An “action” is specifically something performed by a character that may have an interesting outcome. Typically, speaking does not require an action. An action requires a roll when there is reasonable doubt the character could fail the action.
Summary
| Action | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Simple | Dodging a sinkhole, sensing an ambush | Task is completed with one roll. The storyteller announces the difficulty and the players roll their dice pools. Automatic success is possible. |
| Extended | Mountain climbing, researching | Task is completed when a given number of successes are obtained, which may require more than one roll (which provides more chances of botching). |
| Resisted | Shadowing | A contest of skill between two individuals. They compare their number of successes; the character with the most successes wins. |
| Extended and Resisted | Arm wrestling | As a resisted action; the contest requires a given number of successes and may take more than one turn to complete. |
Reflexive Actions
An instinctual, low-duration action that does not require a roll and does not consume an action.
- Soaking damage
- Spending Rage
Ratings
Ratings are often between 1-5, but there are exceptions. Werewolf transformations can push above 5 dots, for example.
| Value | Rating |
|---|---|
| 0 | Abysmal |
| 1 | Poor |
| 2 | Average |
| 3 | Good |
| 4 | Exceptional |
| 5 | Pinnacle of human achievement |
Dice Pools
You roll one die for each point in the required trait(s). If one of the traits has a maximum rating of 10 (Rage, Willpower, Gnosis) only that trait’s value is used for the dice pool.
Difficulties
Difficulty values range from 2 to 10, but usually from 3 to 9. Every die a player rolls that comes up equal to or greater than the difficulty, is a success. The more successes a player rolls, the better the character performs the action. One success is marginal success, three or more is a complete success. Five or more is a momentous occasion.
Note
A “10” is always a success.
| Value | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| 3 | Trivial (scanning a small crowd for a familiar face) |
| 4 | Easy (following a trail by blood scent) |
| 5 | Straightforward (harrying prey that is old or ill) |
| 6 | Standard (firing a gun) |
| 7 | Challenging (discovering a hiding spirit) |
| 8 | Difficult (convincing a cop that your unlicensed gun is not his problem) |
| 9 | Extremely difficult (walking a tightrope) |
| 10 | Essentially impossible |
| Successes | Degree of Success |
|---|---|
| 1 | Marginal (keep a broken refrigerator running until the repairman arrives) |
| 2 | Moderate (Making a handicraft that is ugly but useful) |
| 3 | Complete (fixing something so it is good as new) |
| 4 | Exceptional (increasing your car’s gas mileage in the process of repairing it) |
| 5 | Phenomenal (creating a masterwork) |
Multiple Actions
The player first declares how many actions they wish to take, and determines which one has the smallest dice pool. They may then allocate that number of dice among the actions as they see fit. Some combinations of actions are wildly disparate and may suffer increased difficulty on top of the dice pool limitation. Extra actions gained from Rage cannot be split but do not suffer a dice penalty.
Extended Actions
In an extended action, the dice pool used is rolled again over subsequent turns. For example, chasing a fomor on foot through alleyways. The fomor has barricaded himself into a warehouse, and it will take a collective 15 successes to break in. Every turn that passes the prey has more chances to escape. Botching an extended action removes all progress up to that point, and the storyteller likely has some catastrophe in store.
Resisted Actions
A simple resisted action has both parties roll their dice pools. Whoever gets more successes wins. An extended resisted action has a fixed success goal, and each party rolls their dice pools. The first to reach the goal wins.
Botches
Rolling a 1 is a botched roll. Every botched roll cancels out 1 success. If you roll a botch while having zero successes (does not matter if they are cancelled out by a botched roll, they count as a success for this) the action is botched. This is a DnD critical failure. Comedy ensues.
Automatic Success
If the number of dice in a given dice pool is equal to or greater than the difficulty, the character succeeds automatically. This does not apply to combat or other stressful situations. Automatic successes only count as having a single success. A player may risk failure and not use an automatic success.
Players may spend a willpower point to guarantee a success on a roll, applying one success to the role. This can only be performed once per turn.
Teamwork
If the storyteller agrees that multiple characters can work together on an action, each player makes a separate roll and adds their successes together. However, one member botching can affect everyone involved.