The Dice
Rules related to dice rolls and checks.
Dice Checks
Star Wars only uses six-sided dice to resolve its gameplay. The GM calls for a dice check when a character attempts something challenging, dangerous, or risky. The player gathers a number of dice equal to the dice rating of the applicable attribute, rolls them, adds the applicable skill's rating to their sum, and compares the total to the dice check’s target number (TN). There are six different types of dice checks:
- Attribute Rolls determine how successful you are at skill-based challenges.
- Attack Rolls determine if you can hit a target successfully enough to deal damage to their Resolve.
- Damage Rolls determine how much Resolve a target can potentially lose.
- Exploding Rolls are used when called for, adding an extra die to the sum every time you roll a 6.
- Flat Rolls are used for any circumstances not covered above.
Modifying Checks
A Dice Pool represents the total number of six-sided dice rolled when making a Dice Check.
Dice Checks can be modified with as low as a -2D total penalty and as high as a +2D total bonus. Bonuses and penalties are subtracted from the Dice Pool before rolling the check. Dice Pools can never be less than 1D or greater than 7D. Dice Checks can be modified in the following ways:
- Before rolling, you can spend a Knowledge Point to add +1D to your check.
- After rolling, you can spend a Force Point to reroll and add +1D to your check.
- Specific tools and items may provide a +1D to a check.
- The GM can add or subtract one or two dice from a check to represent advantageous or disadvantageous conditions.
Opposed Checks
When a character opposes another character's check, they each roll and compare results. The highest result wins. On a tie, the character who initiated the check wins.
Target Numbers
Target numbers represent the number required to meet or exceed a successful dice check. TNs have five levels of challenge: Easy (5-10), Moderate (10-15), Difficult (15-20), and Improbable (20-30+). Examples:
| CHECK | ABILITY | TN |
| Catch a falling object | DEX + Agility | 5-10 |
| Kick open an unlocked door | STR + Athletics | 5-10 |
| Notice an object or movement that stands out | PER + Search | 5-10 |
| Recall context around a reasonably common subject | KNO + Galaxy | 5-10 |
| Drive a common but unfamiliar vehicle along an easy route | MEC + Drive | 5-10 |
| Make minor repairs to a simple weapon |
TEC + Armament | 5-10 |
| Sense emotional states or coming danger | FOR + Sense | 5-10 |
| Pickpocketing a distracted merchant | DEX + Steal | 10-15 |
| Threatening a thug to back down | STR + Intimidate | 10-15 |
| Convincing an angry group that you mean them no harm | PER + Persuade | 10-15 |
| Making a local connection with a criminal organization | KNO + Streetwise | 10-15 |
| Navigating charted hyper-lanes | MEC + Astrogation | 10-15 |
| Diagnose and treat a common injury | TEC + Medicine | 10-15 |
| Lift a heavy object with your mind | FOR + Alter | 10-15 |
| Shoot a distant object to set off a trap | DEX + Blasters | 15-20 |
| Resist the effects of extreme climates and weather | STR + Stamina | 15-20 |
| Lie to a grand jury on trial | PER + Deceive | 15-20 |
| Identify rare fauna that can offer a helpful benefit | KNO + Survival | 15-20 |
| Successfully land a starship amidst challenging environs | MEC + Pilot | 15-20 |
| Splice a secure computer system | TEC + Computers | 15-20 |
| Inflict fear upon an enemy | FOR + Dark Side | 15-20 |
| Evading a hail of blaster crossfire | DEX + Agility | 20-30 |
| Tear the ears off a Gundark | STR + Athletics | 20-30 |
| Pinpoint a key strategic weakness during an Imperial siege | PER + Tactics | 20-30 |
| Translate a forgotten language | KNO + Xenology | 20-30 |
| Break a strong system-wide communications jam | MEC + Sensors | 20-30 |
| Design a unique droid model | TEC + Droids | 20-30 |
| Use a legendary Force ability | FOR + Any | 20-30 |
Destiny Die
Attribute, Attack, and Damage checks automatically roll a special twenty-sided Destiny Die that can affect the result. This represents luck, fate, and the influence of the Force—and the effect takes place regardless of the check's success or failure.
During combat, when you roll a Destiny Die effect, you cannot roll another until the start of your next turn. Destiny Die effects include:
- Attribute: Complication. You narrate an unexpected and unrelated complication that results during their PC's check, and the GM adds a secondary detail. For example: you succeed at a check to hack into a computer console and decide the Complication is that a unit of enemy soldiers stumble onto you at that moment.
- Attribute: Opportunity. You narrate an unexpected and unrelated opportunity that results during their PC's check, and the GM adds a secondary detail. For example: you fail at a check to lose your pursuers down a side alley and decide the Opportunity is that a nearby door has been left ajar.
