General Rules

Time and again, foul things attacked me,

lurking and stalking, but I lashed out,

gave as good as I got with my sword.

My flesh was not for feasting on,

there would be no monsters gnawing and gloating

over their banquet at the bottom of the sea.

--Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heney

Core Rule

The central rule of Secret Wars involves Skill Checks. Whenever the outcome of a choice isn't certain, you make a skill check. These skill checks all follow the same basic steps:

1. Roll a d20

2. Add your appropriate modifiers, including skill ranks, ability modifiers, magical bonuses, and penalties.

3. Calculate the result

4. Compare your result to the difficulty class (DC)

5. Determine the result.

Everything comes down to skill checks. When you attempt to influence another individual, you roll a Diplomacy Check against their Composure DC. When you attack a monster with a silver dagger, you make a Melee Weapons check against the monster's Armor Difficulty Class (AC). When you attempt to firearms laws of the State you're in, you make a Law check against the DC for recalling uncommon knowledge. 

No matter the details, for any check you must roll the d20 and achieve a result equal to or greater than the DC to succeed. Each of these steps is explained below.

Step 1: Roll a d20

Start by rolling your d20. This represents your base roll. A dice roll result of 1 is equal to -10, and a dice roll result of 20 is equal to 30.

Step 2: Add Modifiers

Identify all the relevant modifiers, bonuses, and penalties that apply to the roll. A modifier can be either positive or negative, but a bonus is always positive, and a penalty is always negative. The sum of all the modifiers, bonuses, and penalties you apply to the d20 roll is called your total modifier for that statistic.

Most modifiers are calculated together into your Skill Modifier.

Your Skill Modifier is calculated using the following equation:

Skill Ranks+Skill Ability Modifier+feat bonuses+other bonuses

There are five other types of bonus that frequently appear: circumstance bonuses, item bonuses, and status bonuses. If you have different types of bonus that would apply to the same roll, you’ll add them all. But if you have multiple bonuses of the same type, you can use only the highest bonus on a given roll—in other words, bonuses don’t “stack.” For instance, if you have both a proficiency bonus and an item bonus, you add both to your d20 result, but if you have two item bonuses that could apply to the same check, you add only the higher of the two.

Circumstance bonuses typically involve the situation you find yourself in when attempting a check.

Feat bonuses involve specialized training in a specific area. Unless otherwise noted, all bonuses granted by a character's feats are feat bonuses.

Item bonuses are granted by some item that you are wearing or using, either mundane or magical. 

Origin bonuses are granted from your origin. All static bonuses granted by your character's origin and their background count as origin bonuses.

Supernatural bonuses typically come from spells, other magical effects, or something applying a helpful, often temporary, condition to you. Unless otherwise noted in the ability's description, the bonuses from the following sourcesare Supernatural Bonuses:

• Horror Nightmares

• Mage Spells

• Shifter Totems

• Vampire Artes

Supernatural bonuses from two separate sources do not stack. For example, if you were affected by a Protection spell from a mage and the Blinding Radiance of a horror, you would only add the higher of the two bonuses to your armour. 

Penalties work very much like bonuses. You can have circumstance penalties, status penalties, and sometimes even item penalties. Like bonuses of the same type, you take only the worst all of various penalties of a given type. However, you can apply both a bonus and a penalty of the same type on a single roll. 

Unlike bonuses, penalties can also be untyped, in which case they won’t be classified as “circumstance,” “item,” or “status.” Unlike other penalties, you always add all your untyped penalties together rather than simply taking the worst one. For instance, when you use attack actions, you incur a multiple attack penalty on each attack you make on your turn after the first attack, and when you attack a target that’s beyond your weapon’s normal range increment, you incur a range penalty on the attack. Because these are both untyped penalties, if you make multiple attacks at a faraway target, you’d apply both the multiple attack penalty and the range penalty to your roll.

Step 3: Calculate the Result

Add up the various modifiers you identified in Step 2, and add them to the result of your roll from Step 1.

Step 4: Compare the Result to the DC

If your final result is equal to or greater than the DC, you succeed! If your roll anything less than the DC, you fail.

Other times, you might not know the DC right away. Swimming across a river would require an Athletics check, but it doesn’t have a specified DC—so how will you know if you succeed or fail? You call out your result to the GM and they will let you know if it is a success, failure, or otherwise. While you might learn the exact DC through trial and error, DCs sometimes change, so asking the GM whether a check is successful is the best way to determine whether or not you have met or exceeded the DC.

Whenever you attempt a check, you compare your result against a DC. When someone or something else attempts a check against against you, rather than both forces rolling against each other, one party (usually the party on the offensive) rolls against their targets Defenses. Defences are static DCs determined by ability scores plus ranks in one of seven defensive skills.

Step 5: Determine your Degree of Success

If you roll exceptionally well--or poorly--you may critically succeed or fail at the check being made.

