INFINITE REALMS PLAYERS BOOK

Chapter Three - Using Skills and Attributes

Anytime a situation arises where one of the skills on the character sheet is needed to succeed at a task, a skill roll is attempted.
If the situation isn’t covered by one of the skills, an attribute roll is attempted.  The GM should decide which attribute is appropriate.

Skill Rolls

	The character attempting to use a skill must roll two 10 sided die, with one designated in advance as the tens die and the other the ones die.  This will produce a number between 1 (01) and 100 (00).
The base chance for success is the character's Skill % in the skill he is trying to use.  The GM may modify this by subtracting points from the chance of success, if the task being attempted is more difficult than average, or adding points, if the task is simple.  A generic Modifier Chart is included below.
If the number rolled is equal to or less than the character's chance for success, the character has successfully used his skill.  If number rolled is greater than the chance for success, he has failed.  How much he succeeds or fails by is determined, on the Result Chart below, by how much he made or missed his roll by.
	If a 10 or less is rolled, there is the chance for a critical success.  The dice should be re-rolled using the chance for success.  If this second roll is a success, then a critical success results.  If this second roll is a failure, then the roll was a success as rolled the first time and there is no critical success.  If the initial chance of success is less than 10%, failure cannot result in a critical success check even if a 10 or less is rolled.
	If a 91 or greater is rolled, the is a chance for a critical failure. The dice should be re-rolled using the chance for success.  If this second roll is also a failure, then a critical failure results.  If this second roll is a success, then roll was a failure as rolled the first time and there is no critical failure.  If the initial chance of success is greater than 91%, success cannot result in a critical failure check even if a 91 or more is rolled.

Attribute Roles

	An attribute roll is attempted when a skill isn't required, brute strength is all that is needed to try knocking down a door, or when a skill is required, but that skill isn't in the basic game.
	When a skill isn't required, the attribute rating is used as the chance for success.  So a Physical Strength Rating of 65 would mean that the character has a 65% chance on that door.
	Here are some examples of attribute rolls not requiring a skill.
	Physical Strength - knocking down doors or bending metal bars.
	Mental Dexterity - any perception rolls such as noticing small details.
	Mental Constitution - reading and understanding textbooks.
	Spiritual Dexterity - making friends with someone.
	Spiritual Constitution - resisting the urge to flee in terror from horrific monsters.
	Intuition rolls are special cases and are covered in the section below.
	When a skill should be required, but isn't included in the basic game, the GM should make a ruling on whether the character can attempt an attribute roll and if so what modifications should be included in the roll to account for the character's lack of knowledge.
	Attribute rolls are resolved in the same manner as Skill Rolls.

Intuition Roles

	Your character is a hero and sometimes fate seems to smile a little brighter on heroes than she does on ordinary men and women.
	When your character is about to die, a special fate roll is allowed.  This fate roll is an attribute roll based on Intuition.  If the roll is a success, the character lives.  If the roll fails, the character dies.  Only one fate roll is allowed per near death experience.
This little quirk of fate is not free.  It costs either 100 experience points, EP, or 10% of all the experience points the character has, whichever is greater.  Should the character not have 100 EP, they are subtracted from his total anyway and he must work off his debt to fate.
The GM may also allow fate rolls, at the player's request, on particularly important rolls that resulted in marginal failures.  The EP cost is the same, but a character with less than 100 EP cannot request this type of fate roll.

Modifier Chart

Very Easy Task	+ 30	
Easy Task	+ 20	
Somewhat Easy Task	+ 10	
Average Task	0	
Mildly Difficult Task	- 10	
Difficult Task	- 20	
Very Difficult Task	- 30	
Extremely Difficult Task	- 50	

	If the task ranks simpler than a very easy task, no skill roll should be required.  If the task exceeds extremely difficult, the GM may disallow the attempt.

