Challenges

Challenges are the core conflict resolution mechanic for Seln Alora. Each Challenge represents a single moment of time and its trial.

Only one character may ever attempt a given Challenge. An individual Challenge should be a circumstance fitted for a single character such as “pick this lock” or “lift this boulder”. More complex situations will use Chains (next section).

Basics

What do you need for a Challenge?

First, you will need to choose the right dice!

• You have four dice pools: Air, Water, Earth, Fire
  • Later, you will choose pools to enhance with Light and Dark
• Dice in your elements are known as Ki
• Strength of your Ki is determined at character creation
  • For example, if you choose the Path of the Tranquil Serpent, you will be stronger at Air and Water and weaker in Fire
  • That Tranquil Serpent at character creation might look like this: 2d8 Air, 2d10 Water, 2d8 Earth, 2d6 Fire
  • Special effect can modify the dice strength for good or ill
• You pick one element that matches the nature of the Challenge, roll, and sum for a Result
  • Many sources can add or subtract numerical bonuses
  • Most notably, you always add the Attribute of that element

Next, the Storyteller sets a target Difficulty. At their discretion, the Storyteller may choose to hide the Difficulty, to reveal it, or to allude to the value in broad ranges such as “likely” or “fat chance”.

Finally, you roll. You must meet or beat with your Result to succeed.

Outcomes come in four grades: Disaster, Failure, Success, and Flourish.

The elements apply to specific domains. We will go into these in detail in the Elemental Challenges section.

• Air: The Mind
• Water: The Folk
• Earth: The World
• Fire: Creativity and technique

You must use the matching element unless you have an Art that allows otherwise. The Storyteller adjudicates any cases where the domain is ambiguous.

The following restrictions apply:

• If you have no Ki, your Result is always a zero
• Any dice broken to d0 cannot be used
• If you get a zero, nothing else helps. Do not add Attributes or bonuses. Nothing can save a zero Result

The storyteller determines when a Challenge is voluntary or mandatory.

Result

Any Challenge has four possible outcomes:

Disaster

Calculation: Result < ½ * Difficulty

Disaster occurs when you miss a Challenge by half again. This is a critical failure. In addition to failing the Challenge, the error in your strategy or judgement results in Storyteller-dictated complications such as unwanted attention, extra Pressure, or delays.

Think of a Disaster as getting absolutely nothing that you wanted.

If your Result is zero, it is a Disaster under all circumstances.

Examples of complications

• You attempt to soothe the suspicions of a magistrate, but your poorly worded assurances enrage him. He summarily bans your entire party from his town!
• You attempt to climb a rain-slick cliff. However, your hubris becomes clear when, halfway up, you lose your grip and plummet down onto the rocks! The storyteller may also assign Conditions as a result of a Disaster, representing injury or misfortune generated by this bad stroke of luck. Alternatively, the storyteller may inflict damage to your equipment, held items, or even your Hearth!

Disasters in Combat

In combat, Attacks do not generally distinguish between Failure and Disaster. However, certain powerful foes may be able to trigger cruel counterattacks or special Arts in reaction to a Disaster.

Failure

Calculation: Result < Difficulty

A Result less than the Difficulty means that the character fails to advance the objective. In a Failure, you do not achieve your main objective. However, you maintain sufficient control over your actions to avoid Disaster.

Think of a Failure as getting 20% of what you wanted as a consolation prize.

Examples:

• You fail at an attempt to forage for food. You find only a few nuts and berries, and your stomach grumbles all night.
• You fail at an attempt to translate a foreign text. The obscure language frustrates all attempts, and you glean little insight.
• You attempt to climb a rain-slick cliff. After a few attempts, however, it becomes clear this task is beyond you. Your only consolation is that you stopped before you seriously hurt yourself.

Success

Calculation: Result >= Difficulty

When you meet or exceed the Difficulty, you advance your objective. However, your opposition (whether a person, force, or just the raw vagarity of Fate) maintains enough control to avoid a fatal error.

Think of a success as getting 80% of what you want.

Examples:

• You succeed at a Stealth roll, avoiding notice. However, you leave a few faint clues that hint at your presence
• You succeed at a Water roll to soothe a magistrate’s suspicions. You convince him that, though you appear to be a drunkard adventurer, you sincerely desire to behave yourself while in his town.

Flourish

Calculation: Result >= 1.5 * Difficulty

A Flourish is an unambiguous victory. This is equivalent to a critical in other systems you might have played.

