Sometimes, players will attempt to solve problems during free play by leaning on the innate skills of their player characters rather than on their own creativity or knowledge of the game world. When this happens, it is handled mechanically via a skill challenge. During a skill challenge, the player first declares what they intend for their character to accomplish, and then how they intend to achieve it. The GM then determines which of the player character’s three attributes best represents their capacity to perform the action at hand. After that, the GM chooses a number called the difficulty modifier, which is a number between -7 and 7 that represents how difficult it would be for this character to perform this specific action. All difficulty modifiers are contextual not only to how difficult the action is but how difficult it would be for a given player character to perform it. The only hard and fast rule for determining difficulty modifiers is that they should be consistent with the GM’s previous rulings. For example, if walking across a rickety bridge has a difficulty modifier of -4, then walking across another rickety bridge also has a difficulty modifier of -4 unless there are extenuating circumstances. The lower the difficulty modifier, the easier the challenge. GMs setting the difficulty modifier of a skill challenge should also choose relative to the scale below:
| Task Difficulty | Difficulty Modifier | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Trivial | -7 | This is a task that the player character can do without difficulty under normal circumstances. |
| Easy | -3 | This is a task that the player character can do without effort, but only under ideal circumstances. |
| Likely | -1 | This is a task that the player character has a minor advantage in accomplishing, whether circumstantial or due to their previous actions. |
| Unlikely | +1 | This is a task that the player character has a minor disadvantage in accomplishing, whether circumstantial or due to their previous actions. |
| Hard | +4 | This is a task that the player character will need to spend significant effort in order to accomplish. |
| Impossible | +7 | This is a task that most ordinary human beings cannot perform. |
It should be noted that different player characters will find the same tasks more or less difficult depending on the circumstances and on a character’s means. For example, a character weighed down by their pack might find jumping over a ravine to be Hard or Impossible, while a character unburdened by armor or equipment will find the same task to be Easy or even Trivial. Only one character can attempt a single skill challenge at a time, but the aid of other characters can change the difficulty modifier to be more favorable if the GM deems it appropriate. For example, a character might find it Unlikely to climb up a wall alone, but find it Easy if given a boost by their athletic friend. Difficulty modifiers for the same or equivalent tasks should also not change as player attributes increase. The increased probability of their success instead represents an increased ability to navigate challenges that comes from gaining experience as an adventurer.
After the GM sets the difficulty modifier and determines which attribute is most relevant to the skill challenge, the character’s player rolls a 1d10 and adds the result to the difficulty modifier. If the total number is equal to or under the attribute being tested and/or the result on the 1d10 is equal to a 1, then the character succeeds at the action they are attempting. If the total number is above the attribute being tested and/or the result on the 1d10 is equal to 10, the character fails to accomplish their goal.
If a character fails a skill challenge, their player may spend a single point of Anima to succeed due to good fortune rather than their innate skill. If their player chooses not to do this, then they may not reattempt the task. For example, if the party is attempting to get past a door, one of them can make a Mind skill challenge to pick the lock, and then another can make a Body skill challenge to break the door down. If both of these fail, they cannot be attempted again, and the players must either spend Anima to succeed or find another way to bypass or open the door. There may also be additional consequences for the party if they fail a skill challenge depending on the circumstances. This could include the player characters sustaining an injury, being forced into a battle, or losing cr or other resources.
Player characters are unable to attempt skill challenges to do things that are physically impossible for them, such as leaping to the moon or persuading a door to open with cunning argumentation. There are also many tasks that do not count as skill challenges at all. For example, locating new knowledge is a matter of an investigation roll, and anything that counts as a puzzle will be difficult if not outright impossible to brute force with a skill challenge. Skill challenges also cannot be attempted when the attribute being tested is inappropriate for the situation at hand. However, there are a few actions that can always be handled with a skill challenge. These are:
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Athleticism | Running, jumping, climbing, swimming, and other similar feats of bodily strength are the subjects of a skill challenge involving the character’s Body. |
| Mechanics | Doing mathematics, playing games of strategy, or manipulating a device to do something it wasn’t designed to do is a matter of a skill challenge involving the character’s Mind. |
| Emotion | Whether pretending to feel or genuinely expressing a particular emotion, swaying others by performing it is a skill challenge involving a character’s Spirit. |