Eclipse Phase Rules Wiki
Advertisement

Any time both dice come up with the same number 00, 11, 22, 33, 44, etc., you have scored a critical success or critical failure, depending on whether your roll also beats your target number. 00 is always a critical success, whereas 99 is always a critical failure. Rolling doubles means that a little something extra happened with the outcome of the test, either positive or negative. Criticals have a very specific application in combat tests (p. 191), but for all other purposes the gamemaster decides what exactly went wrong or right in a specific situation. Criticals can be used to amplify a success or failure: you finish with a flourish or fail so spectacularly that you remain the butt of jokes for weeks to come. They can also result in some sort of unexpected secondary effect: you repair the device and improve its performance; or you fail to shoot your enemy and hit an innocent bystander. Alternately, a critical can be used to give a boost (or a hindrance) to a follow-up action. For example, you not only spot a clue, but you immediately suspect it to be red herring; or you not only fail to strike the target, but your weapon breaks, leaving you defenseless. Gamemasters are encouraged to be inventive with their use of criticals and choose results that create comedy, drama, or tension.

See Also[]

Advertisement