Think of a Flourish as a plan perfectly executed.

Examples:

• You Flourish on a Stealth roll, leaving no trace of your passage and no hint of your presence
• You Flourish on with Water to soothe a magistrate’s suspicions. Your words convince him that you are an upstanding member of society and not a drunkard adventurer here to wreck his town.

Flourishes have an additional benefit: They allow you to regenerate the Charge that powers your abilities.

• Each time you Flourish, gain 1 Charge in the element of the Challenge, respecting your Charge limits

Easy Flourishes

In a tense combat and running low on Charge? Consider bullying weaker foes! By targeting lower Defenses, you increase your odds of a Flourish.

Play your cards right and mook enemies can become a resource! Of course, leaving them around to use later does mean they get to attack you more now…

Circle

Circle is a measure of difficulty and prowess. Your Circle your overall cultivation; you will start at Second Circle and grow into the third and fourth.

• First Circle: Circle of the folk
• Second Circle: Circle of the student
• Third Circle: Circle of the warrior
• Fourth Circle: Circle of the master

When Circle, abbreviated “C”, appears before a Ki strength, it means to roll a number of Ki equal to your Circle.

• Cd4: Roll 2d4 if you are a Student, 3d4 if you are a warrior, and 4d4 if you are a Master
• (C+1)d4: Roll one additional Ki

Circle as “C” reflects your personal cultivation. However, Circle also applies to objects and events in the world.

• Example: A leaf reagent may be classified as C2. This means the reagent is of potency and difficulty appropriate to a student

To avoid confusion, Ki pools that relate to the object’s cultivation level use TdX. T here means “Target”.

• Example: If a botched harvest resulted in a leaf poison against your character, its Severity might be Td6
• If the leaf was Circle 3, Severity = 3d6

It may also appear as a multiplier.

• 2C = 2 times your current Circle
• 3T = 3 times the Circle of the target

Ki

Each Ki is one dice for one element.

At rest, a Ki is one of three dice strengths: d6, d8, d10. A dice strength of d8 is considered normal for Cultivators.

• Dice Strength = The number of sides on the polyhedron, such as “d6” or “d8”

Starting characters will have 2 Ki in each of the concrete elements. As you Advance into higher Circles, your Ki will increase to 3 and then 4. Obviously, advancing from 2d8 to 3d8 is a big jump in power!

For convenience, consider having 6 to 8 of each die size. (Who needs an excuse to buy more dice?) If you need a d2, flip a coin or token. You can also roll d4 and divide its value by two.

• D20 is not in use for regular play.

Your Ki is your own. You may never use another character’s Ki.

Slacking off

You are not required to spend all available Ki on a Challenge. You may choose to use fewer dice to conserve or mask your strength.

Other characters may Challenge Water to detect your hidden power levels. Careful - they might find your dakimakura!

Standard Results

Dice imply randomness; this randomness represents the vagaraties of fate and fortune.

• Values above half the dice represent fortune favoring you
• Values below half represent setbacks and misfortunes

However, sometimes you can control the matter completely. Fate and fortune become negligible factors. In these cases, you use your Standard Result.

For your Standard Result, each Ki is worth exactly half of its maximum value. Then add your numerical bonuses such as Attributes and Equipment.

• Bonus Ki and Boosts do not apply to the Standard Result.

Examples

• 3d8 Ki + 10
  • Standard Result = 3 (number of Ki) times 4 (standard value for d8) + 10 = 22
• 2d8 + 1d6 + 3
  • Standard Result = 2 times 4 (for d8) + 1 * 3 (for d6) + 3 = 14

Use your Standard Result when you have all the time in the world for a Challenge.

Standard Result is also important as your baseline Defense in each element.

Bonuses and penalties

Naturally, you will adjust your Ki in a variety of circumstances!

