Rolling on the board
Skills...attributes...all fine and dandy, but how do you use them? Well, that's where the rolling system comes into play. If you have never rolled a single die on the board, don't fret, we'll teach you all you need to know. Which, in all honesty, isn't all that much.
The Ponychan dice roller is a neat little tool that works as follows: Say you want to roll a standard 20-sided die to see if whatever your character is attempting is succesful or not. Just write up your post like you normally would and include this:
[d20]
The board software will automatically generate a random number between 1 and 20 that will then look like this in your post:
|d20 = x|
x will be the random number. Easy, right? Now let's move on to modifiers. If your character is especially skilled (or explicitly unable to perform a certain skill well), you don't need to use fancy mathematics to keep track of your results. Add your bonus or penalty for the skill you want to use when setting up your roll and the software will do the rest. Like so!
[d20+2]
[d20-1]
Which will result in:
|d20 = y|
y, in this case, is the randomly generated number including whatever bonus or penalty you have added. And that's about it, really. Super simple stuff.
The Ponychan dice roller is a neat little tool that works as follows: Say you want to roll a standard 20-sided die to see if whatever your character is attempting is succesful or not. Just write up your post like you normally would and include this:
[d20]
The board software will automatically generate a random number between 1 and 20 that will then look like this in your post:
|d20 = x|
x will be the random number. Easy, right? Now let's move on to modifiers. If your character is especially skilled (or explicitly unable to perform a certain skill well), you don't need to use fancy mathematics to keep track of your results. Add your bonus or penalty for the skill you want to use when setting up your roll and the software will do the rest. Like so!
[d20+2]
[d20-1]
Which will result in:
|d20 = y|
y, in this case, is the randomly generated number including whatever bonus or penalty you have added. And that's about it, really. Super simple stuff.
Rolling in TECC
First of all – you don't actually need to polish your dice for everything you plan to do, especially not if it's something your character is capable of doing by their very nature. If you are a Pegasus, chances are you know how to fly.. If you are a Unicorn, we're fairly certain that you know how to use that appendage on your forehead.
Of course, if it's a part of the character to be a bad flier or caster, you can roll for the most basic things to see if they succeed against the odds you, their creator, put on them, but you don't have to.
We'll be using a standard d20 for skill-based rolling and a d10 for attribute-based rolling.
Of course, if it's a part of the character to be a bad flier or caster, you can roll for the most basic things to see if they succeed against the odds you, their creator, put on them, but you don't have to.
We'll be using a standard d20 for skill-based rolling and a d10 for attribute-based rolling.
attribute-based rolling
So your character found themselves in a situation that just begs for one of your attributes to be put to good use, but no actual skill is needed. There's some heavy lifting to be done, either with your character's body (Strength) or mind (Intelligence), an important detail is just waiting to be noticed (Perception), and so on.
Now, this one may be a bit different from what all y'all DnD folks are used to, but bear with me – it does make sense. With the attribute cap for most characters being 10, we'll be using a ten-sided die to roll as follows.
Your character is exceptionally strong, perceptive or charismatic, etc., and your attribute in question is 8. There is very little you cannot lift, fail to notice, and so on. Now you take that die, full of confidence that you'll succeed and roll...a 10. The highest roll possible – that's great!
No, it's not. You just rolled as bad as it gets. To succeed at an attribute-based roll, you have to roll a number lower than the attribute you're rolling for, which characters with a higher attribute will have an easier time pulling off. For example:
Big McLargeHuge has a heavy boulder to lift. With a strength of 8, and rolling a d10, he has an 80% chance of succeeding because rolling anything from 1 to 8 means he was successful.
"But wait", you say, "what about the uber beefy characters with a maxed out strength? Can they lift absolutely everything they want?" No, they can't. Particularly heavy objects can and will have a default rolling penalty added to them – how high that penalty exactly is will be for the thread's creator/event's director to decide. So even characters with a maxed out strength have a chance of failing if the object to lift warrants a, for example, strength roll +3 because for that particular roll their strength is effectively lowered by 3, leaving them with a strength of 7 and thus a 70% chance of success.
