WOIN Capping Your Dice Pool

[Morrus]

The capping of a dice pool applies ONLY to the process of forming a pool with an ATTRIBUTE + SKILL + GEAR*. It does not apply to any other type of roll, such as damage, rolling for HEALTH, or anything else which isn’t forming a pool with an ATTRIBUTE + SKILL + GEAR.

Note that this DOES include DEFENCES, as these are calculated by forming a pool with an ATTRIBUTE + SKILL + GEAR.

The process is as follows:

1. Form your dice pool by forming a pool with an ATTRIBUTE + SKILL + GEAR.
2. Cap it.
3. Apply anything else.**

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*GEAR (or equipment) refers specifically to the gear quality dice pool contribution (high, exceptional, artisanal, etc.) not to any miscellaneous bonuses mentioned in its description.
**This includes LUC dice, exploits, positional modifiers, aim/feint, complications, miscellaneous bonuses, and anything else which isn't literally part of the initial forming a pool with an ATTRIBUTE + SKILL + GEAR.

 

[BlckKnght]

Can you clarify if the GEAR pool you describe is only the dice from the quality level of the gear (High-Quality, Exceptional, Mastercraft, etc...) or if it includes other dice that are specific to the type of item? For instance, camouflaged armor gives a +1d6 to checks to hide in appropriate terrain. Is that extra d6 part of the GEAR bucket and so subject to the cap, or is it in the "anything else" bucket that gets added after the cap?

I'm pretty sure it's not capped (or stuff like the invisibility cloak in NEW would be mostly useless), but it would be good to confirm that. Perhaps the GEAR bucket should be renamed "GEAR QUALITY" to be more specific.

 

[Morrus]

Can you clarify if the GEAR pool you describe is only the dice from the quality level of the gear (High-Quality, Exceptional, Mastercraft, etc...) or if it includes other dice that are specific to the type of item? For instance, camouflaged armor gives a +1d6 to checks to hide in appropriate terrain. Is that extra d6 part of the GEAR bucket and so subject to the cap, or is it in the "anything else" bucket that gets added after the cap?

I'm pretty sure it's not capped (or stuff like the invisibility cloak in NEW would be mostly useless), but it would be good to confirm that. Perhaps the GEAR bucket should be renamed "GEAR QUALITY" to be more specific.

Yes, quality. The pool is literally the basic dice pool you include from an attribute + equipment + gear. Everything else, such as misc bonuses, is applied after capping.

 

[BlckKnght]

Right, my point is about the terminology. If you say that "gear" dice go into the basic pool, that makes it seem like all bonus dice from gear might be included. That's why I'd suggest you emphasize "gear quality" instead of just "gear". Normal gear don't give dice of either sort, so for a new player there's not much to learn from.

 

[Denari82]

Thanks for this post. Does the Gearmaster option in cinematic mode still override the gear quality exception?

 

[1000buffalo]

The way I read it is that you have to reduce (if needed) to that base dice cap (for characters who can somehow gather a pool larger than their cap in Step 1) before you can trade off attack dice to damage (say). That is, a Grade 5 PC who gathers 7 dice in an attack pool can't put two of them (the two over their dice cap) towards additional damage.

Has anyone played with an option of letting Players use the dice over their dice cap towards damage, etc. and keeping the dice cap strictly on # rolled ... that is, if you can gather 7 dice for a Grade 5 PC, you can trade those excess dice towards an effect.

 

[Dreist]

So, say you were capped at 5 dice, but had the attributes and skills to use 6 dice, however you had to improvise your equipment (-2 dice). Since the cap is AFTER you apply attributes and skills, that would mean you roll 4 dice, right?

 

[1000buffalo]

So, say you were capped at 5 dice, but had the attributes and skills to use 6 dice, however you had to improvise your equipment (-2 dice). Since the cap is AFTER you apply attributes and skills, that would mean you roll 4 dice, right?

I think your example is the rules-as-written. The pool would be 6 dice less 2 equipment dice (the -2 improv ) = 4, which is under the dice pool cap.

I'm thinking of something where Skills + Attributes + Gear = 6 or more dice on a 5 Dice Cap, and the GM allows the "excess" dice to go somewhere else. For example, 7 dice pool before Dice Cap, and allowing the 2 Attack Dice (otherwise lost by the Dice Cap) to provide +1d damage if the attack roll is successful. They still are only rolling 5 dice to hit, but feel a benefit of the "lost dice" on attack.

 

[Dreist]

I think your example is the rules-as-written. The pool would be 6 dice less 2 equipment dice (the -2 improv ) = 4, which is under the dice pool cap.

I'm thinking of something where Skills + Attributes + Gear = 6 or more dice on a 5 Dice Cap, and the GM allows the "excess" dice to go somewhere else. For example, 7 dice pool before Dice Cap, and allowing the 2 Attack Dice (otherwise lost by the Dice Cap) to provide +1d damage if the attack roll is successful. They still are only rolling 5 dice to hit, but feel a benefit of the "lost dice" on attack.

My question was unrelated to yours, I was just wanting to clarify something separately, that said, I do have some thoughts on your question:
I think that would be a somewhat unbalancing element. The point of the cap is to avoid overspecialization/min-maxing, and to keep a certain relative power level. Using the excess dice to buy things would be a bit much. Trading accuracy for power is a core part of the game, but there is no trade-off with that method, just more power. It removes the fun of thinking over the balance of accuracy vs damage, and heavily incentivizes specialization that the cap system is in place to curb.

 

[Morrus]

So, say you were capped at 5 dice, but had the attributes and skills to use 6 dice, however you had to improvise your equipment (-2 dice). Since the cap is AFTER you apply attributes and skills, that would mean you roll 4 dice, right?

That’s correct. You form your attribute + skill + equipment dice pool before capping it.