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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GMMichael" data-source="post: 9456551" data-attributes="member: 6685730">The Quality Contest is a follow-up roll to a skill contest (a test or check or what-have-you that adds a bonus based on your skill level).  To determine if a roll was high quality (or very poor) you roll a second skill contest, not against the first goal/target but against the result of your first contest.  If this second result is also a success, then you've done something beyond expectations.  If not, it's a standard success.  This flips for failures - roll under your first failure with a quality contest to find out that something has gone very wrong.  Like you'll need to check the critical miss table.  The quality contest is designed for roll-high, single-die contests (like a d20 + skill vs. target number), but can be applied to other systems as well.What I like about the quality contest is that it incorporates skill level into the odds of an exceptional effort, instead of making those odds a flat 1-in-20.  So, in the combat situation (and who doesn't love combat?) above, the warrior needed a result of 13 or higher to hit.  Since skill adds to the d20 roll, more skill means more results that are considered successful.  It also means a higher ceiling for the follow-up quality contest, which is why rolling close to the target number was good for the first roll.  If your skill makes a hit easy, then odds of a disaster/critical miss dwindle rapidly.  A character struggling to hit the hobogre, with a -2 bonus to attack skill for example, has a smaller window for the initial success, and an even smaller window (in all likelihood) to have done an excellent job at it.  However, this character's odds of mucking it up are much greater, in the event that the GM wants to check the quality of a miss.What the quality contest doesn't do is tell GMs when to request one.  Quality contests probably shouldn't happen after every roll (although they could).  A crit is simple: roll a 20, it's a crit.  The quality contest leaves possibilities open - it could happen when a PC rolls max damage, or when a PC has Advantage.  I like the idea of the situation calling for quality contests: if the PC is on a roll and has hit for the prior two rounds, or the opponent is panicking while surrounded, roll for quality.Is the Quality Contest something you'd try in your game?  Should skill be a larger factor in critical hits, without taking the time to count degrees of success?  If you had to decide on checking the quality of a contest, would you pick a time other than rolling 20 on the die?</blockquote>

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