When you roll a natural 20 and succeed on an ability check, or when you roll a natural 1 and fail on an ability check, if you’re using a skill roll 1d6 to determine what special effect occurs. Because of the benefits of ability check criticals, some players may try a variety of easy ability checks to get a critical effect. The Narrator is always the arbiter of these critical effects and can rule that if an ability check is superfluous or insignificant, any resulting natural 20s and natural 1s have no special effect.

Strength

Strength measures the power of the physical body and the extent to which you can use your body to exert physical force.

Strength Checks

Strength is used for any attempt to lift, push, pull, or break something, to force yourself through tight spaces, to jump, climb, or swim beyond your usual physical limits, and to otherwise apply brute force to a situation:

An ability check tests a character’s or monster’s training and talent to overcome a challenge. The Narrator calls for an ability check when a creature attempts any action (other than an attack) that has a chance of failure. When an outcome is uncertain, it is determined by a roll of the dice.

For every ability check, the Narrator decides which of the six abilities is relevant to the task at hand and the difficulty of the task, represented by a Difficulty Class or DC. The more difficult the task, the higher its DC.

Religion is an indispensable facet of most fantasy worlds, taking imagination into the inner depths of the soul and out into the vast reaches of the multiverse. Like culture and heritage, personal beliefs are a critical part of a character’s identity, and the religious landscape in which they find themselves is often riddled with the seeds of adventure. People’s fundamental beliefs, hopes, and fears often drive them to the dire straits which are the stuff of legend.

From fighting on the frontlines to raiding royal repositories, the activities of your character and their party members gains them experience points. As these accumulate a character will eventually gain a level when they’ve acquired a certain number of experience points as seen in the table below.

A character’s Prestige rating represents how prominent they are, either as an ally or enemy, and can influence how easy it is for the character to call in favors from their allies, or determine how much effort their enemies will put into defeating them. Most Prestige ratings range from 0 to 6, although some deities and extraplanar beings may have higher ratings.

Though an adventurer is typically defined by the dangers they face, the bulk of their time is often spent traveling, healing, preparing, or simply living. Some spend their time with families, others contribute to the communities that they protect, develop relationships, or simply kill time until the excitement begins anew.

Rest is a fundamental necessity for most living creatures. While the exact amount of rest each type of creature needs may vary, they all still must rest in order to recuperate from wounds, rid themselves of fatigue and strife, and replenish their spell slots.

Short Rest

A short rest is a period of no less than an hour, in which the character does nothing more strenuous than reading, writing, talking, and binding wounds.

Not all dangers while adventuring are from enemies, monsters, and beasts. Whether urban or rural, the very environment a hero must traverse in order to complete their quest (or the battlefield they find themselves on) can present a multitude of hazards. Be sure to pay attention to the environment around your character as they move through it, and be wary of any hidden threats — or anything you can leverage to get the upper hand in a fight.

Time

Time is an important aspect of adventuring. For Narrators, time serves multiple purposes and roughly outlines the flow of an adventure. Choosing which scale of time to use in any given situation is a matter of context.