Difficulty Levels vs. Bonus/Penalty Dice

(Back to Bonus Dice and Penalty Dice)

In the majority of cases, only one person, usually the player, makes a skill roll. Any factors that provide an advantage or disadvantage for the investigator should be factored into the difficulty level set by the Keeper. Bonus Dice and Penalty Dice may be awarded in conjunction with difficulty levels, at the Keeper's discretion, but doing so should be the exception rather than the rule.

in the case of an opposed roll (wherein both sides are rolling in opposition to one another, as in melee combat) difficulty levels are never set. The level of success achieved by one side is, in effect, the level of difficulty that the other side must compete against. If there are factors that provide a distinct advantage or disadvantage for one of the characters involved, the Keeper should grant a Bonus die or Penalty die to that player.

Skill rolls: Set level of difficulty

Opposed rolls: Award Bonus dice or Penalty dice

''An evil cultist is attempting to push a door open as Harvey pushes it closed from the other side. This calls for a STR or SIZ roll. The Keeper lacks statistics for the cultist and must set an appropriate difficulty level. They decide that the cultist's STR and SIZ would both be 50 and 89, requiring Harvey to make a roll of Hard difficulty level to push the door closed. The Keeper allows Harvey to choose whether to use his STR or his SIZ (he uses his SIZ of course, it is much higher). If he fails, he might be able to push the roll by throwing himself recklessly against the door, but only at the risk of taking physical damage should he fail.''

''If the cultist is a key non-player character (with STR 80 and SIZ 65), the Keeper may feel that it would be more fun to have both sides make an opposed roll. Harvey rolls 57 against his SIZ of 80, giving him a Regular success. The Keeper rolls 15, which is an Extreme success for the cultist's STR. Harvey is knocked back, with no chance of pushing the roll.''