From Caernest
The 2d12 System
Contents |
Dice Mechanic
The basic element of the system is add the appropriate stat and skill, add bonuses to this number, subtract penalties. The number this creates is your target roll. You want to roll equal to or under that total. The actual die roll should never be modified; only the target.
Typical Bonuses and Penalties
| Situation | Example | Bonus | Penalty |
| Common everyday task | cooking scrambled eggs, smith fixing a horseshoe, tracking 5 mounted people through the woods | +3 | -- |
| Average task | grilling hamburgers, setting a rivet, tracking 5 people through the woods | -- | -- |
| Tricky task | timing the parts of a meal to finish on time, mending a hole in chainmaille, tracking 2 people through the woods | -- | -2 |
| Difficult task | making Stuffed squab chaudfroid w/Cumberland sauce, raising a fluted breastplate, tracking 1 person through the woods | -- | -5 |
| Amazing task | diving onto the back of a moving dragon from a flying mount, cold raising a fluted breastplate, tracking 1 person through a paved city | -- | -9 |
| Legendary task | diving onto the back of a dragon in a cloudy sky, cold raising the breastplate out of titanium, tracking a bird through a paved city | -- | -14 |
Critical Successes
Rolling exactly that amount is considered a "critical" success. Critical successes allow you to roll another d12 and add it to the current total. (However, the original roll is used to determine success or failure.) Sometimes this won't help for anything, other times it can be a great benefit.
Critical Failures
If you fail a roll by 12 or more on the roll, it is a critical failure. Sometimes a critical failure is not possible. Sometimes a critical failure is more likely than success. There will be times it is wiser to not try to attempt something than it is to try.
Opposed Rolls
When two rolls are opposed, the higher roll wins. If there is a tie, the higher related skill wins, if this is still a tie, the related stat is used to break the tie. If this is still a tie, the defender wins. If there is no "defender", roll again.
Lucky Number / Lucky Doubles
Every character has a "lucky number". This is decided at character creation and cannot be changed. The number is between 2 and 11 (inclusive). If doubles of your lucky number are rolled, you can roll one of your dice again and chose the better roll. If doubles of your lucky number also happen to be a critical success, roll 2 additional d12s and chose one.
Side note: A character's lucky number will have an in-game role-playing side to it as well. Their lucky number coincides with the month they are born. People born in the first and last month of the year have extreme issues, making those months not feasible as PC birth months. This will also tie into something resembling a "horoscope".