Now, this one may be a bit different from what all y'all DnD folks are used to, but bear with me – it does make sense. With the attribute cap for most characters being 10, we'll be using a ten-sided die to roll as follows.
Your character is exceptionally strong, perceptive or charismatic, etc., and your attribute in question is 8. There is very little you cannot lift, fail to notice, and so on. Now you take that die, full of confidence that you'll succeed and roll...a 10. The highest roll possible – that's great!
No, it's not. You just rolled as bad as it gets. To succeed at an attribute-based roll, you have to roll a number lower than the attribute you're rolling for, which characters with a higher attribute will have an easier time pulling off. For example:
Big McLargeHuge has a heavy boulder to lift. With a strength of 8, and rolling a d10, he has an 80% chance of succeeding because rolling anything from 1 to 8 means he was successful.
"But wait", you say, "what about the uber beefy characters with a maxed out strength? Can they lift absolutely everything they want?" No, they can't. Particularly heavy objects can and will have a default rolling penalty added to them – how high that penalty exactly is will be for the thread's creator/event's director to decide. So even characters with a maxed out strength have a chance of failing if the object to lift warrants a, for example, strength roll +3 because for that particular roll their strength is effectively lowered by 3, leaving them with a strength of 7 and thus a 70% chance of success.
Skill-based rolling
And we're back in familiar territory – if you want to utilize one of your character's skills you have to roll high again. Just like the Skills page has already told you, a bonus equal to your skill level (consisting of the points you put into a skill plus the bonus you might be getting from an attribute of 6 or higher) is added to your roll.
So you roll for skill xy, and you roll high. Did you succeed? Well...that too is left to the thread's OP/event's director and depends on whether or not you managed to roll higher than the difficulty the OP set for whatever warranted rolling in the first place. For example:
Your character is trying to follow somepony else through an area packed with ponies, so we'll have to see how skilled he is at Urban Tracking. Your Perception is 8 (giving you a bonus of +2 in relevant skills) and the skill itself is 3, so your overall bonus is 5. Not bad, though your skill alone doesn't mean anything. If the pony you are trying to follow has a very recognizable color or is in any other way not that great at concealing their presence, a fairly low roll would be enough to succeed:
"The culprit did his best to lose those tailing him, but he wasn't very good at it, as he kept bumping into others – complaining ponies as well as his quite recognizable appearance revealed his presence wherever he went quickly." [Roll 7 or higher to spot him.]
A skilled tracker who already brings a bonus of 5 to the table would, in this case only need a 2 to successfully spot the one they're looking for. However, not everypony is a bumbling fool when trying to shake off their pursuers:
"As soon as he entered the crowd, the pony practically vanished. As hard as they looked around, everypony kinda looked the same and it was nigh impossible to tell if the one they were searching for was only an arm's length away from them or already gone." [Roll 20 or higher to spot him.]
In this case, even a character with good sense and tracking skills still needs a good deal of luck to find their target, in this case a roll of at least 15 (if the skill is at 5) would be needed.
So you roll for skill xy, and you roll high. Did you succeed? Well...that too is left to the thread's OP/event's director and depends on whether or not you managed to roll higher than the difficulty the OP set for whatever warranted rolling in the first place. For example:
Your character is trying to follow somepony else through an area packed with ponies, so we'll have to see how skilled he is at Urban Tracking. Your Perception is 8 (giving you a bonus of +2 in relevant skills) and the skill itself is 3, so your overall bonus is 5. Not bad, though your skill alone doesn't mean anything. If the pony you are trying to follow has a very recognizable color or is in any other way not that great at concealing their presence, a fairly low roll would be enough to succeed:
"The culprit did his best to lose those tailing him, but he wasn't very good at it, as he kept bumping into others – complaining ponies as well as his quite recognizable appearance revealed his presence wherever he went quickly." [Roll 7 or higher to spot him.]
