[tHEhERETIC]

Being too tired to do proper math just now, I'm going to address this on a conceptual level.

I was a WoD player for a long time, did that and IN for awhile and switched exclusively to In Nomine. The check digit took a long time to wrap my brain around, but now I wouldn't game without it, and here's why.

I played with minmaxxers, the mathematical variety of munchkins. In the WoD games--hell in most games--degree of success is determined by the surplus above the success itself, which is how I'm reading what you've written. This creates a very strong incentive to specialize a character, to gain a numerical advantage so that you succeed at your One Great Power every time, and succeed spectacularly.

Yuck. To me a character like that is barely a character at all, more like a Role with legs, and no fun to play around.

By rolling a check digit i.e. degree of success separately from whether one succeeds, you remove the incentive to minmax. You allow characters who are well rounded to succeed spectacularly once in awhile, and characters who are buffed up in one area to succeed with a whimper once in awhile. It keeps things interesting, IMNSHO, by making them a little less predictable.

YMMV.