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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 8890914" data-attributes="member: 907">Star Wars uses six different symbols (eight if you count the Force die, but that's a separate mechanic), three bad and three good. The symbols are:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Success and Failure: These cancel one another out. If you have at least one uncanceled Success, you succeed on whatever you were doing. More successes mean you succeed more – maybe you do the thing faster, or you hit a more vulnerable point dealing more damage, you make a better deal, etc. Uncanceled failures don't mean anything, other than failure.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Advantage and Threat: These also cancel one another out. Uncanceled Advantages give good side effects, and uncanceled Threats give bad side effects. These effects are more-or-less independent of actual success or failure. For example, if you're shooting at someone and get a failure but two Advantages, maybe you don't actually hurt the target but you hit and destroy the cover they're using, making it easier for your buddy to shoot them later. If you're slicing a computer system to find some information and succeed but get some Threats, perhaps you find the information you're looking for but you set off an alarm.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Triumph and Despair: These are a bit special, and combine elements of the other four. They each act as a Success/Failure respectively, but also have extra-strong narrative effects along the lines of Advantage/Threat but more. The Success/Failure part can be canceled as normal, but not the narrative effects.</li> </ul>These symbols are spread over six different dice, three "good" and three "bad", as follows:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ability dice and Proficiency dice: you get these based on your stats (ability scores and skills). The total number of dice is the highest of the two, and a number equal to the lowest of the two are the amazing Proficiency dice and the rest are the pretty good Ability dice (e.g. if you have Presence 4 and Charm 1, you would roll 1 proficiency die and 3 ability dice). Proficiency dice are the only ones with a Triumph symbol on them. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Difficulty dice and Challenge dice: the opposite of Ability/Proficiency dice. Difficulty dice are the ones usually used for static difficulties, and are the counterparts of Ability dice. Challenge dice are the counterparts of Proficiency dice but are rarer, and mostly come into play on opposed rolls where you use the opponent's ability/skill to set the number of dice you roll. So if your opponent has Presence 2 and Cool 3, your Charm roll would use 1 Difficulty die and 2 Challenge dice. Challenge dice are the only ones with a Despair symbol on them.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Boost dice and Setback dice: where Ability/Proficiency reflects your own capabilities, and Difficulty/Challenge reflects the core difficulty of a task, these reflect positive/negative circumstances. They often come from gear, special abilities, or circumstances. For example, if I'm shooting at a target under cover, that will give me Setback dice. If I take the time to aim, that will give me Boost dice. Boost/Setback dice are the "weakest" dice.</li> </ul>An interesting side effect is that since each die commonly (not always) gives either a Success/Failure or an Advantage/Threat, the good symbols "compete" with one another, and the same goes for the bad ones. That means that on a roll with a difficulty about equal to your capabilities, it is fairly likely that you will either get a failure with advantages or a success with threats. This tends to create interesting situations.</blockquote>

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