A skilled tracker who already brings a bonus of 5 to the table would, in this case only need a 2 to successfully spot the one they're looking for. However, not everypony is a bumbling fool when trying to shake off their pursuers:
"As soon as he entered the crowd, the pony practically vanished. As hard as they looked around, everypony kinda looked the same and it was nigh impossible to tell if the one they were searching for was only an arm's length away from them or already gone." [Roll 20 or higher to spot him.]
In this case, even a character with good sense and tracking skills still needs a good deal of luck to find their target, in this case a roll of at least 15 (if the skill is at 5) would be needed.
Roll Target
The goal of every roll is to try and hit above the target. Depending on the difficulty of the task you are trying to achieve, the roll target may be higher or lower. The target is defined as if someone who had no special training in the task where to do it. This chart is writted specifically for d20 rolling. The d10 targets will be in parenthesis to the right of the difficulty.
0-2 Trivial. Why even roll dice? (1)
3-4 Nearly Trivial. (2)
5-6 Extremely Easy (3)
7-8 Easy (4)
9-10 Average Difficulty (5)
11-12 Slightly Difficult (6)
13-15 Difficult (7)
16-17 Extremely Difficult (8)
18-19 Outrageously Difficult (9)
20+ Practically Impossible (10+)
Notice the last tier does go into plus. Targets can be above the limit of the dice, meaning, it is impossible to accomplish in regular circumstances. Regardless of if you are experienced in the task and something may be easy for your character, if it's still difficult for someone untrained, it counts as a difficult roll. The fact that you have an attribute or a skill modifier helps compensate for that, essentially making the roll easier to accomplish.
So, you made your roll, now what? Depending on how close or far from the target determines who greatly, or harshly, you failed or succeeded.
Roll is less than the target by 8 - Critical Failure
Roll is less than the target by 7 or 6 - Extreme Failure
Roll is less than the target by 5 or 4 - Major Failure
Roll is less than the target by 3 or 2 - Minor Failure
Roll is less than the target by 1 - Marginal Failure
Roll is equal to or greater than the target by 1 - Marginal Success
Roll is greater than the target by 2 or 3 - Minor Success
Roll is greater than the target by 4 or 5 - Major Success
Roll is greater than the target by 6 or 7 - Extreme Success
Roll is greater than the target by 8 - Critical Success
0-2 Trivial. Why even roll dice? (1)
3-4 Nearly Trivial. (2)
5-6 Extremely Easy (3)
7-8 Easy (4)
9-10 Average Difficulty (5)
11-12 Slightly Difficult (6)
13-15 Difficult (7)
16-17 Extremely Difficult (8)
18-19 Outrageously Difficult (9)
20+ Practically Impossible (10+)
Notice the last tier does go into plus. Targets can be above the limit of the dice, meaning, it is impossible to accomplish in regular circumstances. Regardless of if you are experienced in the task and something may be easy for your character, if it's still difficult for someone untrained, it counts as a difficult roll. The fact that you have an attribute or a skill modifier helps compensate for that, essentially making the roll easier to accomplish.
So, you made your roll, now what? Depending on how close or far from the target determines who greatly, or harshly, you failed or succeeded.
Roll is less than the target by 8 - Critical Failure
Roll is less than the target by 7 or 6 - Extreme Failure
Roll is less than the target by 5 or 4 - Major Failure
Roll is less than the target by 3 or 2 - Minor Failure
Roll is less than the target by 1 - Marginal Failure
Roll is equal to or greater than the target by 1 - Marginal Success
Roll is greater than the target by 2 or 3 - Minor Success
Roll is greater than the target by 4 or 5 - Major Success
Roll is greater than the target by 6 or 7 - Extreme Success
Roll is greater than the target by 8 - Critical Success