Result Chart

Critical Failure	91 or greater and a second failed roll	
Complete Failure	Missed by 40+	
Partial Failure	Missed by 20-39	
Marginal Failure	Missed by 1-19	
Marginal Success	Made by 0-19	
Partial Success	Made by 20-39	
Complete Success	Made by 40+	
Critical Success	10 or less and a second successful roll	

Interpreting Results

Critical Failure means the job was bungled.  If the skill roll was for climbing, the character has fallen and if it was for an ambush, the character thinks he is hidden, however he can easily be seen.  If it is not obvious to a character he has failed, he may think he has succeeded, also if he is working with something, he may break it.
Complete failure means the skill or attribute was misused.  The character knows he failed and if there is time he may try the task again.  The task level may go up, however, especially in a social situation.  If the character was bargaining, he may have revealed his ignorance about a piece of merchandise with a complete failure, and the merchant will try to hoodwink him.
Partial failure means the attempt wasn’t a complete failure and the character can try again, probably at the same task level.  Of course, trying again may take time.  If a character is tracking, a partial failure might mean an extra couple of minutes getting back on the trail.
Marginal failure means the character was close to success.  He can try again, possibly at an easier task level.  For a thief picking a lock, he may have it almost open and needs an extra minute to open it.
Marginal success means a character barely completed a task.  Sometimes this is good enough, other times he might wish to re-roll at a lower task level.  A bard trying to entertain a street throng might attract a few listeners with a marginal success.  If he can give a great rendition of a story to the few he just attracted, more will listen, of course a lousy performance may lose him the audience he has.
Partial success means the skill attempt worked.  It wasn’t a great success but it was certainly good enough.  A hunter with a partial success may have bagged some pheasants.
Complete success indicates that the task was accomplished easily.  Anyone watching the character was impressed.  A character disarming a dangerous trap with apparent ease will win the admiration of his fellow adventures and their trust in his ability to disarm traps may grow.
Critical success means that the character did about as well as it was humanly possible to do.  He may have gained insight into using his skill and may gain experience.  See Chapter 5 for more information about gaining experience.  If it is relevant, the better the second roll was, the higher the critical success was.  A critical chance on the first roll and a 01 on the second roll would be a dazzling success.

Using Specific Skills

	Combat skills are covered in the combat chapter.
	Movement skills should only be made for a specific reason, such as running across ice or competing in a riding tournament.  They are usually basic make it or miss it skills and should have a low difficulty level.  If a character makes the roll he is fine and reaches his goal.  If he fails, he falls on the ice or gets a mouthful of water and must try again.  He should only have the chance of injury or death on a critical miss.  If he will be moving in difficult conditions for an extended period of time, several rolls should be required.  A critical success might indicate that no more rolls are needed.
	An ambush skill roll is made against the MD of the intended victim and shows if the ambush is successful.
A stealth skill roll can be made against the MD of a specific person who is trying to be avoided or if the character is trying to sneak past several people, a single roll might be made at higher level based on how many people are around and their MD ratings.
Tracking can vary widely in difficulty depending on the age of the tracks and whether the creature being tracked was trying to cover their trail.  A successful roll might indicate that tracker is gaining on his quarry, while a failure might mean he has lost time.
Foraging or hunting for food can have different levels of success indicating how much food was found and how quickly.  Generally it will take an hour to find food for a party of 5.
Disarming traps or picking locks is a usually make it or miss it affair.  The difficulty of the task is dependent on the complexity of the lock or trap.  Critical failures might mean the character injures himself or jams the lock.  Critical success could indicate the job was done very quickly and noiselessly.
Medicine is covered at length in the adventuring chapter.  Binding wounds can decrease the chance of infection and increase the healing rate.  The time required to bind a wound will very from a couple of minutes for a minor flesh wound to an hour to clean and bind major lacerations. The task level should range from easy for minor wounds to very difficult for a major one.
Barding is usually about entertaining people, often in the hope of making money.  The difficulty of pleasing people depends on their level of sophistication and how much entertainment is available to them.  A backwoods innkeeper may be an easy mark for a free room if the bard entertains his guest, while a king is likely to be quite critical of any flaws in a performance.
Bargaining can be used in several ways.  The GM may rule that any supplies purchased by a character or his party have a discount based on how good his bargaining skills are.  This was done for the initial outfitting.  Another way to handle haggling is to roll the character's bargaining skill level versus the shopkeeper's.  Generally the price should never vary by more than 25% either way for new items since the losing side would simply call off the deal.  Used items can often be purchased at shops for 40 to 60% of the new price and sold for 20 to 30% of new.  This should be at the GM's discretion and used items may have a few surprises or simply break.
Speaking your own language doesn't usually require a roll.  It the character is trying to win an argument or sway a crowd, his ability with the language might be used as a modifier to his mental or social dexterity.
Speaking another language is more difficult.  A character should make a easy to average roll when starting a conversation to see if the person on the receiving end can figure out what he is saying.