- Attack: Gain Momentum. You can take one additional action before the end of your turn.
- Attack: Dramatic Reversal. A nearby enemy immediately takes an action after your attack resolves.
- Damage: Vicious. Increase your attack's damage by 5.
- Damage: Glancing. Reduce your attack's damage by 5.
Cinematic Challenges
A Cinematic Challenge is not a traditional combat or dice check. A challenge is more akin to a test of wills in ever-changing circumstances using a variety of tactics. These challenges emphasize roleplay and risk-taking. Every cinematic challenge should be used to answer an exciting narrative question. Question Example: Can our starship make the Kessel Run safely?
Cinematic challenges can evoke the dynamic push-and-pull of anything from lightsaber duels, big battles, chase scenes, political debates, courtroom trials, murder investigations, high-stakes gambling, and tense negotiations. When running a challenge, all allied characters share a Challenge Dice Pool.
Running a Challenge
Cinematic challenges encourage players' creative storytelling during epic moments. PCs involved directly in the challenge act in order of Initiative and make a Cinematic check on their turn, which can be any Attribute check that makes sense for the story. However, a character cannot use the same Attribute or Skill on two consecutive rounds.
Example: If a character makes a DEX + Blasters check to shoot a control panel and close a blast door during Round One, they cannot make a DEX + Agility check to dodge the blaster fire from nearby guards during Round Two.
Challenge Levels and NPCs. The Challenge Level determines the TN for Cinematic checks, represented by a range. The GM informs players of the TN of a Cinematic check before they roll, raising or lowering it within the Challenge Level range situationally at their discretion. Help from significant allied NPCs may lower a check's TN, while opposition from significant enemy NPCs may increase its TN.
NPCs can become threatened, injured, or even killed as a consequence of Cinematic Checks at the GM's discretion. Do not track damage to Resolve during Cinematic Challenges—the outcomes will play out narratively during the challenge, with the final outcome determined at the end of the challenge.
Each time a character succeeds on a Cinematic check, the TN increases by 3 (up to maximum.) Each time a character fails on a check, the TN decreases by 3 (down to the minimum.)
- Average: TN Range 8-14
- Tricky: TN Range 11-17
- Challenging: TN Range 14-20
- Expert: TN Range 17-23
- Deadly: TN Range 20-26
- Suicide Mission: TN Range 23-29
The Turn
On a character's turn:
- They describe what they are doing and then make a Cinematic check that fits that moment in the story. They compare their check to the TN.
- If the character succeeds, they add one die to their group's Challenge Dice Pool. If they fail, the Opposing Force adds two dice to their Challenge Dice Pool. This represents narrative swings of momentum in the story.
- The GM and players narrate the outcome, the turn ends, and the next character in Initiative order begins their turn.
Example of an Average Turn. During a chase scene (Challenging: TN Range 14-20), three Imperial spies hop onto speeder bikes and fly off in opposite directions with download schematics of your base. You attempt to search the skies of Coruscant for the means to catch up with them and make a PER + Search check. Your check results in a 12 (failure.) It takes you time to find and hail a taxi, and the Opposing Force adds two dice to their Challenge Dice Pool.
Example of a Complex Turn. During a courtroom trial (Tricky: TN Range 11-17), the Counsellor—a long-time rival to your group—presented false evidence against you. The Counsellor adds 6 to the TN, but an allied NPC stands up to accuse the Counsellor of being a secret Imperial spy, reducing the TN by 3.
The GM sets the TN to 14. You attempt to defend yourself by using the laws of space physics to prove their timeline is impossible and make a MEC + Astrogation check. Your check results in a 15 (success) and you add one die to your group's Challenge Dice Pool.
Ending the Challenge
Think of a challenge as a cinematic dance between two characters or groups opposed to one another, working together to tell a story that will—by design—have an exciting and impactful conclusion regardless of who wins.
At any time after the start of the fourth round, the GM can announce that it's time to End the Challenge. The characters narrate their final, decisive actions, then roll their Challenge Dice Pool. The GM does the same for the Opposing Force, rolling their Challenge Dice Pool. The higher roll wins the challenge—ties favor the PCs. You cannot use Force Points or Knowledge Points to alter this final roll.
Alternatively, after the start of the fourth round, the characters' group may concede the challenge on their turn and potentially negotiate a less devastating outcome with their opponent or the GM.
The challenge's winner decides the outcome and consequences. For example, in a lightsaber duel, the winning character might decide to wound their opponent, disarm them, capture them, or slay them outright. In other types of cinematic challenges, characters might decide to steal an object from a safehouse without being caught, turn a council of politicians against a rival, defend themselves successfully during a public trial, or negotiate a better trade deal with a cutthroat criminal organization.