1 = Critical Miss in combat ONLY. It also does NOT mean the character fumbled and flubbed up majorly. It just means that even if an enemy has AC 8 and you get +8 to Hit, there's still a chance you might fail.
The purpose is to prevent players from getting so good that they hit no matter what in combat, thus making combat pointless. It is not to symbolize just how poorly a person did.
It is NOT used for skill checks because the game is designed so that if you are good enough at something, a die roll isn't even necessary.
So, if you have +4 skill, a 5 or higher check is pointless. The difficulty is so low that unless you have no ability at all in that area, you shouldn't have to roll.
Similarly, if you get +10 for lock picking, because you are a Rogue with Expertise, any lock that is only 10 or higher is no roll necessary. You're an expert. You won't fail on something so trivial to you. That's why you're an expert.
There's nothing worse than being an expert at something in a game like this and then failing because of a dice roll.
True story, playing Star Wars RPG with my brother. Epic scene/ fight. Climax of the game/ story. He runs up stairs, but he has awesome Athletic skill. Rolls a 1. Trips and falls. Almost died. He doesn't almost die at the hands of a villain. He almost dies because of rolling a 1 to climb stairs.
Suffice to say, he was ticked. His argument? His character was super athletic. He shouldn't be almost dying by running up stairs.
Last edited by GM4Him; 12/02/22 03:58 PM.
