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.