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Old 08-09-2018, 09:36 AM   #18
Rick_Smith
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Coquitlam B.C.
Default Re: Critical success / failure on more than 3 dice

Quote:
Originally Posted by flankspeed View Post
... So long as players can't roll over and over again an infinite number of times to exploit special results, then I think they should be allowed the extraordinarily lucky or unlucky roll. Lucky or unlucky rolls always lead to such memorable events in game!
Hi Flankspeed, everyone.
I had a friend Torrey who had a very long running elven wizard in my campaign. This was a power house character, around 50 attributes at the time of this story.

Anyway he was climbing up this narrow canyon with a raging river of icy cold snow melt below him. The walls of the canyon were slippery with slime and algae. But his DX was fine, it was just a couple of rolls, off he goes.

And he rolls an auto miss on a 3vsDX.

He falls, smacks hard off the cliff and hits the water. He tries 3 times to make swimming rolls. But he is a wizard, with no Swimming skill, and he blows a roll. I slam him into a rock, damage and he is stunned for that turn and the next. He blows another roll, then another one. More damage and swallowed water. The cold is numbing him. He has something like an 8 adjusted DX, from the cold, heavy equipment, and permanent negatives. His friends are helpless, 300 meters up stream.

I say sadly, "You have to make a 5vsDX or you drown, sorry." This is a final statement, with 4 other wide eyed players looking on. This is IT. Their super mage is about to die.

Torrey rolls the 5 dice and gets a natural 5.

I stare at that result. I stammer, "You, ah, get swept to the bottom of a whirlpool, and get your feet firmly planted on the ground. You push off and get to the shore."

(This seemed inadequate.)

"You.. grab onto the shore, there is a rock there and you haul yourself out. You are safe."

(This still seemed inadequate.)

"You, ah, get Swimming talent for free. Write it down on your sheet. Memory cost is zero."

***

I was perhaps too generous giving him Swimming for free, but to be fair, I don't remember him ever using it again. (Land based campaign.)

But we REMEMBERED him avoiding certain death with an amazing roll. Events like this brings a charm and spontaneity to the campaign which you don't see in diceless RPG's.

Warm regards, Rick.

Last edited by Rick_Smith; 08-09-2018 at 09:46 AM. Reason: fixed spelling error.
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