• You may add temporary Ki known as Bonus Ki
• You may increase or decrease your dice strength, known as Boosts and Breaks
  • For example, transforming a d6 -> d8 is a Boost and a d6 -> d4 is a Break
• Numerical bonuses to your Challenges add directly to your Result
• Numerical bonuses to your enemies, known as Penalties, add to the enemy’s Difficulty
  • In other words, Penalties make your Challenge against the enemy less likely to succeed

Bonus Ki

• You may have 1 and only 1 Bonus Ki per element
  • Any effect which would grant a second Bonus Ki while 1 is present is instead lost
• You choose when to add your Bonus Ki to the Challenge of that element
• This consumes the Bonus Ki; you may then gain another for future use
• Bonus Ki expire at the end of a Scene

The strength of your Bonus Ki matches your element. For example:

• 2d6 -> 3d6
• 4d8 -> 5d8

If your element receives a Boost or Break, your Bonus Ki follows. For example:

• 3d8 base -> 1 Break -> 3d6 -> receive Bonus Ki -> roll 4d6

Penalties

Penalties raise the Difficulty of a Challenge. For example:

• You must Challenge against Difficulty 15
• The storyteller assesses a Penalty 3
• Your target Difficulty is now 18

Boost

Boosts magnify your Ki.

• Each Boost increases the strength of one element
• Each Boost increases the Strength of each Ki within that element
  • For example, if your Fire pool was 3d8, a Boost would upgrade your pool to 3d10
• Return your Ki to base strength once used in a Challenge

Limit:

• Maximum Boost: d12

Expiry:

• Boosts expire at the end of a Scene

Break

Breaks shackle your Ki.

• Each Boost decreases the strength of one element
• Each Boost decreases the Strength of each Ki within that element
  • For example, if your Fire pool was 3d8, a Break would downgrade your Ki to 3d6
• Return your Ki to base strength once used in a Challenge

Limit:

• D0 is the smallest Ki size, an automatic Disaster

Notes:

• D4 and lower Ki Strength have low chance of success in general.
• Invest in Medical arts to recover from Breaks without having to suffer a strenuous Challenge

Expiry:

• Breaks improve by one step for every Scene until the Ki returns to base strength
• Breaks may be healed through medical Arts, potions, and other restorative effects

Numerical bonuses

You add only the highest numerical bonus from each category.

The categories:

• Attribute – Usually the matching Attribute of your Ki element. If more than one Attribute is available, use the highest.
• Arts - Special abilities synced to a Chakra. Use the most advantageous in your current element
  • The storyteller has final jurisdiction on when an Art applies
• Equipment - Bonuses from your equipment, also synced to Chakra
• Boons - These are permanent cultivated bonuses you gain over your career
• Circumstantial – Anything else, generally granted by the Storyteller

Only the highest single bonus counts!

The power of numbers

Seln Alora uses a dice pool system. This means that your Ki are going to form a normal curve. As you add more dice, the normal curve gets steeper.

In other words, the more dice you add, the more consistent the results become. This is the mark of mastery.

This also means, however, that truly outstanding Results are statistically improbable.

Numerical bonuses shift the result of a normal curve to the right – meaning your consistent average shifts higher! Do not underestimate a +2 in this system!

Compensation Ki

Compensation Ki are a special form of Bonus Ki. You choose when and how to apply these Bonus Ki as you see fit.

• Compensation Ki convert to Bonus Ki when consumed and are subject to the Bonus Ki limitations
• Converting to Bonus Ki is permanent, even if you decide to back off from a Challenge

Expiry

• Compensation Ki expire at the end of a Session
  • If your group has short Sessions, the storyteller can modify this to expire at the end of two Sessions

Compensation Ki are generally granted as a special reward from the storyteller for:

• Good planning and engagement
• Immersive roleplaying and behavior
• Apology payment for when the storyteller messes up in play. (When does that ever happen?)

Locks

Locked Ki

Certain effects may reduce the number of Ki you have at your disposal. For example, Wounds reduce your capacity, and Restraints block your ability to focus your Ki. Various sources are outlined in the Conditions section.

When a Ki is locked, set its associated dice aside. You may not use that Ki for any reason until you deal with the source of the problem.

As usual, if you are reduced to zero Ki in an element, all Challenges are automatic disaster.

Locked Chakra

Conditions can also lock Chakra. Each Chakra represents a node for equipment or other special effects; the number of Chakra per element varies by your character build.

When you suffer a locked Chakra, you must choose one chakra to deactivate. If you choose a Chakra with an ability or equipment synced, you immediately lose the benefit of that effect for the duration of the lock.

Warning! When you lock a Chakra, the equipment or Art in that slot also locks. The synced object becomes unusable until you free the Chakra, and it may not be moved to another Chakra!

Resolution and timing

You must assemble your complete Ki pool before you start the Challenge and its Penalties (if any). This must include any Bonus Ki, Boosts, and other additions.

Once you roll any Ki, you may no longer add any further Bonuses, Boosts, Compensation Ki, or any other form of advantage. By rolling, you have stated that you are ready to proceed to resolution.

