Chapter Four: The Rules
Note: In Star Was, Second Edition, this section
was Chapter Three, "Basic Mechanics," pages 52-54 and
58-60.
The Wild Die
If a "1" comes up on the Wild Die, the gamemaster may choose to just add up the dice normally (instead of having a complication occur or subtracting a character’s other highest die).
Clarification: The Wild Die rule applies to all die rolls, including damage rolls in combat!
Difficulty Numbers
The highest difficulty level is Heroic, covering any difficulty number above 30. Some situations specify to add a number to the Heroic difficulty: "Heroic+10" means a difficulty number of 41-50, "Heroic+20" means 51-60 and so forth.
Scenes and Rounds
Note: In Star Wars, Second Edition, this
section was in Chapter Two, "Gamemastering," pages
27-30.
Rounds
Each round has two phases:
1. Initiative. The character with the highest Perception on each side rolls his Perception. High roller gets to choose whether his side goes first or last.
2. Roll Actions. The first side acts now. Acting in Perception order (highest to lowest), every player tells you, the gamemaster, how many actions his character is making (so you can assign the multiple actions penalty). Each player rolls his character's first action.
This process is repeated for each character on the second side. After every character has taken his first action, the characters on the first side take their second actions. (Characters without second actions are skipped.) Then the characters on the second side roll their second actions.
This continues until every character on both sides has taken all actions.
Reaction Skills. When a character gets attacked, he can use "reaction skills" to get out of the way. See "Reaction Skills" under "Chapter Five: Combat and Injuries."
Gamemaster Tips
Combined Actions. Combined actions are used when groups of characters work together to accomplish a single task.
Aside from working on the task, the only other thing a combining character can do is use reaction skills.
The character with the highest command or Perception is the leader. He can only command as many characters as he has command skill dice.
If he's supervising only, he rolls his full command skill. If he's commanding and working on the task, this counts as two actions and he suffers a -1D penalty to his command roll.
Select a command difficulty based on the difficulty of the task, the skill of the character involved and how well they work together. (Use your judgment.)
If the command roll is successful, the combined action bonus is +1D for every three characters combining. Add a +1 for one "extra" character and a +2 for two extra characters.
If the commander fails the roll, subtract -1D from the bonus for every point the roll failed by. (A bonus cannot go below OD.)
The combined action bonus is added to the character with the highest skill who's working on the task.
If a group of characters are combining actions on a combat task, the bonus can be split between the attack roll and the damage roll. If a task requires two or more skill rolls, the bonus can be split up among any of these rolls.
Character Elements
Note: In Star Wars, Second Edition,
this section was in Chapter Three, "Basic Mechanics,"
pages 54-58.
Character Points
Clarification: Characters may spend two Character Points for skill or attribute uses, including attacks.
Characters may spend five Character Points on specializations, when dodging or parrying (including vehicle and starship dodges, and lightsaber parries), or when using Perception or control to resist others' Force powers.
Clarification: Characters may use Character Points or a Force Point in a round; they may not use both.
Character Points and Force Points may be spent at any time.