Making Tests

At the heart of any role playing game, there must be a system to test whether your character can do what he is trying to do. There are two kinds of test in Fae Domains. The Simple Test is used in situations where you either succeed or fail with no result in between. A Complex Test yields a degree of success called the Margin. The Margin is used in various parts of the rules for different things. It may determine how hard you swing your sword or how much drain you take from casting a spell.
The following procedure is used when making a Test:

1. Determine the base chance of success.
Usually, the base chance of success will be an Attribute or Skill Rating. If a character doesn't have the skill, the base chance is 0%.

2. Apply modifiers.
Skills always have a primary modifier. This is the Attribute which most directly effects the outcome of the skill's usage. Add the attribute modifier to the skill rating. The attribute modifier is equal to one tenth the attribute rating, rounded to the nearest whole number
Every test is modified by the Luck modifier. Add one tenth of the character's Luck Attribute (round to the nearest whole number) to the total.
Usually the rules will give you some additional modifiers to add in special situations. Add any these modifiers now. The result is the Modified Chance of Success or MCS. If the Modified Chance of Success is less than 1%, then assume it is 1%. (Characters should always have at least a slim chance to succeed.)

3. Roll the dice.
Roll percentile dice. If you have a hundred side die, this is easy. (If you don't mind chasing the thing around the table.) If not, you will need two different ten sided dice. Declare one as the "high die" and roll both. The "high die" becomes the tens digit and the other die is the ones digit. If you roll two zeroes, it is counted as one hundred (100).

Example: Brutus' player Kevin has a red die and a blue die. He declares red high and rolls. The results are a zero (0) on the red die and a two (2) on the blue one. The result of the roll is two (02). Later, he makes another test and declares red high, rolling six (6) on the blue die, and three (3) on the red die. The result is thirty six (36). Since the roll is within two of the Modified Chance of Success (33 to 37), he gets a chance to increase his skill rating. Kevin immediately rolls a ten sided die getting four (4), so Brutus now has a score of 26 (25 + 1) for his Sword Skill. If the roll had been 35, he would also roll another ten sided die to increase his Strength Score which is the primary modifier for the Sword Skill.

4. Determine Success.
Compare the result of your roll to the Modified Chance of Success. If the roll is higher, your character fails. A roll greater than ninety five (95) always fails no matter what the Modified Chance of Success is.
If this was a Simple Test, you may stop here. You know all you need, your character has either succeeded or failed.
If you are rolling a Complex Test and have succeeded, you must now determine the Margin of success. The number you rolled is the Margin. Different situations apply the margin in different ways which are described in the appropriate section of this manual.

Optional Rules

All of the following rules are optional. They are intended to either simplify the game or make it more realistic. Before you begin play, the game master and players should discuss these rules and decide which ones you will be using. If your group changes their minds later, go ahead and include or exclude one or all of the optional rules.

Botch Optional Rule: Occasionally a character will just screw things up completely. With the Botch optional rule, any time the character rolls one hundred (00) on a test something bad happens. A warrior may drop or damage his weapon or a thief may jam the lock he is picking. What happens is entirely up to the Game master. You may make it humorous or damaging as you see fit. Try to make the botch fit the mood of the game. Never let botches kill a character, you have all worked too hard to let one unlucky throw of the dice end it all for no reason.

Easy Math Optional Rule: If your gamemaster approves, you may round all Margins to the nearest ten percent (10%) for ease of calculation. Note that in the above example, Brutus would not have achieved any damage using this rule because 2 rounds down to 0.

Lucky Strike Optional Rule: Sometimes, even the worst fighter can land a lucky shot or an inept thief can pick a nearly impossible lock despite the odds. Using the Lucky Strike Option, if you roll exactly one (01) then your character succeeds with a margin of 100%!

Quick Test Optional Rule: There are many skills that are modified by the Margin of another skill test. If your Gamemaster approves use of the Quick Test Option, you may choose to forgo the first test and simply add one tenth of your skill rating (round to the nearest whole number).
The Quick Test Option guarantees you do not fail the first test and it speeds up the process of making tests. However, if you don't roll skill tests for a skill, you will miss the opportunity to increase the skill rating.
Once you roll the first skill test for the modifier of the second test, you can not change your mind and use the Quick Test Option. You are stuck with the results you rolled.

Wound and Fatigue Level Optional Rule: In real life, the more tired or hurt we become, the more difficult it is to act. If your gaming group wants to simulate this effect in the game, use the following rule. If your current wounds or fatigue exceed half your WP or FP respectively, then subtract 10% from all tests the character makes until he recovers. If the character's wounds or fatigue exceeds three quarters (3/4) the character's WP or FP then subtract 20% from all tests the character makes. The character may have one modifier for wounds and a different one for fatigue. Apply one modifier for each Fatigue and wounds.