM will ask you to perform a "Test". When this happens, you will roll the dice then apply some alterations to the result on the die to determine your Score for the Test.

For most Tests, you will be rolling a d10 and adding a Modifier to determine your Score. The Ability or the GM will specify which Modifier to use from your Character Sheet. At times you will also perform other modifications to the roll before determining your Score, such as rolling with an "Advantage" or a "Disadvantage" (described later in this chapter.)

Your final Score of a Test will determine how well your character performed the task at hand. The term 'Score' will always refer to the final result of the Test (after applying all Modifiers, Advantages, Disadvantages.) If the GM ever asks for your Score, know that they want the final result instead of the raw value shown on the dice.

The term "Score" may also appear alongside the name of the Modifier. For example, a "Sneaking Score" or a "History Score," means you may need to perform a Test using your Sneaking or History Modifier, respectively, to determine your Score. If you are new to the game, don't be afraid to ask for help in figuring out what you need for each Test.

Modifiers

A Modifier, (sometimes called a "Mod" for short), is a fixed value added to or subtracted from the number on the dice. The shorthand for a Modifier is a '+' or '-' followed by a number.

On your Character Sheet, you will find named Modifiers. For these Modifiers, you will always roll a d10, then add the Modifier to it.

When a Modifier follows the Dice Shorthand, you will need to roll the dice specified, then add the Modifier to the sum of the dice.

If you are unsure what to roll, ask your GM or another experienced player. They will be happy to help you figure it out.

Examples

Roll a "Focus Save".
- #Alice looks up the Modifier on her Character Sheet named "Focus Save". The Modifier is a +1.
- #Alice roll a 10-sided die. She got an 8. #Alice adds her Focus Save Modifier of +1 to her 10-sided die's result to get 9.
- #Alice's final Focus Save sum is 9.
Roll 2d12 +3
- #Alice rolls 2 of the 12-sided dice. The sum of the dice ends up being 10.
- #Alice adds the Modifier of '+3' to get the value 13.
- #Alice's final sum is 13.

Critical Rolls

When you roll a 10 on the die (often labeled as 0) you have achieved a "Critical Roll". When you get a Critical Roll, you will need to flip a coin to determine if it counts as a Critical Success or a Failing Score. If you do not have a coin, you can roll again, treating an odd result as a Critical Failure and an even result as a Critical Success.

If you roll a Critical Success, your Score counts as being the bests it could be, regardless of your Modifier for the roll. It's still possible to fall short of accomplishing what you intended, but the GM will grant you a positive side effect (even if it's information or a temporary boost to your next Test.) Similarly, if you roll a Critical Failure, your Score counts as being the lowest it could possibly be, regardless of your Modifier for the roll. A Critical Failure means you will experience a negative side effect, even if you accomplished the task (like getting injured or experiencing a setback of some kind.)

Note: The d10ish Die

If you do not like having to flip a coin for each Critical Roll, you can instead use a "d10ish" die. The die is a 20-sided die that has the values '1' through '9' repeated twice while there is one '0' and one '10' face. Rolling the '0' or the '10' results in a Critical Failure or a Critical Success, respectively.

Below is a histogram depicting the faces of the die to help show that most numbers have a 10% chance, except '0' and '10', which have a 5% chance:

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

You can also roll a d10ish die using this free website: http://d10ish.com
If you have a 3D printer, a free file is available for the d10ish here: https://makerworld.com/en/models/861559-d10ish-20-sided-d10-but-5-crits

Advantage and Disadvantage

Some circumstances will place you at an Advantage or a Disadvantage while adventuring, which can improve or hurt, respectively, your odds of success.

Advantage

For each Advantage you have on a Test you will roll an additional d10, keeping track of the highest die result. You will then use the highest die result to calculate the Score of your Test.

Disadvantage

For each Disadvantage you have on a Test you will roll an additional d10, keeping track of the lowest die result. You will then use the lowest die result to calculate the Score of your Test.

Canceling Out

When you have both Advantages and Disadvantages, they cancel each-other out at a rate of one-to-one. After canceling, you will then cap the total number of Advantages or Disadvantages remaining at 2 (to help save time.) This means you will at-most need 3 or fewer 10-sided dice for any one Test.

Resolving Critical Rolls

If you roll a Critical Roll as one of the dice in an Advantage or Disadvantage roll, resolve the Critical Roll into a Critical Success or Failing Score before figuring out what the highest or lowest die is. This may mean you can avoid a Critical Failure if you are rolling with Advantage and get a different, better result. It also means you may miss out on a Critical Success if you are rolling with Disadvantage and get a different, lower result.

Examples

Roll with Advantage.
- #Alice rolls 2d10 (one extra die due to her Advantage) and gets: 4 and 8.
- #Alice discards all but the high die of 8 for the rest of the Test.
- #Alice adds her Modifier, turning the 8 into a 10.
- #Alice's Score for this Test is 10.
Roll with two Disadvantages.
- #Alice rolls 3d10 (two extra dice due to having two Disadvantages) and gets; 6, 4, and 9.
- #Alice discards all but the low die of 4 for the rest of the Test.
- #Alice adds her Modifier to the die result, turning her 4 into a 6.
- #Alice's Score for this Test is 6.
Roll with five Advantages and one Disadvantage.
- #Alice cancels one Advantage with one Disadvantage. #Alice now has four Advantages.
- #Alice caps the number of Advantages at the max of 2 Advantages.
- #Alice rolls 3d10 (three extra dice due to having three Advantages) and gets: 1, 4, and 8.
- #Alice discards all but the high die of 8 for the rest of the Test.
- #Alice adds her Modifier to the die result, turning her 8 into a 10.
- #Alice's Score for this Test is 10.

