Chapter I: The Element of Chance

The Pen & Dagger RPG    Players & Heroes Book      Chapter I: The Element of Chance

The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.

— Ernest Hemingway

Unlike ordinary denizens of the world, you are a hero. The challenges you face will be steep and the perils you overcome will become the stuff of legend. To determine your fate on such deadly paths, you will need to leverage ability, luck, and natural strength.

QUICKLINKS

Attempts
Luck Rolls
Ability Scores
Fortune Dice

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Attempts

Few things in adventure come easy. When you face a challenge that has negative consequences for failure, your DM will ask you to make an attempt. You make an attempt by rolling a d20 and comparing the result to your rank for the attempt on the Success Table.

RANKS

Your rank represents how likely you are to succeed at an attempt. Each rank provides a different range of rolls to determine success. The worst rank is Doomed and the best is Godlike. When you are not proficient in an attempt, your rank is usually Untrained. If you are proficient in an attempt, your rank is usually Trained. Your ranks are provided by your class, race, and ability scores.

Ability Checks

Most non-combat challenges test your physical or mental capabilities, and some combat challenges such as spells and poisons do as well. Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma checks are all ability-based attempts. To make an ability check, you roll d20 and compare the result to your rank in the ability.

Proficiency Attempts

Most combat challenges test your proficiency in a weapon or defense. Offensive attempts, also referred to as attacks or attack rolls, comprise your ability to overcome an opponent’s defenses. Defensive attempts, also referred to as defense rolls or your DM screaming 'Defend yourself!' comprise your ability to protect yourself from an attack. Other proficiency attempts make use of unique abilities or specialized expertise, such as detect magic or sense outsider.

SUCCESS LEVELS

You find the outcome of your attempt by rolling your d20 and comparing the result against your rank. This outcome is called the Success Level. The basics of each success level are defined below. Various races, classes, spells, and monster types may apply different meanings to each success level. For combat-specific success levels, see Combat in Chapter VII: Adventure!.
Critical Success

Critical Success

A critical success is the highest level of success. When you have critical success on an attempt, the best possible outcome occurs. Usually this means your attempt is doubly successful, grants you advantage on your next attempt in a series of attempts, or gains an additional upside beyond what you might have hoped.

For example, Angus the ranger is attempting to sneak past a pair of guards into a courtyard and rolls a 20 on his Dexterity (Stealth) check. Suddenly a servant walks out past the guards and drops a tray of food. In the clatter, Angus slips by unnoticed, scooping up a delicious sugar roll in the process.
• When you achieve critical success with a roll of 20, your DM may ask you to make a luck roll to achieve even more incredible fortune.
• If you roll a 20 and for some reason can't take advantage of your critical success, you can make the result a normal success and gain a fortune die instead.

Major Success

Major Success

A major success reflects a positive result with a small side benefit. It is slightly better than a normal result in some way.

For example, An-Tami the conjurer is attempting to convince the Lord Mayor of Episton to take a woman into protective custody. An-Tami makes an Intelligence (Persuade) check that results in major success. Their discussion results in An-Tami learning the Lord Mayor has a daughter of similar age to the woman. She leverages that in the immediate plight to achieve her goal and also gains that bit of information that may prove useful in future dealings with the politician.

Normal Success

Normal Success

A normal success represents success on an attempt. You achieve the expected result with no great benefit or drawback.

For example, Jade the monk is trying to pick a locked door before the hobgoblin patrol returns. She manages to do so in the nick of time.

Limited Success

Limited Success

When your attempt results in limited success, things did not go according to plan. However, your effort was not entirely in vain and there is a small silver lining.

For example, Halgrimmir the warlord tries to grab hold of a thief as she makes a break into a crowd. He doesn't catch her but manages to wrest loose the rogue's bracelet, gaining a clue to her identity.

Failure

Failure

A failure means that the attempt did not go according to plan and no positive outcome came as a result. A failure does not necessarily denote your failure but may just mean the difficulty you faced exceeded your ability to handle in the moment.

In example, Jade the monk is trying to pick a locked door before the hobgoblin patrol returns. In her haste, she keeps fumbling the job and is forced to run away as they march back.

Critical Failure

Critical Failure

A critical failure means your attempt failed utterly, with unfortunate side effects. Critical failures occur on a roll of 1, unless your rank for the attempt was Legendary or Godlike. The purpose of a critical failure is not to punish your roll, but to add misadventure, hilarity, or a new twist to the situation.

In example, Tallie the warrior is trying to catch a pickpocket at full sprint. She dives for the ne'er-do-well but misses completely, slamming into a handcart. The cart tips over on top of her, burying her in manure.
• When you critically fail an attempt, your DM may ask you to make a luck roll to avoid even worse ill-fortune.

