All Traits are rated as pools of dice. A new Trait starts at a d4, then can be increased to d6, d8, d10 and finally d12. If you increase a d12 Trait, you get a second die which starts at d4. Further increases will bump that die up normally.
When you are called upon to make a test, you'll roll at least one Trait and take the highest number rolled as your result. If you manage to roll more than one twelve, you get a bonus of +2 for every additional twelve.
Example: You roll 4d12 and a d8 and get 3, 12, 12, 9, and 4. Your total is 14 because you rolled two twelves.
Note that once you get beyond a rating of d12, your average result climbs very slowly. Each additional die added provides less and less benefit. While it's possible to get multiple twelves and thus get a result higher than twelve, this is so rare that you can't depend on it.
This diminishing returns result means that we can increase a Trait at a linear cost, while the benefit that you see from it gets smaller and smaller.
When you combine multiple Traits, there isn't as much benefit at you'd think. Rolling 4d12 isn't twice as good as rolling 2d12. While it's more likely to give you a good result, it's not an overpowering advantage.
Posted by Kiz at June 7, 2004 10:44 PMCommentsPost a comment