Description

Automatic Skill and Opposed Rolls

Automatic Skill Rolls

Some racial skills are passive and are never rolled deliberately by the character. Examples include Quiet Traveller, Sense Ore, and similar abilities. A character either has these skills or they do not.

Passive skill rolls are always made in secret by the Guide. The player is not told a roll has occurred unless the skill succeeds and produces an observable result.

If the passive roll is successful, the Guide informs the player of what their character notices or avoids.

Example

Ariel the Elf is travelling normally through a forest. Wolves are present ahead on the path.

The Guide secretly rolls Ariel’s Quiet Traveller skill.

• If the roll succeeds, the wolves do not hear Ariel and remain unaware of her presence.
• If Ariel did not possess Quiet Traveller, she would need to use Stealth instead, moving at half her normal rate. This would require an opposed roll against the wolves’ Listening skill.

The key difference is that passive skills require no action or decision by the player.

---

Opposed Rolls

Opposed rolls occur when one character’s skill is used directly against another character’s skill. Common examples include:

• Observation versus Hide
• Listening versus Stealth

In an opposed roll, one character is considered active and the other passive.

Step by Step Resolution

1. The active character rolls first.
   This may be a player character or a non-player character.

2. If the active roll fails, resolve the failure normally and no opposed roll is required.

3. If the active roll succeeds, note how much the roll was passed by.

4. The opposing character now makes their passive roll.

5. If the passive roll fails, resolve the failure normally.

6. If the passive roll succeeds, note how much it was passed by.

7. Compare the margins of success.
   The character who passed their roll by the greater amount is the winner of the opposed roll.

Critical Success

If both characters achieve a Critical Success, the result is decided using the Critical Multiplier Table. The character with the higher result on that table wins the contest.

Regardless of the outcome, the character with the lower score still receives a Learn Tick for the skill used.