ADVANTAGE, RELIABILITY, AND RANK ADJUSTMENTS

In some situations, your attempt may be more or less likely to succeed. This could be due to assistance from an ally, the overwhelming force you are up against, a change in fortune, or the sheer audacity of what you're trying to accomplish. Such modifiers can impact your rank, the dice you roll, or adjust your success level.
Advantage

Advantage

Advantage occurs when a situation puts success in your favor. This can be due to a combination of education and experience, an ally directing you through the task, utter disregard for negative outcomes, or other similar factors. When you have advantage, you roll d20 twice and take the more favorable result.

In example, Keegan the ranger is trying to climb a ship's riggings in a fierce storm. However, he grew up as a mariner in the republic's navy and his experience and know-how grants him advantage on the attempt.

Disadvantage

Disadvantage

Disadvantage occurs when your situation or lack of knowledge makes success difficult. This can be due to making your attempt from an awkward position, a misunderstanding of the situation, the general unlikeliness of what you're attempting, or similar factors. When you have disadvantage, you roll d20 twice and keep the less favorable result.

In example, An-Tami tries to smooth-talk her release by a guard who just clapped her in irons. Unfortunately, he's clapping her in irons because he just caught her pickpocketing his mother and she suffers disadvantage on the attempt.

Rank Adjustments

Rank Adjustments

Certain conditions influence your rank for an attempt in one direction or another. This can be due to any ally bumping things into your favor, your acceptance of a restriction in your normal process, a decision to take a calculated risk, or similar factors. When you have a rank bonus or penalty, you adjust your rank for the attempt upward or downward as specified.

For example, Jade crouches down to pick the lock on a manor door with her new set of masterwork thieves’ tools, which will give her a +1 rank bonus on the attempt. However, Andromedas, her trouble-making companion, challenges her to pick the lock with his old, dull thieves' tools instead. Grudgingly, Jade accepts and suffers a -1 rank penalty to her attempt instead.

Reliability

Reliability

Reliability occurs when an attempt will be more effective than usual. This can be due to an innate resistance you possess, going up against something far weaker than it should be, possessing knowledge of a specific vulnerability, or a similar factor. Unless you roll a 1, a reliable attempt has its result increased one success level:

Failure->Limited->Normal->Major->Critical Success
For example, Jade crouches down to pick the lock on a manor door with her thieves’ tools. Though Andromedas is telling her she's doing it all wrong, she has a schematic of the lock inked on the back of her hand, giving her reliability on the attempt.

Unreliability

Unreliability

Unreliability occurs when an attempt will be far less effective than usual. This can be due to an object having an innate resistance to the attempt, a tool for the attempt being far weaker than it should be, your ability to achieve the desired results being unusually limited, or similar factors. Except on a roll of 20, an unreliable attempt has its outcome decreased one success level:

Critical Failure<-Failure<-Limited<-Normal<-Major<-Critical Success
For example, Jade crouches down to pick the lock on a manor door. However, she finds the lock is badly rusted and unlikely to open even with a key, and she suffers disadvantage on the attempt.

WHEN YOU DON'T ATTEMPT THE ATTEMPT

Most of the time, you make the attempts for your hero. However, there are times when your DM will roll for you. When you don't know an attempt is being made against you or when knowing what you rolled could place your next decision at odds with the result, your DM will roll for you.
An example of this is most knowledge checks. Knowledge checks determine things you know or can learn, such as insight, perception, and sense outsider attempts. Your DM rolls these checks for you and informs you of what you know so the actual die result won't impact whether or not you believe the information you're given.

The Success Table

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Rank	Failure	Limited	Normal	Major	Critical
Godlike	-	1-4	5-10	11-14	15+
Legendary	1	2-5	6-11	12-15	16+
Epic	1-2	3-6	7-12	13-16	17+
Master	1-3	4-7	8-13	14-17	18+
Adept	1-4	5-8	9-14	15-18	19+
Trained	1-5	6-9	10-15	16-19	20
Novice	1-6	7-10	11-16	17-19	20
Untrained	1-7	8-11	12-17	18-19	20
Inept	1-8	9-12	13-18	19	20
Hopeless	1-9	10-13	14-19	20	-
Doomed	1-10	11-14	15-20	-	-

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Top | Luck Rolls | Ability Scores| Fortune Dice

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Luck Rolls

Sometimes skill, knowledge, toughness, or insight don't matter and things just come down to luck. When the DM asks you to make a luck roll, roll d20 . If the result is 10 or higher, you're lucky. Otherwise, you aren't.
In example, when the serving boy bringing your freshly toasted slice of briarnut bread trips, it is wholly on luck as to whether it lands on the flagstones butter-side up or butter-side down.
If you roll a 20 on a luck roll and your DM rules there is no additional benefit for the maximum level of luckiness, you can treat the luck roll as a 10 and gain a Fortune Die instead.