When you get a Critical Roll while you have an Advantage or Disadvantage, you will need to resolve the Critical Roll before determining the high or low result. Below is an example demonstrating this:

Roll with Advantage
- #Alice rolls 2d10 (one extra die due to her Advantage) and gets: 4 and 10(sometimes written on the die as a '0'.) The 10 is a Critical Roll.
- #Alice flips a coin for the Critical Roll and guesses wrong. The roll is now counted as a 0 and a Critical Failure.
- #Alice discards the Critical Failure and uses the 4 as her roll for the rest of the Test.
- #Alice adds her Modifier, turning the 4 into a 5.
- #Alice's Score is 5.

Note: If the above example were with Disadvantage instead of Advantage, the Critical Failure would have been the die chosen and used for the rest of the Test.

Score Ranges

After you perform a Test, you will often compare your Score against Score Ranges to determine the effects of your actions.

The Score Ranges shorthand uses an inclusive range of numbers surrounded by square brackets. The following Score Ranges are among the most common that you will see:

Score Range	Name	Description
[..6]	Low Score	Bad things will likely result.
[7..9]	Mixed Score	You may succeed, but likely with a downside.
[10..]	High Score	You succeed, usually with no downside.

Novice Note: Remembering the Score Ranges

It won't take long to learn these ranges, but an easy way to remember them is by viewing them as grade-school grades. A 'Low Score' of 6 or lower is like a 60% or lower in school, which is a 'D' or 'F'. These are failing grades. A 'Mixed Score' of 7 through 9 is like a 70% to a 90%, which is a 'C' to an 'A' grade; not perfect, thus a "mixed" result. A 'High Score' of 10 or more is like getting 100% or above, which is an 'A+'.

Some Tests will instead refer to a "Passing Score" or a "Failing Score" (or Pass or Fail, respectively.) For such Tests, a Mixed Score or better is a Passing Score. All others are a Failing Score:

Score Range	Name	Description
[..6]	Failing Score	Bad things will likely result.
[7..]	Passing Score	You succeeded. Good things will likely result.

Some Tests will describe explicit Score Ranges other than the standard ones above. Those custom ranges will use with the same square-bracket shorthand used above.

Some Tests may have specific effects for when you get a Critical Roll. The Score Range shorthand for a Critical Failure is a 0 followed by an exclamation mark while a Critical Success is a 10 followed by an exclamation mark:

Score Range	Name	Description
[0!]	Critical Failure	Really bad things will likely result.
[10!]	Critical Success	Really good things will likely result.

Examples

#Alice is performing a Magic Attack. The Ability uses the following Score Ranges:
[..6] Miss. [7..9] 1 damage. [10..] 2 damage. [10!] 4 damage.
- #Alice rolls her Magic Attack Test and get a Score of 8.
- #Alice's Mixed Score (in the range [7..9]) means she deals 1 damage.

Group Tests

Some situations require a group of players to roll together. In these situations you will be performing a Group Test. At the end of the Group Tests, the lowest Score becomes the Score for the entire group. Before the Test ends, however, players that roll well can help other players that did not fare so well.

To make a Group Test, all players involved roll their own Test as normal. Then, based on a player's individual Score, they can sometimes help other players improve their Score:

[7..] Mixed Score. You can give another player an Advantage to their Test.
[10..] High Score. You can give two Advantages out to other Player(s) for their Test(s).

By giving Advantages to other players, you can potentially turn their Fail into a Pass. Remember, at the end of the Group Test the lowest Score becomes the Score for the entire group, so be sure to help other players where you can.

Example

#Alice, #Bob, #Carol, and #David must roll a Sneaking Skill Test as a Group Test.
- All players roll 1d10 and add their Sneaking Skill Modifier to it.
- #Alice got an 8 and #Bob got an 11. #Alice and #Bob succeed.
- #Carol got a 5 and #David got an 6. #Carol and #David have Low Scores.
- #Alice's 8 lets her give out an Advantage to another player. #Alice gives one to #David, turning his 6 into a 7, which is now a Pass.
- #Bob's high result lets him give two Advantages to #Carol, turning #Carol's 5 into a 7, which is a Pass.
- The lowest Score is for the group is a 7. The Group Test results in a Mixed Score.

Contest

A Contest involves two parties performing a head-to-head Test, directly compare their Scores afterward to determine the winner. If one party's Score is higher, that party wins the Contest. If both Scores are a tie, a coin toss determines the winner.

Some Contests will use a Score Range shorthand in their description:

[Win] Takes effect if you get the higher Score in the Contest.
[Lose] Takes effect if you get the lower Score in the Contest.

Next Up: 1.4. Card Mechanics