NOVUS MECHANICS Novus is a very flexible game. The basic mechanic described below can be used in a variety of ways to resolve various actions and other potential tasks that characters may want to do. As the Game Master (GM), you can use these various methods to resolve almost anything involving characters. We will go over each one briefly.
CORE RESOLUTION METHOD The base Target Number (TN) for every roll in Novus is 15. This applies to all rolls.
Now, to this base, are added Complications or Advantages, either Minor or Major. Multiple Complications and Multiple Advantages can actually apply to the same roll, allowing for a diverse array of TNs based one the situation at hand.
Minor Complications will add +3 to the TN of the roll. Major Complications will add +5 to the TN. Minor Advantages will subtract 3 from the TN while Major Advantages will subtract 5 from the total.
SAVING THROWS Saving Throws, or Saves as they are sometimes called, are how the character tries to resist the effects of some external influence, such as poisons, diseases, spells, and even some skills. Saving Throws can also be used to make generalized rolls where there is no proper skill involved.
Unless otherwise stated, the default TN of a Saving Throw is 15, just as detailed above. To make a Saving Throw, you roll 2d10, and add in the appropriate Secondary Stat. On rare occasions, you may need to make a Saving Throw against a Primary Stat.
While the default TN of a Saving Throw is 15, it is not uncommon for the things that require saving against having a higher TN. For example, the Saving Throw TNs for spells are often higher than 15, as it is based upon the amount of magic involved in the spell.
Saving Throws, like other rolls, are explosive. However, Saving Throws do not earn Snag or Boon Points.
Example: If a bare-foot character is trying to quickly cross a 30' wide room that is covered in broken glass, then he would want to cross without slicing his feet to ribbons. While we know that he could safely cross if he took his time, he is in a slight hurry. The GM decides that the character can make a Speed Save to get safely across the room. The player rolls 2d10, adds his Speed stat. If the result is 15 or higher, then the character has made it across without slicing his feet to ribbons.
SKILL ROLLS Most skill rolls are straight forward, following the basic resolution method listed above. While, Combat and Spell Casting rolls are also considered skill rolls, they have their own TNs based upon the Defense of the foe, or the Casting TN of the spell to be cast.
Skill rolls are where you will most often encounter Target Numbers that differ from the base of 15. This is because of the Complications and Advantages listed above.
For example, if a character does not have any ranks in the skill to be attempted, the task would get a Major Complication, increasing the TN from 15 to 20.
OPPOSED ROLLS There will often be times where one character or NPC may be attempting something that another character or NPC wants to prevent. One good example might be trying to sneak past a guard who is looking for folks trying to sneak past him.
The simplest method to resolve this is to make both characters/NPCs roll. The TNs for each roll are determined normally. If both rollos are successful, the one with the higher difference, between the TN and the actual roll will be the winner.
Example: A Guard has an Insight of 7. The Rogue has a Stealth of 5. The GM determines that the TN for each roll is 18. The Guard rolls a 10 and an 8, for the Exploding die, he rolls a 1, giving him a total of 26 (7+10+8+1), which is 8 points above his TN. The Rogue rolls an 8 and a 10, and for the Exploding die, he rolls a 5, giving him a total of 28 (5+10+8+5), which is 10 points above his TN. Since the Rogue's 10 is greater than the 8 of the Guard, he wins, and is able to sneak past the Guard.
Should the roll result in a tie, then the TN is increased by 3 points, and both sides roll again. This being repeated until there is a clear winner.
Should one roll fail and the other succeed, then the one that succeeded wins the Opposed roll. A character can win the Opposed task even when failing their roll, and it cause the action to still be accomplished. In the case of our example above, if both failed, and the Rogue failed by less then the Guard, then even though the Rogue was not stealthy at all, the Guard was so out of it that he did not notice.
Opposed Rolls should not be used for things like contests where both participants are trying to hit a specific target, as that is simply a straight up skill roll against an identical TN since one side isn't trying to negate the other side's actions.
PERCENTAGE TOTAL There may be times when you, as GM wish to determine how much of an action or task was accomplished, rather than going with a simple pass or fail mechanic.
To keep things simple, if the roll is equal to the TN of the task, 20% of the action has been accomplished. Each point above the TN will add another 10% to the total amount accomplished.
BONUS ROLL The whole idea of the Bonus Roll is to use one character's skill in order to provide a bonus to the skill roll of another character. The GM determines the TN of the task being used to aid another and the player rolls as normal.
If successful, the person being aided gets a Minor Advantage to their roll (-3 TN). If the roll is successful enough to earn a Boon Point, the person being aided gains a Major Advantage (-5 TN) to their roll.
Should the helper fail their roll, the one being helped gains no bonus. Should he fail by 5 or more points, the person being help would get a Minor Complication (+3 TN), and if the helper fails by 10 more, the person being helped would gain a Major Complication (+5 TN).
How does that look?
