Extended Actions

Extended Actions Some actions simply cannot be resolved in the amount of time usually allotted to a basic action. This might be working out a contract with a summoning clan, write a novel, or trying to sway a crowd to your point of view. Extended actions tend to have very high difficulties, with the average being 10. However, instead of making one roll to see if you succeed or fail against the target difficulty, you roll several times and add up (or subtract if negative!) the total of each roll. The GM determines the amount of time you must spend trying between each roll and you complete the action successfully when you finally reach the target difficulty.  

Some examples of extended actions are:                      

    Extended Actions                            Time Between Rolls             Difficulty 

• making senbon out of sticks                      1 turn                                     10 

• undoing a high-level security seal         a few turns                              15 

• Finding a way out of a forest                    1 hour                                      10   

• Building a short wooden bridge                A week                                   10 

• Building a house                                          a month                                   20 

Some extended actions may require you to meet a minimum difficulty with each roll. If any roll fails to meet that difficulty, something happens. Often times it is impossible to continue after a failed roll. For example, when disarming a complex seal, if you roll below a certain difficulty you not only fail to dispel it, but its safety feature triggers. 

“Zero Out” 

If a character is undertaking an extended or simple action where the only significant factor is how long it will take, and there is no penalty for failure, the player may simply declare he is going to “Zero Out”. When he does this, no dice are rolled. The GM just assumes the dice would come up 0 each time, and adds the character’s Ability and relevant modifiers to determine the total for each roll. Naturally, you cannot do this if an extended action requires the character to meet a minimum difficulty on each roll.   For example, let’s say the character wants to write an extensive letter on politics to the Kage. If he isn’t in a hurry, and a failed roll doesn’t hamper his ability to try again, the GM may allow him to “Zero Out”; just using his Ability rating plus other modifiers as the result of the roll each turn.