Dice Mechanics

This chapter tells you about how action resolution (Deciding whether an action succeeds) works on this game. In the case of contradicting rules, the specific rules always triumph over the generic rules.

When to use dice?

Common sense - and your character’s capability dictates what your character can do, and most of the time you do not need rules to determine what happens - You tell the game master what you do and the game continues on.

However, in combat, nothing is certain, and rather than debate and compete on knowledge of real combat, Drase introduces dice to make action resolution fair - and not always predictable.

Outside of combat, there are also actions that may not always succeed, and so, the GM may also decide to use dice to introduce uncertainty and tension to the narrative. In this kind of case, a dice should be used to fail forward. Rather than saying a player drops down a cliff and has to climb it, a failure should create complication or change in circumstances, advancing the story instead of resetting it until a better dice comes about.

Action success and failures

When you do something that will always succeed given enough time you have - your character will succeed, and if you are doing something that is impossible, your character will not be able to do it, no matter what.

Only when you are performing something within the realm of possibility but not certainty, does dice come into place, at your Game Master’s discretion. For example, in the middle of combat, breaking down a door while trying to not be heard, breaking down a door your character can break down - but immediately this turn while enemies are chasing you.

Rolling a Dice

You roll a d20 to determine an action’s outcome, by making an opposed roll or an ability roll. You follow the following steps:

1. Roll the Dice: And note down the number you’ve rolled
2. Applying Modifiers: Add or subtract modifiers from your character’s attributes and skills and appropriate modifiers
3. Applying Other Modifiers: Add or subtract penalties from the die roll
4. Determine the results: Compare the final number to the target number for the roll. If the total is greater than the target number, it is a success, otherwise it is a failure. If the rolled number is 10 over (20 over 10), then it is a critical success.

Types of Rolls

There are two types of rolls in Drase. The ability check and the attack rolls. The ability check is made against a fixed number, and checks whether your character, given their circumstances, can perform an act successfully.

An attack roll is an abstract representation of the back and forth in combat, and represents whether your character can score a hit on an opponent. Like an attack roll, it targets a fixed number, the AC (Armor Class) of the enemy. However, in some circumstances, the enemy may receive a defense bonus / malus, that is added or deducted from the number.

Attributes & Modifiers

To determine an ability check and attack roll’s result, you add a relevant attribute modifier, plus an appropriate career skill.

A character has five attributes - Power, Finesse, Endurance, Intelligence and Will. Representing aspects of their fundamentals.

Attribute Modifier

Your attribute modifier is calculated by (Your Score - 10) / 2, and is added to relevant dice rolls.

Your character starts with 8 in every score, and 19 points to purchase increase to your attributes. However, at the start of the game, you may not increase any of the attributes beyond 16.

Each point equals a single point increase.

Your attribute modifier is added to the relevant rolls your character makes. In addition, a character also gains a per level bonus, called the level bonus, based on their character level. The formula for this is as follow:

Level Bonus

The level bonus is primarily used for combat rolls, and non-combat rolls have a different handling method. It is equal to your level / 2, rounded down.

The other determinator of your modifier is your character’s career, which is a mechanical number that portrays what they’ve learned in their career, and how influential that background is on their skills. It is applied to non-combat ability checks that are relevant, alongside an attribute, as determined by your GM.

Level	Level Bonus
1	1
2	2
4	3
6	4
8	5
10	6

Ability Checks

An ability check is made when you are trying to overcome a challenge with uncertain outcome and is not opposed by anyone directly. An action that would automatically succeed can become an ability check when done under stress or when limited by time. For example, climbing or kicking down a door in the middle of combat.

If an action WILL succeed given enough time and there’s no time constraint, there should not be any rolls.