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Top | Attempts | Ability Scores| Fortune Dice

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Ability Scores

While much of your heroism stems from hard work and experience, your mental fortitude or physical capacity is likely to be exceptional as well. You possess six ability scores which define your core attributes and help you resolve attempts outside of your proficiencies.
Your ability scores also determine your eligibility for classes, how much weight you can carry, if conditions affect you, and other attempts. They will be tested throughout your adventuring career by friends, enemies, and even the environment.

STRENGTH

Strength represents bodily or muscular power and the ability to generate force. You add your Strength modifier to damage dealt with non-finesse weapons and use it to determine encumbrance, or how much weight you can carry. If you have an above- or below-average Strength you might excel at or be challenged by

Lifting heavy items

Opening stuck objects

Carrying weight

DEXTERITY

Dexterity represents physical nimbleness and accuracy. You add your Dexterity modifier to damage dealt with non-finesse weapons. If you have an above- or below-average Dexterity you might excel at or be challenged by

Balancing

Manipulating small items

Slipping through a crowd

CONSTITUTION

Constitution represents your bodily health and ability to endure discomfort. You add your Constitution modifier to your hit points at first level. If you have an above- or below-average Constitution you might excel at or be challenged by

Performing continuous physical activity

Resisting poison and disease

Retaining vigor despite adverse weather and conditions

INTELLIGENCE

Intelligence represents your capacity for learning, reasoning, and understanding. You add your Intelligence modifier to your number of languages known. If you have an above- or below-average Intelligence you might excel at or be challenged by

Deducing or comprehending how events or actions relate

Planning and carrying out complex tasks

Making sense of information you've gathered

WISDOM

Wisdom represents your ability to perceive, understand others, and make good judgments. A positive Wisdom modifier makes you eligible for bonus Skills. If you have an above- or below-average Wisdom you might excel at or be challenged by

Seeing and hearing

Picking up on subtlety and unspoken communication

Planning and decision-making

CHARISMA

Charisma represents your strength of personality and ability to influence or project authority over others. You add your Charisma modifier to your level to determine your Renown. If you have an above- or below-average Intelligence you might excel at or be challenged by

Being likable or respectable

Having strength of conviction

Convincing others to do what you want

Ability Scores

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Score	Modifier	Rank
1	-5	Doomed
2-3	-4	Hopeless
4-5	-3	Inept
6-7	-2	Untrained
8-9	-1	Novice
10-11	-	Trained
12-13	+1	Trained
14-15	+2	Adept
16-17	+3	Adept
18-19	+4	Master
20-21	+5	Master
22-23	+6	Epic
24-25	+7	Epic
26-27	+8	Legendary
28-29	+9	Legendary
30-31	+10	Godlike

Generating Ability Scores

GENERATING ABILITY SCORES

Generating ability scores is a group activity. Each player contributes six-sided die rolls (d6) to the group’s scores, as defined in the Ability Score Generation table.

Ability Score Generation

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# of Players*	What Players Roll
1-2	2d6 for each ability, dropping the lowest result
3-4	1d6 for each ability, dropping the lowest result
5-6	4d6 for 1 ability, dropping the lowest result
7+	Split into 2 groups; each group generates 3 abilities
	*When there is an odd number of players, the DM rolls as if one

ASSIGNING THE SCORES

After rolling your six scores, you assign them to an ability of your choice. Having your class in mind at this point can help guide the process as classes have ability score requirements. Additionally, your race usually provides modifications to your ability scores, though at 1st level no ability score can exceed 19, so keep this in mind when you make your decisions. Assigning ability scores can help develop your hero's personality. For example, how your Wisdom compares to your Intelligence can tell you if you are smart but foolhardy or the other way around.

USING YOUR ABILITIES

Your ability score provides your rank for skills and checks using it, as defined in the Ability Scores table. Most ability scores fall between 3 and 18, with 3 being obscenely poor, 18 being absolutely exceptional, and 10 being average for a humanoid. Non-humanoid creatures usually have ability scores that differ from these averages. For example, most animals possess an Intelligence score of 1, so a 2 would reflect an exceptionally intelligent animal, such as a dolphin or chimpanzee. Giants, on the other hand, are extraordinarily strong, so an 18 Strength would be weak.

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Top | Attempts | Luck Rolls| Fortune Dice

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Fortune Dice

As a hero, your best efforts never go to waste. When you roll a 20 on a meaningful roll, you can make the attempt a normal success and gain a fortune die. You can possess a maximum of two fortune dice.
Fortune dice can be spent to do one of four things:

1. Get a hint for a puzzle, course of action, or the like.
2. Get out of a social situation in an exciting or humorous fashion, such as having an awkward conversation with a city guard interrupted by bird poop striking his eye.
3. Increase the value or providence of an object or item you find.
4. Reroll an attempt or luck roll that did not result in a 1 until you are lucky or get a better success level, and make this change of fortune in a spectacular fashion.

Boon Option: Double your maximum number of fortune dice.

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Top | Attempts | Luck Rolls | Ability Scores