# Regular Dice Rolls # Simple Tests ##### **What are simple tests?** Usually day to day actions are free for player for example opening a door doesn't require any special checks as long as its unlocked. However for tasks or actions that are not part of regular life; if you want to do something harder than usual, like scaling a sheer cliff, reading Sumerian, or picking the lock on a door. You can make a simple test. Simple tests go like this: - Describe what your character is trying to achieve and how. - The Storyteller tells you which of your character’s Traits to use to assemble a dice pool. - The Storyteller sets a Difficulty. This number may be kept secret, depending on circumstances and playstyle. - Unless the test is an automatic win (see p. 120), you roll the dice pool and count your successes. Every die that shows 6 or higher is a success. A 0 on the die means a result of 10: a success. - If the number of successes you get equals or exceeds the Difficulty, you win the test and accomplish that action. ##### **Example:** Juan's character is canvassing the neighbourhood for information on movement in the area. The Storyteller decides this is a simple Resolve + Investigation test with a Difficulty of 2: straightforward. Juan's character has 3 dots in Resolve and 3 dots in Investigation and so he rolls 6 dice, getting three successes – more than enough for a win. The Storyteller gives Juan the info he sought: a clue he might be able to use. # Traits and Dice Pools The Storyteller tells you which combination of Traits creates your dice pool, the number of ten-sided dice you will roll, for any action. Although most actions use a Skill pool (Attribute + Skill or Attribute + Discipline), a few only use Attributes to build the pool. ##### **Often an Attribute pool represents a straightforward test of the given Attribute:** - Strength + Strength to lift a heavy beam off a coffin lid, for example. - Sometimes, two Attributes combine to make a pool, such as Resolve + Composure tests to resist many Disciplines (p. 243). A character who lacks a Skill rolls only the pool’s Attribute, with no additional penalties. ##### **Specialties:** Characters may possess greater aptitude or expertise in one particular aspect of a Skill. If a character attempts an action that falls within one or more of their specialties for the skill used, they gain one extra die for their dice pool. # Difficulties
**Difficulty of the Action****Required Success**
**Routine** (striking a stationary target, convincing a loyal friend to help you)1
**Straightforward** (seducing someone who’s already in the mood, intimidating a weakling)2
**Moderate** (replacing a car’s sound system, walking a tightrope)3
**Challenging** (locating the source of a whisper, creating a memorable piece of art)c4
**Hard** (convincing a cop that this isn’t your cocaine, rebuilding a wrecked engine block)5
**Very Hard** (running across a tightrope while under fire, calming a hostile and violent mob)6
**Nearly Impossible** (finding one specific homeless person in Los Angeles in one night, flawlessly reciting a long text in a language you don’t speak)7+
##### **Automatic Wins:** If a character’s dice pool is twice the task’s Difficulty, the Storyteller may opt to rule that the character wins automatically without a dice roll. Automatic wins streamline play and reduce distracting rules interludes. Apply them vigorously, especially outside of combat or for tests where character failure is boring: information-gathering tests, conversation-openers, or gambits that open up the scene or let it move forward dramatically. Automatic wins seldom apply in combat or other stressful situations. A Storyteller willing to speed up opening rounds or to blow through a location they didn’t intend to be challenging, might allow automatic wins against mooks and nameless obstacle humans: renta-cops in the office lobby, not real cops in the streets. # Contested Roll's Storytellers use contests to model direct opposition: e.g., hacking a monitored system, sneaking past a guard searching for you, or seducing an undercover vice cop. In a contest, the acting character and their opponent each build a dice pool. This process does not have to use the same pool; the Storyteller might tell the sneaking character to use Dexterity + Stealth, but roll Wits + Awareness for the searching guard. ##### **Basic contests go like this:** - Describe what you want your character to do and how. - The Storyteller decides someone opposes your effort and tells you which of your character’s Traits to use to assemble a dice pool. - The Storyteller chooses which of the opponent’s Traits to use to assemble a dice pool. - Each contestant rolls their dice pool and counts their successes. - If the acting character rolled equal to or more than the number of successes rolled by the opposing character, the test is a win. - Player characters can definitely engage in contests against each other! The Storyteller still determines which character assembles which dice pool. ##### **Examples:**
ScenarioAggressorDefender
The aggressor would like to sneak up on the defenderDexterity + StealthWits + Awareness
# Re-Rolling with willpower Characters may spend 1 point of Willpower to re-roll up to three regular dice on any one Skill or Attribute roll, including a roll involving vampiric Disciplines. Characters may not spend Willpower to re-roll Hunger dice or a tracker roll, such as Willpower or Humanity. A spent point of Willpower counts as having sustained a level of Superficial damage to Willpower (see p. 126) and is marked as such. # Working Together If two or more characters can effectively work together on a task, such as investigating a crime scene or tag-teaming a mark in a confidence game, roll the largest pool among the participants, adding one additional die for each character assisting that has at least one dot in the Skill involved. If no Skill is involved, anyone can assist. # Rouse Check To make a Rouse Check, the player rolls a single die. As always, a result of 6 or higher succeeds. On a success, the vampire’s Hunger remains unchanged. On a failure, the vampire gains 1 more point of Hunger, and thus gains one more Hunger die. Any Hunger gained is added after the desired effect resolves, so it is perfectly fine to make the Rouse Check at the same time or even after any other dice test involved, as long as the Rouse die is clearly distinguishable and won’t be mistaken for part of the pool Some conditions, such as increased Blood Potency, allow the player to roll two dice on some Rouse Checks and pick the highest. One success (6+) on either die prevents Hunger from increasing. (This is equivalent to re-rolling the Check.) At Hunger 5, the vampire’s body is too starved of blood to provide increased supernatural power. A vampire can never intentionally Rouse the Blood while at Hunger 5. If some outside factor forces a Rouse Check on the vampire, the player must make an immediate hunger frenzy test at Difficulty 4 (see p. 220). As always, failing a Rouse Check at Hunger 5 still activates the effect that caused the check, if any.