Whenever a character performs an action with an uncertain outcome, dice are rolled for a suitable value, which is usually determined by the game master. The outcome of the roll indicates whether and how well the action succeeded. This is called a roll or check.
Six-sided dice are used for all rolls. The number of dice is determined by the character's value in the trait in question, plus any bonus dice or destiny dice.
So a check is a roll of a number of dice, with a minimum roll that must be achieved, which may be modified by a level of difficulty. We go into more detail about the elements below.
These types of checks are used everywhere outside of combat. In combat, separate rules apply for determining hits and wounds.
The number of dice
The required or desired skill directly determines the number of dice with its value. A character with an "Intimidate" value of 4 also has 4 six-sided dice available for this check.
The knowledge traits have a value with which they specify the number of dice. In addition, however, an associated skill is given here, and its value is added to the knowledge value. Thus, a character with the skill "Communication" 2 and the knowledge "Etiquette (Communication)" 3 has a total of 5 dice on Etiquette.
If the value is 0 or negative, the character is not able to make this roll without further help, he is simply too bad at the skill. However, bonus dice or destiny dice can be used, no matter how much the value is in the negative.
The minimum roll
The minimum roll is specified directly by the character. A human has a minimum roll of 5+, this can also be changed by special circumstances.
Hagen's player wants to use brute force to effectively kick open a door that stands between him and the suspected gang of thieves. The game master asks him to make a roll for Strength.
Hagen has a value of 4 in strength, so he rolls 4 dice. Any die that shows a 5 or higher is a success. A single success is sufficient for success, but Hagen's player rolls 4 successes, and immediately kicks the door in the face of the first thief.
The minimum roll is given in the form "X+" to indicate that this is the die result, which is the minimum that must be achieved.
Levels of difficulty
The game master can modify the minimum roll for particularly easy or difficult checks. For difficult checks, a modifier can be announced as a roll+, and for easy checks, a roll-.
A +3 check in this case means that the minimum roll is raised by 3, so for a human it is 8+. This is where it comes into play that all rolls outside of combat are exploding dice.
Exploding Dice
It is possible in Phase Six for minimum rolls to exceed 6+, and in some cases to be much higher. Here, the rule of "Exploding Dice" applies to every roll outside of combat.
Dice that show a 6 after the roll may be rolled again. The result is then added together. Thus, a minimum roll of 9+ can be achieved on a single die by first rolling a 6, and then rolling at least a 3. A 14+ can only be achieved if on one die first a 6, then another 6, and then at least a 2 is rolled.
Since no distinction is made between the individual dice on a roll of multiple dice, all sixes can be rolled again at the same time if this is necessary to achieve a high minimum roll.
Hagen's gamemaster requires him to make a Courage check +9, since he is facing the gang of thieves alone. So he must achieve a 14 on at least one die of his valor value. Fortunately, he has a Courage value of 5, so he has 5 dice at his disposal.
In the first roll he rolls 4,2,6,6,1, so he has two sixes to roll to reach the 14. The second roll (with the two dice) shows a 6 and a 1.
Now he may only roll the remaining die that showed a 6 again. Since this now shows a 1, even the pronounced courage does not help him, Hagen has only reached a 13.
Critical successes
Similar to critical hits in combat, critical successes can also occur on other rolls. If a die reaches at least an 11 when rolled further, it is a critical success. This is equivalent to an exploding die "rolled further", which then shows a result of 5+ again. Changes to the character's minimum roll are not applied here.
Critical successes on rolls result in an additional success for each time a 5+ is achieved after a further roll. This results in the following limits for additional successes.
- Roll 5+: normal success
- Roll 11+: critical success - results in one additional success
- Roll 17+: megacritical success - results in two additional successes
- Roll 23+: megacritical success - gives three additional successes
- Roll 29+: megacritical success - gives four additional successes
- etc.
Bonus dice
A character can have a number of bonus dice. These are determined by the templates (see Create a Character). Any number of the bonus dice can be added to the dice to be rolled. This can be done even if the actual roll has already failed. This way, one bonus die after the other can be sacrificed to possibly still lead to a success.
In this way, it is also possible to make a roll when the number of dice is actually 0 or less.
The bonus dice refresh to their maximum at each rest.
Rerolls
For each re-roll, a complete roll can be re-rolled. Thus, it is not possible to successfully pass a roll to 0 or less.
Rerolls also refresh to their maximum at each rest.
Destiny dice
As a rule, the character gets destiny dice with his career, but the game master can also assign individual destiny dice for special actions or on special occasions.
Destiny dice can be used as both bonus dice and re-rolls. A result of 4 on a destiny die is always a success, regardless of the difficulty of the check. This also applies if the destiny die is used as a re-roll.
Destiny dice must always be rolled separately from all normal dice to determine if they have reached 4+.
If we look at the previous example with Hagen's roll on his valor (5 dice on 14+), a destiny die would help him a lot here, because it would actually only have to reach a 4+.
Destiny dice refresh to their maximum at every rest.
Group rolls
Whenever the group as a whole is required to pass a check, group rolls are used. For example, instead of asking each player to make an Apprehension check, the game master can ask the whole group to make an Apprehension check. If this check is successful, the effect applies to all characters in the group.
A successful group roll always requires a number of successes to be achieved. The game master tells how many successes must be achieved for a group roll to be successful. Then each player rolls on the required attribute or skill.
All the successes of each character are added up. If the required number of successes is reached, the check is successful.
In the case of a party roll, each party can use bonus, destiny, and reroll dice as usual. It is also possible to modify the minimum roll based on the severity of the check.
Concealment
A special roll is the roll on concealment. This comes into play when a person is watching a character and looking for certain conspicuous equipment.
Each piece of equipment has a concealment value. The higher this value, the more obvious that item is to see or recognize.
If a person now observes a character or the whole group, the item with the highest concealment value counts for the concealment roll.
The person observing now rolls a number of dice equal to their Perception value plus the determined Concealment value. If successful, the observer can spot a conspicuous object.