Dice Mechanics

Below are the central dice mechanics involved in the Strike & Cinder Dice system.

Threshold

A threshold is the number a die result needs meet or exceed in order for the die to be what's known as a Pass. The threshold is set at 4, but certain abilities or situations can lower it or increase it.

Pass

• When a die in a dice pool meets or exceeds the Threshold (usually a 4) it is considered a Pass.

When you roll, you roll all the dice in your chosen pool, but rather than needing to add up to the sum total, you only need to ask yourself: "How many of these dice meet or exceed the number four?" Passes are added up and then compared to the Difficulty Class or Success Range. A successful roll is determined by comparing the number of Passes against the DC or success range.

Example

• An Arcanist with a Cinder Pool of 8d6 rolls against a Shifter with a DC of 4. The Arcanist must roll at least four Passes, as in, four dice that are 3 or above.
• A Half-Blood with a Strike pool of 5d6 rolls to do an acrobatic trick against the Success Range. To succeed, the Half-Blood must roll a Complete Success (3 Passes) or higher.

Explosions

An explosion occurs when a die rolls a certain number. In this system, it is when you roll a 6. On a 6, you may take that die and roll it again, adding the result to your total. During the Full Moon, all Cinder dice explode on a 5 or a 6.

Assistance

Assistance is a mechanic that allows for a temporary increase of a characters dice pool. The assistance itself can come in many forms, from another character helping out, offering the right tools for the job, or possibly enchanted items.

When one character spends a post assisting another, the recipient may add 1d6 to the next roll relevant to the type of Assistance being given. If they attempt to roll for it, an Exceptional Success adds 2d6 to the same type of dice pool rolled for, but anything below that results in no bonus at all.

In the case of Mundane Humans, they have a temporary 4d6 Cinder pool that only applies to rituals. This is to enable Mundane Humans who may be theoretically familiar with rituals to offer Assistance, even if they are not practitioners themselves.

• The one offering Assistance cannot do any other rolls that impact mechanics.
• The post must clearly show the character Assisting, through dialogue and interaction.
• If you choose to roll and try for the Exceptional Success 2d6 bonus, you must also accept no bonus if you fail.
• Assistance does not stack with itself, but it can stack with enchanted items.

Contested Rolls

A contested roll is a type of roll a player can do when resisting a particular type of attack roll. It is used commonly when resisting the effects of particular keywords like poison/venom, hypnotism, or empathy that are imposing a physical or mental long-term effect. The contested roll uses the Dice Pool of the attacking roll, so a physical effect like venom is resisted with Strike while a mental effect would be resisted with Cinder.

The basic rules of a contested roll is that the player resisting the roll must meet or exceed the total passes of the attack roll. So if someone trying to hypnotise a character has 4 passes, the one resisting with a contested roll needs 4 passes or above.

Someone using a keyword that could be resisted can be targeting the DC or using the Success Range for the basic hit/miss success/fail dimension. So they can manage to 'hit' the other character, but the contested roll can slow or stop the effects of it. This is particularly relevant when they're also targeting Luck. The flavour of the resisting of the effect can come in many forms, it could be a partial influence, a weakened effect, or no effect at all.

If the contested roll fails, but the roll is still a "success" on the Success Range, flavour can allow the target some wiggle room to be aware of what's happening.

Strike & Cinder Dice
Dice Pool ※ Threshold ※ Pass ※ Explosions ※ Assistance ※ Difficulty Class ※ Success Range ※ Luck ※ Contested Rolls

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The number that a roll needs to meet or exceed to count as a Pass. Normally 4, but can be lowered or increased.

The number that a roll needs to meet or exceed to count as a Pass. Normally 4, but can be lowered or increased.

A rolled die of 4 or more.

The number of dice a character can roll in either Strike or Cinder.

Difficulty Class. The number an attack roll must meet or exceed to count as a hit.

A tiered success range based on how many passes you have rolled.

Strike is the die pool of physical abilities of a character.

A tiered success range based on how many passes you have rolled.

Cinder is the die pool of mental and magical abilities of a character.

A roll to meet or exceed a targeting/attacking roll.

A group of rolled die of 4 or more