After our last Campaign, I became very interested in the use of dice as multipliers (i.e. D6 X D8) rather than additives (i.e. D6 + D8). I wanted to submit the idea of using multipliers for the use of skills in the game. To the right I have a multiplication chart that has been broken down into 6 categories based on difficulty level (i.e. Easy, Average, Extreme, Incredible, Near Impossible, and Impossible). This chart serves a tool for the Game Master to apply a difficulty rating to a task or feat. All skills/feats are accomplished by rolling two dice. Each represent two attributes or factors that control the skill or feat. For example, let us look at using the skill of picking locks. The two factors that control picking a lock are the attribute "Control" and the amount of learning put into the skill (i.e. Skill Level). Both of these factors are turned into a die. Let's assume that the character has a 6 on control (D6) and a Picking Locks skill level of Expert (D10). So, when this character wish to perform a feat of Picking a lock he must roll a D6 and D10 and multiply them together. Referring to the chart, you might notice that he has a fairly good chance of succeeding if it is an Extremely Difficult lock (possibly against a tough combination lock); and actually has a slim chance of picking an Incredibly Difficult lock (possibly a lock that has fail-safe mechanisms that render the lock frozen if tampered). So gameplay might proceed as follows: Hank, an Expert Thief with a Control attribute of 6, needs to crack the lock on a common combination lock safe that the characters have found hidden behind a family portrait. Inside he knows there are important documents that will provide evidence of the party's innocence in a framed murder. He decides to crack the safe (normally an Average difficulty rating of about 20%, meaning that an Expert would only fail 20% of the time), BUT a klutzy member of the party trips an alarm! The Game Master declares that the lock must be picked in the next 20 seconds in order to give the players enough time to get away without getting caught. This added stress takes it from an Average Difficulty rating to an Extremely difficult rating of 45%! That gives Hank only a 8 out of 60 chance of success...rather than the previous 26 out of 60. Hank's player rolls a 5 and a 10, success! The safe opens in just the nick of time. Documents are in hand and the party flees the scene before any security can apprehend them.
Here is a list of the Fifteen combination of multipliers and how they compete against the levels of difficulty:
D4 x D4: Moderate success with low Average tasks and feats (~19% success rating)
D4 x D6: Performs Average tasks at a Fair level (38%); but cannot perform Extreme tasks/feats
D4 x D8: Fair level against Average feats; a Slim chance (~3%) of success with low Extreme feats
D6 x D6: High level of Difficulty with Extreme feats (~8%); Performs Average feats with ease
D4 x D10: Moderate to High level of difficulty with Extreme feats/tasks (10%)
D6 x D8: Moderate level of difficulty with Extreme feats/tasks (~17%)
D4 x D12: (Same as above, roughly = to D6 x D8)
D6 x D10: Fairly successful with Extreme feats (~25%); Slim success with Incredible feats (~5%)
D8 x D8: (Same as above, roughly = to D6 x D10)
D6 x D12: Moderate to High difficultly with Incredible feats (~10%); Very Slim success with Near Impossible feats (1%)
D8 x D10: Moderate difficulty with most Incredible feats (~13%); Slim success with Near Impossible feats (4%)
D8 x D12: High level of difficulty with Near Impossible feats and tasks (~8%)
D10 x D10: Moderate to High level of difficulty with Near Impossible feats (~10%); VERY slim chance with Impossible feats (1%)
D10 x D12: Moderate difficulty with Near Impossible feats (~16%); Slim chance with Impossible feats (~3%)
D12 x D12: Fairly successful with Near Impossible feats, while High degree of difficulty with Impossible feats (~8%)!
NOTE: If a player rolls the exact difficulty rating, it is still successful. But, is still subject to interpretation of the GM. For example, if Hank in the above example rolled a 9 and a 5, he still would succeed at cracking the safe. BUT, the GM might say that one of his tools broke in the haste or was left behind.
Also, if a certain feat can only be applied to ONE factor, such as a feat of Strength (i.e. lifting a car off your team mate) that factor is used for both dice. So a Strength of 6 would yield a roll of D6 x D6.
A roll of a 1 is ALWAYS a failure, obviously. The GM can interpret the results of a roll of a 1 (possible applying a save versus Luck)
3 comments:
Well the original way the System handles Skills was multiplying
SKILL X TOOL (or weapon)
..because Control is already included in the Skill, and it makes it less tedious to have to refer to a list of attributes that correspond to each task. So the standard is:
CHARACTER X OBJECT
..because the characters amplify the object, and the object amplifies the character
Actually, we have assumed that Control is already included in the Skill BUT we have never truly shown how. What I have found is that the attributes we created are really being under-used. They don't seem to mean much. The true power in the game is what's on Batman's tool belt AND how well he can use them. This is a trap. This is the reason for other systems in creating annuls just to list all the possible skills of a character. In character generation (Kregg can vouch for this) the LONGEST and MOST tedious part was selecting skills and equipment. Why? It was NOT because there were too many to choose from, although that did play a part for a NOVICE character-maker. But for the true MASTER Character-generators, like yours truly and Kregg, esq. the reason was that you were LIMITED on the number you could choose. Therefore which ones would you really use; and which ones could you do without; and which ones were you going to miss, but later find out that you SHOULD have selected???
The old systems had no way of allowing you to perform a skill that you had no training in. So you better make sure that it was on your character sheet. "Oops! Sorry, your character according to the sheet had no formal or informal potty-training, so he messes himself right there on the battlefield as he tries to unsheathe is level 12 Bastard Sword with Master-like finesse (which IS on the Character sheet!)"
From what Ron has told me, using two dice and multiplying them together provides the most comparable to real life. Therefore, where we get the two dice does not change this outcome. Having said this, dice represent the presence of randomness or the range of a character's skill (the presence of human error). A tool does not have randomness; it doesn't have a range of error (or if there is, it is very minute, almost negligible); rather, it is when a human applies the tool that there is randomness and error. When we roll, we are not usually seeing if the tool does its job correctly, although this SOMETIMES happens, such as when a tool or piece of an object that we are using BREAKS! In this case, the tool either works or it doesn't. There is no range, as found on a die. What I believe the two dice represent are a measure of APTITUDE and the application of EXPERIENCE with a given tool (or situation). Game terms: APTITUDE X EXPERIENCE.
Let me provide and example. When using a weapon, we are not rolling the SWORD as a die multiplied by our SKILL at using the sword. Rather, the skill at using that sword and the sword is ONE die. This represents the hours of training and practice using this weapon. This die represents both, training AND the weapon. This die is the WEAPON die.
The other die represents the character's natural, innate ability in combat. It represents the character's ability to evade attacks, where to place an attack, the movement of body, and judgment in combat. This is universal to all melee combat. This is a character's APTITUDE in Combat, or a COMBAT die.
So in summary, skills are a matter of APTITUDE X SKILL/EXPERIENCE. These are what are truly random in real life, so they should be what are used in the game.
This is not just with combat, but ALL skills. When a tool or object is involved, we do not use the tool or object directly, rather we use the character's ability to use that tool. Then we multiply this by the character's natural ability to solve problems and handle pressure (both not really LEARNED traits), this is the APTITUDE. If the tools provide a bonus, it should be a set number, thus better representing the tool's trait of being relatively constant. (The key always will unlock the lock, unless it is not put in the keyhole correctly. But this is not the error of the key; it is the error of the operator of the key)
Thoughts?
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