[ooc] Weapon of the Gods, Dice System

More and more I feel that running the game using the Weapon of the Gods system would be best.  With that in mind, I guess I best start giving some idea on how the dice system of the game actually works.

In Weapon of the Gods, d10s are also used.  But unlike how successes are tracked in World of Darkness games, in this system the dice are read in this manner:

There are two kinds of rolls
Skills rolls are when characters attempt to accomplish tasks in the game that have a level of difficulty - scaling a wall, piercing an opponent's defenses, convicing a guard to defect and the like.

Style rolls are when a character has a smaller margin of failure, or when the possibility of failure is almost unimportant.  These can represent rolls to simply look good in a scene, or to represent a series of unimportant fights in a tournament against pathetic foes.

Determining your Dice Pool
In WOTG, characters have Attributes, Skills and Specialties.

You get one die for each point of the relevant Skill.
You add one or two dice for applicable specialties.
Then you get to add one more die if the relevant Attribute is equal to or greater than the Skill + Specialty total.  This represents raw talent that enhances your ability.

So if you had the Might (Attribute ) 3, for example.  And you were Lifting  (Skill) something.
Lift 0 = 1 die (0 skill + 1 raw talent since Might 3 > Lift 0)
Lift 1 = 2 dice (1 skill + 1 raw talent)
Lift 2 = 3 dice (2 skill + 1 raw talent)
Lift 3 = 4 dice (3 skill + 1 raw talent)
Lift 4 = 4 dice (4 skill + 0 raw talent, since Might 3 < Lift 4)
Lift 5 = 5 dice

Whereas having the same stats and a applicable specialty:

Lift 0 = 2 die (0 skill + 1 specialty + 1 raw talent since Might 3 > Lift 0+1)

Lift 1 = 3 dice (1 skill +  1 specialty + 1 raw talent since Might 3 > Lift 1+1)

Lift 2 = 4 dice (2 skill +  1 specialty + 1 raw talent since Might 3 = Lift 2+1)

Lift 3 = 4 dice (3 skill +  1 specialty + 0 raw talent since Might 3 < Lift 3+1)

Lift 4 = 5 dice (4 skill +  1 specialty + 0 raw talent, since Might 3 < Lift 4+1)

Lift 5 = 6 dice

What about the "Lost Die"
Skills and Specialty combinations higher than your Attribute are less efficient.  It is most efficient to limit your skills to the relevant Attribute, or to raise them much much higher.  A clever player with an Attribute of 2 will keep most of his skills at the 0-2 range, but can afford to pump a skill to 5 if that skill is a core trait.

Rolling the Dice
In either roll, a dice pool of one to seven dice is rolled, and a set is created.  A set is a collection of dice that all came up with the same number.

A single set, for example, is when you roll exactly one eight.  The value is the number plus ten.  So a dice roll of a single dice resulting is 8 is read as "one eight" or "eighteen."

A double is a set of two dice.  The value of a double is twenty plus the number rolled.  So a roll of 2, 2, 1 and 4 would have a set of "two twos" or "twenty-two."  In this dice pool, realize you may also opt instead to use the set of "one one" or "eleven"  or "one four" or "fourteen".

A triple is a set of three dice.  The value is thirty plus the number rolled.  

Bigger sets can have more dice, and the value is pretty much ten times the size of the set, plus the number on the dice.  So five nines is a "fifty-nine."  Six threes is a "Sixty-three."

The 10 or the 0 in a ten-sided dice is read as zero.  So four zeros rolled is "Forty."

So in an example roll of 3,7,7,7, 9 and 9 on six dice:
You have a single set of 13 (one three), a double set of 29 (two nines) and a triple set of 37 (three sevens).  Typically, the larger the set, the better.

Having a single set in a roll is an "Earthly roll".  Having a double set as your best set in a roll is a "Heavenly roll".  Having a triple set in your roll or bigger is a "Divine roll."  Special things can happen in a game to change your roll before you choose your best set, but once you get to this point, you have to choose the best set you can.

The River
Adding to the game's fun is what is called The River.  Every character in WOTG has a small stock of dice which represents the reserve of heart, skill and confidence that rises and falls during the game.  Starting characters tend to have two dice in the River.  Greater characters may have even more.

