Cyno's Role-Play: Supplements: PowerQuest: Game Master Guide: Task Determination Rolls

Cyno's Role-Play: Supplements: PowerQuest: Game Master Guide

Task Determination Rolls

During games, players will invariably attempt to perform mental, physical, Power Wielding, or other tasks and actions that carry with them risks, and the possibility of failure. To add to the realism of the game, PowerQuest uses a simple but effective form of dice roll to determine whether an action attempt is successful or not. This adds a random element, biased by the character's Traits and Talents, and opposing factors, either toward success or failure.

The following are descriptions of these methods of determination, and the ways in which they may be applied.

Dice Rolls

Actions incorporating a possibility of failure, such as jumping across a chasm, climbing treacherous mountains, attacking an opponent, Power Wielding, and other such activities, must be analyzed according to the following steps:

(1) The Game Master sums the Modifiers arising from Traits and Talents, that tend to bias the character's attempt toward success; in the case of a mountain climber, the Trait AGL, and the Talent of Climbing would be valid, for example.

(2) The Game Master sums the Modifiers arising from opposing factors, that tend to bias the character's attempt toward failure; in the case of a mountain climber, the GM might assign a negative Modifier due to high winds...in the case of bribing, intimidating, interrogating or seducing a character, that character's WIL would be a negative Modifier.

(3) The Game Master takes the sum of Positive Modifiers, and subtracts the sum of the Negative Modifiers from it. The resulting number is known as the Success Range Mark, or Success Range for short. If the Success Range Mark is a negative value, success is impossible under the conditions presented. If the Success Range Mark is 100 or higher, success is certain.

(4) The Game Master rolls 1d100 (using an electronic dice roller program, or two ten-sided dies). If the resulting value is equal to, or less than the Success Range Mark, the task attempt is successful. If it is greater than the Success Range Mark, the attempt fails.

(5) Appropriate events occur based on the success or failure of the attempt.

NOTE: Task Determination Rolls when Power Wielding occurs, are only required when Power is used directly against another lifeform, such as in the case of mental coercion, transformation, or other ways in which Power directly affects the target, rather than for example, opening a pit beneath the target, creating a poisonous gas, summoning a monster, or creating a Wall or Ray of fire, cold, or other such natural force that Power may be converted to.