Task Resolution
The Star Crusade system is based on the classic Victory Point System from Fading Suns, 2nd Edition, with the incorporation of house rules from our tabletop and online games as well as early drafts of Fading Suns, 3rd Edition.
Basic Task Resolution
On Star Crusade, characters roll a single D20, add any appropriate modifiers (the "goal"), and compare it to a Difficulty. If they meet or exceed the Difficulty, they succeed; if they do not, they fail. There are three possible difficulties:
- Hard / Difficulty 20 -- Hard rolls are the most common, as they are used in situations where failure is a real possibility. Almost all combat rolls are at a Hard difficulty.
- Moderate / Difficulty 15 -- Moderate rolls are the least common rolls; they are used generally in situations where a skilled character should have little chance of failure but an unskilled character may not succeed.
- Easy / Difficulty 10 -- Easy rolls are used when success or failure is not an issue, but the degree of success matters. Even an unskilled character is likely to succeed at an Easy roll.
The most common goals are based on Characteristic + Skill, plus or minus any modifiers. A test to fire a gun, for instance, is a Hard Dexterity + Shoot roll. A character with a Dexterity of 5 and a Shoot of 5 rolls a D20 and then adds 10, trying to meet or exceed 20.
| Margin | Victory Points |
| 0-2 | 0 |
| 3-5 | 1 |
| 6-8 | 2 |
| 9-11 | 3 |
| 12-14 | 4 |
| 15-17 | 5 |
| 18-20 | 6 |
Victory Points
Margin of success matters; it determines how well a character succeeds, affecting damage in combat, the amount of information gained in research, or persuasiveness in social rolls. Star Crusade measures margin of success in Victory Points: for every three full points a character succeeds by, they score one Victory Point according to the chart to the left.
A margin of success of 21 or above continues to accrue Victory Points: at 21 successes, a character scores 7 Victory Points, while at 24 he or she scores 8 VPs, and so on.
In contested rolls, Victory Points are often compared to each other, with the difference between the two character's Victory Points being net VPs for the winner of a contest. Depending on the situation, a net 0 VPs may result in success for the active party, the defending party, both parties or neither party.
Critical Successes and Mishaps
A roll of a natural 20 is a Critical Success: on such a success, characters double their VPs. Thus, a character with a goal of 12 who rolls a natural 20 on a Hard check receives 8 VPs, not 4.
Similarly, a natural roll of 1 is a Mishap. Mishaps often result in technological breakdown (like a gun jamming) or particularly good luck for an opponent. As a rule of thumb, a Mishap will often require a character to spend an action (and possibly a skill roll) resolving the Mishap or may give an opponent a bonus to their next roll, usually in the range of either a +4 to their goal or double VPs.
Synergy
Many rolls are benefitted or hindered by synergy: life experiences, special skills, or innate attributes that help or hinder a character in accomplishing a task. Synergy modifiers are applied at the discretion of the GM, but come primarily from two sources, skills and blessings/curses.
Skills almost always provide positive synergy, where a character with a related skill gains a bonus to another roll. A character with a high Physick skill, for instance, may have a positive synergy when using Beastcraft to treat an injured animal. The required skill level to gain synergy is up to the GM, but as a general rule a skill of 5-6 will provide synergy on clearly applicable tasks (Physick to Beastcraft in the above example) and a skill of 7-8 will provide synergy on more attenuated applications (using Cultures to provide a bonus to Command when facing an enemy of the appropriate culture, for instance.) The skill level required to gain a synergy bonus is generally a point or two lower when the primary skill is very low (as even basic knowledge of a related discipline can help a novice) or when the skill being used to gain a synergy bonus is very specific (one needs very few points in Lore: Oro'ym to gain a bonus to Physick when treating an Oroy'm).
Blessings and Curses also provide synergy for related rolls. Blessings usually provide positive synergy, while Curses usually provide negative synergy, though this can vary. The Short curse, for instance, usually provides negative synergy to athletic feats like jumping across chasms or trying to spot someone in a crowd; it might provide positive synergy, however, to a character trying to fit inside a small hole. Similarly, the Beautiful blessing might provide positive synergy for an attempt to seduce, flatter, or persuade someone, but it may provide negative synergy to a roll to remain unnoticed as the character's good looks draw attention.
Calculating Synergy
The calculate the synergy bonus or penalty a character receives, add up all their sources of positive synergy for a roll and subtract all their sources of negative synergy. If the result is positive, they receive positive synergy; if it is negative, they receive negative synergy. A character can only receive positive synergy or negative synergy for a given roll.
In contested rolls, only one side receives synergy. After calculating your synergy total, compare it to your opponent's total. Whoever has more positive synergy receives the bonus.
Positive Synergy
If your net synergy is positive - or you have the higher synergy bonus in a contested roll - you have positive synergy. For every source of positive synergy you have, you receive a +2 bonus to your roll, up to a maximum of +4.
For example, if Lady Sofia Decados is using the Charm skill to flatter the steward of her Hawkwood rival, and she has the Cultures (Hawkwood) skill at 5, she receives a +2 to her Charm roll. If she had Cultures (Hawkwood) at 5 and the Seductive blessing, she would receive a +4. If she had Cultures (Hawkwood), the Seductive blessing, and the Beautiful blessing, she would still only receive a +4 - only two sources of positive synergy can apply to a single roll.
Negative Synergy
If a character's net synergy is negative, they instead reduce their net VPs by the number of negative synergies they have. This cannot reduce their VPs below 0, and it does not reduce their chance of success.
For example, Lady Sofia Decados is being pursued by a trio of Scraver kidnappers, and she must leap between two buildings with a Strength + Athletics check. She rolls 2 VPs; however, she is Short, and so she reduces that to 1 VP. If she also the Asthmatic curse, her 2 VPs would be reduced to 0 VPs - still a success, but perhaps one that leaves her only barely hanging on to the far side.