This was inspired by the "Fumble/Critical" rules in the Aria: Canticle of the Monomyth RPG. A game I'm re-reading thanks to a thread on it over in the General RPG forum.
In this variant in are five grades of success and failure. They are (going from worst to best):
Abyssmal Failure: -31 or less
Miserable Failure: -26 to -30
Serious Failure: -15 to -25
Complete Failure:-2 to -15
Partial Failure: -1
Partial Success: 0
Complete Success: +1 to +15
Superior Success: +16 to +25
Outstanding Success:+26 to +30
Mythic Success: + 31 and up
In this scheme a Complete Success is the same as an ordinary success in the standard rules, while a Complete Failure means the same as an ordinary failure. An Outstanding Success corresponds to a Critical, while a Miserable Failure is equivelent to a Fumble. The rest I could use a little help deciding on. Keep in mind that an Abyssmal Failure should be truly abyssmal, while a Mythic success should be truly Mythic. I'll provide an example of a Mythic Success below, after I explain how one gets a better success, or a worse failure, in this system.
Which happens this way:
On a 'one' on a d20 roll again. If the second roll indicates a failure the type of failure is lowered one grade. A Partial Failure becoming a Complete Failure for example. On a success there is no change in the result. Every time a 'one' is rolled, roll again. So if somebody who needed a '10' or better to succeed rolled 1, 1, and 4 on the die, he would get a Miserable Failure (A Complete Failure for the first roll, 'promoted' to a Serious Failure by the second, then to a Miserable Failure by the third).
On a 'twenty' on a d20 (or if the die roll is within the Critical Threat range for a weapon) roll again. if the second roll indicates a success the grade of success is goes up by one. On a failure there is no change. Every time a '20' is rolled (or a number in the Critical Threat range for a weapon) roll again.
Now for that example I threatened you with above.
Barney (Sorcerer 1) and his buds are heading back to town after a day at the dungeon. Everybody is tired, wounded, and out of spells.
On the way they run into a pit fiend going home after a day visiting a friend in town (pit fiends on Ki do that sort of thing). The pit fiend doesn't want any trouble (on Ki it's not a pit fiend's job to cause trouble, it's their job to punish the souls of those who caused trouble in life). The party (with one exception) doesn't want trouble. The one exception (played by a chap engaging in blatent metagaming ("Alan would never have us face a real pit fiend, that would be unfair.")) attacks.
Result? Combat.
Seeing his buds going down in defeat Barney, in desperation, whacks the pit fiend with his staff. He has no reasonable chance of actually hurting the fellow, but you never know.
The first roll is a '20'.A Complete Failure, but the player gets to roll again. With nigh unbelievable dice luck the grade is uped to Partial Failure, Partial Success, Complete Success, Superior Success, Outstanding Success, and (finally) Mythic Success.
Result? Our desperate sorcerer managed to land a good, solid, fatal blow to the back of the pit fiend's head, right where the spine connects with the skull. {In this case I'd recommend that Barney get no more XP then what's needed to get half way to third level. And that he be the only one to get any XP since he was the only one who actually did anything effective against the pit fiend.} (Folks, if this doesn't qualify as a mythic event, you've set your standards too high.
)
Feedback and suggestions are welcome.
In this variant in are five grades of success and failure. They are (going from worst to best):
Abyssmal Failure: -31 or less
Miserable Failure: -26 to -30
Serious Failure: -15 to -25
Complete Failure:-2 to -15
Partial Failure: -1
Partial Success: 0
Complete Success: +1 to +15
Superior Success: +16 to +25
Outstanding Success:+26 to +30
Mythic Success: + 31 and up
In this scheme a Complete Success is the same as an ordinary success in the standard rules, while a Complete Failure means the same as an ordinary failure. An Outstanding Success corresponds to a Critical, while a Miserable Failure is equivelent to a Fumble. The rest I could use a little help deciding on. Keep in mind that an Abyssmal Failure should be truly abyssmal, while a Mythic success should be truly Mythic. I'll provide an example of a Mythic Success below, after I explain how one gets a better success, or a worse failure, in this system.
Which happens this way:
On a 'one' on a d20 roll again. If the second roll indicates a failure the type of failure is lowered one grade. A Partial Failure becoming a Complete Failure for example. On a success there is no change in the result. Every time a 'one' is rolled, roll again. So if somebody who needed a '10' or better to succeed rolled 1, 1, and 4 on the die, he would get a Miserable Failure (A Complete Failure for the first roll, 'promoted' to a Serious Failure by the second, then to a Miserable Failure by the third).
On a 'twenty' on a d20 (or if the die roll is within the Critical Threat range for a weapon) roll again. if the second roll indicates a success the grade of success is goes up by one. On a failure there is no change. Every time a '20' is rolled (or a number in the Critical Threat range for a weapon) roll again.
Now for that example I threatened you with above.
Barney (Sorcerer 1) and his buds are heading back to town after a day at the dungeon. Everybody is tired, wounded, and out of spells.
On the way they run into a pit fiend going home after a day visiting a friend in town (pit fiends on Ki do that sort of thing). The pit fiend doesn't want any trouble (on Ki it's not a pit fiend's job to cause trouble, it's their job to punish the souls of those who caused trouble in life). The party (with one exception) doesn't want trouble. The one exception (played by a chap engaging in blatent metagaming ("Alan would never have us face a real pit fiend, that would be unfair.")) attacks.
Result? Combat.
Seeing his buds going down in defeat Barney, in desperation, whacks the pit fiend with his staff. He has no reasonable chance of actually hurting the fellow, but you never know.
The first roll is a '20'.A Complete Failure, but the player gets to roll again. With nigh unbelievable dice luck the grade is uped to Partial Failure, Partial Success, Complete Success, Superior Success, Outstanding Success, and (finally) Mythic Success.
Result? Our desperate sorcerer managed to land a good, solid, fatal blow to the back of the pit fiend's head, right where the spine connects with the skull. {In this case I'd recommend that Barney get no more XP then what's needed to get half way to third level. And that he be the only one to get any XP since he was the only one who actually did anything effective against the pit fiend.} (Folks, if this doesn't qualify as a mythic event, you've set your standards too high.
)Feedback and suggestions are welcome.
