How Dice Work
Everything in the game — swinging a sword, sneaking past a guard, casting a spell — comes down to one roll. Here's the whole thing.
Roll a d20
A d20 is a die with 20 sides, numbered 1 to 20. Whenever a hero tries something risky, you roll it — that's the "d20" part of every check.
Add your matching stat
Every hero has three stats, each a number from 1 to 5: Strength, Cleverness, and Sneakiness. Whichever one matches what the hero is trying to do gets added to the roll.
| Attack, climb, break something | Strength |
| Solve a puzzle, cast a spell, notice a clue | Cleverness |
| Sneak, hide, dodge, move fast | Sneakiness |
Beat the target number
The DM picks how hard the attempt is. Roll equal to or higher than that number and it works. Roll lower and it doesn't — or it works, but with a complication.
| Easy | Beat 10 |
| Tricky | Beat 14 |
| Hard | Beat 17 |
Worked example
A Rogue with Sneakiness 3 wants to sneak past two goblins. That's a tricky task — target 14. They roll the d20 and get an 11. Add their Sneakiness: 11 + 3 = 14. Beating the target exactly is still a beat — success! The goblins never notice a thing.
Try it yourself
Pick a stat number and roll — see if you beat a tricky target of 14.