One Roll: The Check
Every uncertain thing in this game resolves the same way. Roll d20, add your modifier, compare to a DC. What makes it interesting is that you are not asking did it work — you are asking how much. The full text is in @Missing file.
The four degrees
| Outcome | Condition |
|---|---|
| Critical success | Beat the DC by 10 or more |
| Success | Meet or beat the DC |
| Failure | Below the DC |
| Critical failure | Below the DC by 10 or more |
A natural 20 shifts your result one step better; a natural 1 shifts it one step worse. That is not the same as an automatic critical — a natural 20 that still misses the DC is an ordinary success, and a natural 1 on a check you smashed is still just a success.
Where DCs come from
Simple DCs by rank: untrained 10, trained 15, expert 20, master 30, legendary 40. Level-based DCs run 14 at level 0 up to 40 at level 20, adjusted by ±2, ±5, or ±10 for difficulty and rarity. The GM announces DCs when the rules make them public and keeps them quiet when they don't.
Bonuses do not pile up
There are three types, and each type applies only once — the highest. Circumstance bonuses come from the situation: cover, @Missing file, @Missing file. Status bonuses come from effects on you: a spell, an aura. Item bonuses come from gear: runes, tools, armor. Penalties work the same way by type. This is why stacking buffs from three casters mostly wastes two of them, and why a +1 weapon rune matters more than it looks.
Saves and secret checks
Fortitude, Reflex, and Will are checks like any other, and damaging effects use the basic save ladder: critical success takes nothing, success half, failure full, critical failure double.
Some checks carry the secret trait — @Missing file, Seek, Sense Motive, Sneak. The GM rolls those, so you learn what your character learns rather than reading the die.
Hero Points
You start each session with 1 Hero Point, up to 3. Spend one to reroll a check you just made, taking the new result even if it is worse. Spend all of them to cheat death outright. Details in @Missing file.
When not to roll
The best check is the one the fiction makes unnecessary. Describe what you actually do. If the plan removes the uncertainty or the consequence, there is nothing to roll, and this GM will say so.