If the final result of your check exceeds the DC by 10 or more you achieve a critical success. On a an attack roll, this is known as a critical hit.

If the final result of your check fails by 10 or more, you achieve a critical failure. On an attack, this is known as a fumble.

If a feat, magic item, spell, or other effect does not list a critical success or critical failure, treat is as an ordinary success or failure instead.

Fortune and Misfortune

Luck is a powerful force in the world of Secret Wars. Fortune and Misfortune are two conditions that represent the power of luck. 

When Fortune applies, you roll twice and take the better of the two results. When Misfortune applies, you roll twice and take the worse result. Fortune and Misfortune apply during Step 1, and you take the result of the appropriate roll to progress through the remaining steps. 

If a roll is affected by both a Fortune and Misfortune effect simultaneously, the two cancel out, and you roll one die normally. 

Take 10

When you are not in immediate danger or otherwise distracted; you can elect to "take 10" on a skill check. When you take 10, you don't roll a d20, but rather assume you rolled a 10 and add the relevant skill modifiers. 

Unless you have an ability that states otherwise, you cannot take 10 during a combat encounter. Also, you can’t take 10 when the GM rules that a situation is too hectic or that you are distracted, and taking 10 is almost never an option for a check that requires some sort of crucial effect as a key part of the adventure’s story.

Take 20

When you have plenty of time to devote to a skill’s task and that task has no adverse effect upon failure, the GM might rule that you can take 20 on that skill check. This is similar to taking 10, but instead of assuming your roll was a 10, you assume it’s a 20.

Taking 20 means you are making multiple attempts at the task until you get it right. It also assumes that you are failing many times before you succeed. Taking 20 typically takes 20 times as long as attempting a single check would take:

• For checks that take 1 Action, taking 20 takes 30 Seconds or 5 Rounds.

• For checks that 3 Actions, taking 20 takes 1 Minute, or 10 Rounds.

Attack Rolls

Attack rolls involve attempts to harm another creature through physical or occult means. Attack rolls take a variety of forms, and the skills used for them vary based on the type of weapon or power being used to execute these attacks. Regardless of the form of attack, however, you can never take 10 or take 20 on an attack role.

There are three basic forms of attack rolls: melee attacks, ranged attacks, and supernatural attacks. 

Melee Attacks typically use either the Melee Weapons skill or Unarmed Attack skill, depending on if you're wielding a weapon or not. You can actively use Defence to block a Melee Attack.

Ranged Attacks typically use the Firearms skill, but specific weapons might require another skill, such as Archery for a longbow, Heavy Weapons for a rocket launcher, or Athletics for a grenade.

The bonuses you might apply to attack rolls can come from a variety of sources. Circumstance bonuses can come from the aid of an ally or a beneficial situation. Status bonuses are typically granted by spells and other magical aids. The item bonus to attack rolls comes from magic weapons—notably, a weapon's potency rune.

Penalties to attack rolls come from situations and effects as well. Circumstance penalties come from risky tactics or detrimental circumstances, status penalties come from spells and magic working against you, and item penalties occur when you use a shoddy item. When making attack rolls, three main types of untyped penalties are likely to apply. The first is the multiple attack penalty, the second is the range penalty, and the third is the firing into melee penalty. The first applies anytime you make more than one attack action during the course of your turn, and the other two apply only with ranged or thrown weapons. All are described below. 

Multiple Attack Penalty 

The more attacks you make beyond your first in a single turn, the less accurate you become, represented by the multiple attack penalty. The second time you use an attack action during your turn, you take a –5 penalty to your attack roll. The third time you attack, and on any subsequent attacks, you take a –10 penalty to your attack roll. Every check that has the attack trait counts toward your multiple attack penalty, including Strikes, spell attack rolls, certain skill actions like Shove, and many others.

Some weapons and abilities reduce multiple attack penalties, such as agile weapons, which reduce these penalties to –4 on the second attack or –8 on further attacks.

The multiple attack penalty applies only during your turn, so you don’t have to keep track of it if you can perform an Attack of Opportunity or a similar reaction that lets you make a Strike on someone else’s turn.

Range Penalty

Ranged and thrown weapons each have a listed short, medium and long-range value. Shooting at a target beyond the short-range imposes a circumstance penalty of -2 to hit. Shooting at a target beyond the medium range imposes a circumstance penalty of -4 to hit. You cannot fire your weapon beyond the weapon's long range. 

For example, an Assault Riffle has range values of 2, 4 and 6. That means you can fire at a target with 5 Range with no penalties, but cannot hit targets beyond 6 Range. 

Firing Into Melee Penalty 

If you are making a ranged attack against a creature who is engaged in Melee with someone other than you; you suffer a -4 circumstance penalty on your attack rolls to hit the target due to the difficulty of aiming your attack.

This penalty applies to all ranged attacks with single targets. This penalty does not apply to abilities with area of effect damage, such as grenades, explosives, automatic fire on weapons, or supernatural abilities.