In each round, you can do the following things, always in this order:
Wash - Before you pick your set after rolling, you can discard some or all the dice out of your River.  Discarding the dice empties your River so you can "float" dice into the River on the next phase.

Float - If you have available slots in your River, you can float dice from your roll into your River for later use. You can take dice out of any double, triple or bigger set to put them into your River.

Flow - Finally, you can flow dice from your River into your roll.  This can change the final available best set in your roll for purposes of resolving your action.

What is the River for?  
The River adds strategies to making the best rolls.  Typically, using the River to the fullest comes only after the first turn (since all rolls start out with an empty River.)

Suppose you have 2 and 5 in your River (having Floated them into your River earlier from sets you decided to break up).  In this turn, you roll 5, 5, 9, 9, and 7.

You could:
Discard the 2 in your River to make room, then Float one 9, and finally Flow the 5 from the River to your roll.

You would then  end up with a roll of 5, 5, 5, 7 and 9 as your roll, and a 9 in your River.  This gives you a roll of three fives or 35 instead of the earlier 25 or 29.

The River: Dice for Later
You might also want to delay gratification - saving a great roll for something you need later.
So using the same roll above, 5, 5, 9, 9, and 7 with the same River, you could:

Discard both 2 and 5.  Float both 9s to the River.  Flow nothing to the roll.

This gives you a roll of 25 and gives you a chance to create a bigger set with 9s in later rolls.

The River: Mixed Dice
Know that almost all numbers can be useful to be Floatted into your River.  Any number can prove to be helpful in creating a set later on.  8 and 9s on the other hand are always useful because they can guarantee a minimum roll of 18 or 19 (one eight or one nine) when you need to accomplish relatively straightfoward tasks.

The River is always empty at the start of the scene, and empties at the end of a scene.
You cannot float dice from Style rolls into the River.  But you can Flow dice into Style rolls.

Joss

If your best set is a set of zeros, that is a lucky roll.  It earns you "joss" which is the word for luck in the game.

If you succeed on a roll with a set of zeros, you do so smoothly and beautifully.  You earn a point of Xia Joss which can help you on other rolls later.  Spent Xia Joss adds a die to the roll.

If you fail on a roll with a set of zeros, you make a heroic effort and fail in a particularly tragic or comedic fashion.  You earn a point of Corrupt Joss, an evil kind of luck which makes your enemies fail too.  Spent Corrupt Joss subtracts one of the opponent's dice to the roll.

Xia Joss can be used any time on Skill Rolls (but not damage rolls).  Corrupt Joss can be used only on opponent rolls and before the roll is made.

Difficulty

All actions have a difficulty number that you need to get to succeed.  

Trivial  5 or 10

Simple  15

Everyday 18

Moderate 20

Hard 30

Legendary 40

Impossible 60
Succeeding by a margin of 10 or more earns a critical success.
Making a shockingly poor roll opens the option of getting a critical failure.  The GM offers you an unfairly horrible failure in exchange for a bribe (such as extra Destiny, Virtue or starting your next combat with dice in your River).  So yes, in this game, rolling really bad can still be very good.

So if cutting a tree to crash down on your opponent was a Hard task, and your opponent's defense is 30 anyway, then you might as well describe cutting that tree as an attack since you're rolling for the same target number.

Dice Modifiers
In this game, modifiers come as either +5, +10, +15, +20 or -5, -10, -15, -20.   

Even with multiple modifiers, only the highest (or worst) modifier is used.  So even if you have fifteen different +5 and three different +10 modifiers to your roll, you only roll with a +10.

This is intended for a streamlined system.

Understandably, the system sounds complicated right now but trust me it gets far simpler as you get used to it.

So in summary:

1) Determine dice pool

     1 die for each skill point + 1 or 2 for applicable specialties + 1 if Attribute is higher or equal to skill+specialty total.

2) Roll the Dice
3) Choose if you will use the River:

    Discard, Float, Flow

4) Any other special powers that affect the roll, such as Xia Joss for additional dice or other powers.

5) Pick highest-valued set

6) Add biggest positive modifier, then biggest negative modifier.

7) Compare to difficulty.
    If at least 10 bigger, get a critical success!

8) If highest valued set was 0s, collect a point of Xia Joss (if successful) or Corrupt Joss (if failed).