• Modifier: You apply the relevant attribute modifier at your GM’s discretion, and they determine if any skills are applicable. A lot of the time, only the attribute will be applied.
• Target Number: The GM picks a fixed score between 5 - 30 based on the action’s difficulty (See the Difficulty Class) for you to roll against.
• Success: The action succeeds.
• Critical Success: There’s seldomly critical success with an ordinary ability check.
• Failure: The action fails and may cause complications. Depending on the nature of the actions, your character may or may not be able to attempt it again. If the action becomes an ability check due to time limit (Like lockpicking in the middle of combat), it can be attempted again - but your character may be running out of time due to other issues. Otherwise, the GM can declare the action no longer possible - and no one else in your party can attempt it and succeed under the same set of circumstances. For example, you attempt to kick down the iron gate leading to a noble’s mansion, but the gate doesn’t remotely bulge. Short of bringing up a crowbar or a battering ram, no other member in the party could attempt to kick it down and succeed.

Attack Rolls

An attack roll is made when you are attempting to influence or attack another creature or an object that will give significant resistance or with health point, an abstract representation of a creature’s durability.

• Modifier: You apply the relevant attribute modifier, either Power or Finesse, depending on the weapon and which one is the higher of your pool - most weapons use Power, but some weapons with the Finesse property allow you to use your Finesse if it is higher. You also add in your level bonus.
• Target Number: You target the AC of your enemy. Which is obtained by 10 + AC Bonus. If a defense bonus / malus applies, the number is added / deducted from the number. That defense bonus / malus is rolled by the enemy.
• Save-Targeting: When an attack specifies it targets a save, whether by explicitly stating vs (Attribute Name) Save, or by listing out an attribute in its damage column (12 damage vs END), then it targets 10 + Attribute Modifier. Such an attack cannot critically hit.
• Success: An attack roll succeeds on exceeding the target number. The success deals damage and or its effect to the target, then the GM would roll for damage and deal damage to the target, the GM would often describe the effect.
• Other Success Condition: If the attacker rolls a 20 on the base die, the attacks always hit regardless of the TN (Even if the AC is higher than the possible hit range). This does not apply a critical hit effect - that only happens if the TN is exceeded by 10.
• Critical Success: The critical hit effect of the attack or damage type is applied, and the damage dies are automatically maximized (I.e. your damage is as if you rolled the highest number on every rollable die in the damage). If it is a NPC, only the critical hit effect applies. (If a weapon’s damage are 1d12 (Base) + 1d4 (Enchantment) + 4 (Power) , and it crits, then it will deal 12 + 4 + 4 = 20 damage), the same applies to a spell. A spell that targets attribute modifiers instead of AC cannot have their damage maximized.
• Failure: The attack doesn't hit. (Exception: Some spell still hit for less damage on failure)

Difficulty Class

Below is the table of difficulty class for the difficulty of various tasks. While GM can fine tune the number, it is best to stick to the simple and apply appropriate bonus or malus instead.

Difficulty	Target Number
Very Easy	5
Easy	10
Medium	15
Hard	20
Very Hard	25
Nearly Impossible	30

Additional Modifiers

Some situations and modifiers can give positive or negative modifiers to your rolls

Bonus and Malus

Some circumstantial modifiers are represented by bonus and malus. bonus and malus are 1d6 dice. Bonus and maluses:

• Can stack, and cancel eachother out on a one to one basis. (1 bonus + 1 malus = None. 2 bonuses + 1 maluses = 1 bonus)
• If you have a bonus, roll a 1d6 and add to your result, and for malus, deduct it from your result. If there's a stacking bonus or malus, you roll as many dice as you have bonus / malus, and then you take the highest result and add / deduct it from your roll. The format for rollem bot is +/- (numberofdie)d6k1

Diminishing Return

Bonus and Maluses have diminishing return on stacking them, so there's no point in stacking too much. The first bonus / malus is worth approximately 3.5, the second one is worth 1, and the third one worth less. Getting your first bonus, and canceling a malus yield the most mathematically, and the second bonus is generally worth pursuing. Beyond that, hunting for them is generally not worth it by design.

Dice Roll Examples:

Attack Roll, with a to-hit modifier of +4 (3 from Power, 1 from level), and 3 bonuses.

1d20 + 4 + 3d6k1 

(k1 means keep highest 1)

Attack Roll, with a to-hit modifier of +4 (3 from Power, 1 from level), and 3 maluses.

1d20 + 4 - 3d6k1

Damage Roll, with a damage die size of 1d12, and a flat modifier of +3 from power.

1d12 + 3