Armor Difficulty Class

Typically, most attacks that deal direct damage are calculated against the target's Armor Difficulty Class (AC). AC is explained under Defences. 

Supernatural Attack Rolls

When you utilize a supernatural ability--such as a spell, glamour, or working--against the target, you use a supernatural attack roll.

Typically, supernatural attacks are determined by the skills unique to your character's Origin. So when your mage attacks with a lightning bolt, they use their ranks in the Sphere of Air instead of a typical ranged attack roll. 

Some supernatural abilities--notably some of the totems of werewolves, the nightmares of horrors, and the inheritances of dragons--provide physical enhancements over direct magical attacks. So when your horror uses Zoophobia to grow massive claws to rend their target with, they make an Unarmed Attack check instead of a Shroud check, and functions as an Unarmed Attack not as a supernatural attack.

Each supernatural ability will indicate the skill used to affect its targets.

Penalties affect supernatural attack rolls just like any other attack roll—including your multiple attack penalty and the firing into melee penalty. 

Many times, supernatural attack rolls will target Defences other than Armor. Check the description of supernal ability  

Multiple Targets of a Single Action

Generally, when there are multiple targets, you roll once and compare the final result to the Defences of the target. For example, if you were to cast a Fireball spell, you roll a Fire Spell Attack Check and compare the result to the individual Dodge defences of each creature in the affected area.

Initiative

When an encounter in initiated, all characters involved make an Initiative check.

Typically this check is an Awareness check for most physical confrontations, but in certain circumstances, other checks might be warranted, such as Drive during a street race, or Interaction during a social engagement.

When you make an Initiative Check, instead of comparing the result against a DC, everyone in the encounter will compare their results. The creature with the highest result acts first, the creature with the second-highest result goes second, and so on.

As per usual, a natural 20 counts as a 30 on the dice, and a natural 1 counts at -10. 

Flat Checks

When the chance something will happen or fail to happen is based purely on chance, you’ll attempt a flat check. A flat check never includes any modifiers, bonuses, or penalties—you just roll a d20 and compare the result on the die to the DC. Only abilities that specifically apply to flat checks can change the checks’ DCs; most such effects affect only certain types of flat checks.

If more than one flat check would ever cause or prevent the same thing, just roll once and use the highest DC. In the rare circumstance that a flat check has a DC of 1 or lower, skip rolling; you automatically succeed. Conversely, if one ever has a DC of 21 or higher, you automatically fail.

Other Rules

The GM has the Final Say

If you’re ever uncertain how to apply a rule, the GM decides. Of course, Secret Wars is a game, so when adjudicating the rules, the GM is encouraged to listen to everyone’s point of view and make a decision that is both fair and fun.

Specific Overrides General

A core principle of Secret Wars is that specific rules override general ones. If two rules conflict, the more specific one takes precedence. If there’s still ambiguity, the GM determines which rule to use. For example, the rules state that when attacking a concealed creature, you must attempt a DC 5 flat check to determine if you hit. Flat checks don’t benefit from modifiers, bonuses, or penalties, but an ability that’s specifically designed to overcome concealment might override and alter this. If a rule doesn’t specify otherwise, default to the general rules presented in this chapter. While some special rules may also state the normal rules to provide context, you should always default to the normal rules even if effects don’t specifically say to.

Rounding

You may need to calculate a fraction of a value, like halving damage. Always round down unless otherwise specified. For example, if a spell deals 7 damage and a creature takes half damage from it, that creature takes 3 damage.

The major exception to this is when rounding down would give you 0. In this case, round up to 1. 

Multiplying

When more than one effect would multiply the same number, don’t multiply more than once. Instead, combine all the multipliers into a single multiplier, with each multiple after the first adding 1 less than its value. For instance, if one ability doubled the duration of one of your spells and another one doubled the duration of the same spell, you would triple the duration, not quadruple it.

Duplicate Effects

When you’re affected by the same thing multiple times, only one instance applies, using the higher level of the effects, or the newer effect if the two are the same level. For example, if you were using mage armor and then cast it again, you’d still benefit from only one casting of that spell. Casting a spell again on the same target might get you a better duration or effect if it were cast at a higher level the second time, but otherwise doing so gives you no advantage.

Effects

Anything you do in the game has an effect. Many of these outcomes are easy to adjudicate during the game. If you tell the GM that you draw your sidearm, no check is needed, and the result is that your character is now holding a sidearm. Other times, the specific effect requires more detailed rules governing how your choice is resolved. Many supernatural abilities and feats create specific effects, and your character will be subject to effects caused by monsters, hazards, the environment, and other characters.

While a check might determine the overall impact or strength of an effect, a check is not always part of creating an effect. Casting a fly spell on yourself creates an effect that allows you to soar through the air, but casting the spell does not require a check. Conversely, using the Intimidation skill to Demoralize a foe does require a check, and your result on that check determines the effect’s outcome.