Similarly, once you have begun to roll, you must process all forms of Penalties.

Foes

Your foes also use the four elements. When you fight or compete against another, you target one of the four elements as well.

Depending on circumstances, the effective elemnets may vary.

• For example, one foe may only be vulnerable to Air and Earth; Challenges against Water and Fire would be ineffective
  • Defeating their defense in the appropriate element, you would then deal damage or otherwise advance towards victory
• Weak foes may have a Defense marked as “Any”. This means that you may use the element of your choice against their Defense.
  • This is usually seen with mook-level enemies that fall with a single Challenge.

Beware: some foes have clever tricks. For example, boss-level enemies may be able to hide which elements are required to defeat them or even require the elements be hit in a particular order to find victory!

Overcoming defense

Stronger enemies may have Defense values high enough above your usual Ki pool to make a successful hit almost impossible. You will need to use bonus dice, circumstances, and team tactics to buff yourself and debuff these foes enough to overcome this hurdle. When you just can’t seem to hit, rethink your tactics!

Assessments

Analytical effects like Assess (Water) are crucial when facing a difficult boss. Bosses can and will play tricks like swapping their weaknesses after every hit or even supercharging their offense after receiving a hit in the wrong element! Fight smarter, not harder.

Group Challenges

When your allies can all pitch in for a single task, use the average of everyone’s Challenge.

• You and each ally Challenge against the target element individually
• Then take the mathematical average for everyone who participated

Common examples of group challenges:

• Searching a scene for an object
• Foraging for food in the wilderness

Aid

Each Challenge is executed by one and only one character. However, if you have allies on hand, here is how they can help.

This help requires the ally to be stronger at the task than you. To Aid:

• Your ally spends 1 Charge in the matching element
• You then add +C (of your ally) to the Challenge Result

Retry

You are assumed to make the best possible effort given your circumstances. Your first effort is your best effort.

Similarly, a Challenge once completed is no longer available for retry by any party.

In the situation where you would logically be able to repeat the action over and over, you should use your Standard Result instead of rolling for a Challenge.

Meta-knowledge

What do I know about my own Result?

Most Challenges resolve instantly. You know whether you succeeded or failed based on the outcome in front of you.

Sometimes, however, your effort is not immediately apparent. Your Result might be part of a long-term effort, or it might become a Defense that will be tested in future Scenes.

Obviously, as a player, you see the dice in front of you. Your character, however, must estimate results based on available evidence. Your character intuits across a general range:

• A strong showing – 70% or more of possible value
• A good attempt – 40% to 70% of possible value
• Struggling – Under 40% of possible value

What about Disasters?

Disasters are critical lapses of luck or judgement. The storyteller has wide latitude to determine in what manner your critical error arises. Examples include:

• The attempt appears to be a success. The flaw only becomes apparent at the worst possible moment
• Though you know you failed, you do not realize the extent of the failure
• The failure is dramatic and obvious, shaming you before all who witness

Disasters introduce a discrepancy between player and character knowledge. You are responsible for roleplaying based on your character’s understanding to the best of your ability. Embrace the dramatic irony!

Mistakes in play

Naturally, mistakes will occur in actual play. Rewinding gameplay is time consuming and often impossible for complex scenes. Here are suggestions on quick ways to balance out mistakes.

Ki mistakes

These are mistakes for Ki, discovered at the time of the Result (or soon enough after to reasonably replay the scenario).

• Rolled too many dice: Remove Ki from the Result, starting with the highest value rolled, until only the correct number of Ki remain
  • If Ki are missing (such as having been used in rerolls), assume the missing value was the maximum possible on that Ki
• Incorrect Boost: Subtract 2 for each affected Boost
• Incorrect Break: Add 2 for each affected Break
• Overpaid Penalty: Add back and roll the Ki that were wrongly expended

After the fact

When a mistake is discovered after the fact in the same session:

• If player mistake, the storyteller gains 1d6 Dissonance for small oversights or Cd6 Dissonance for major mistakes
  • The storyteller judges relative size
• If storyteller mistake, the players gain one Compensation Ki each for small oversights or C Compensation Ki for large oversights
  • Players get together to decide

If the mistake was made in a previous Session:

• Shrug and move on

Cheating

Unfortunately, you will have to discuss issues of cheating with the rest of your group like adults. Here are some tips to help that discussion:

• Do you understand why the person felt the need to cheat?
  • Concern for their character
  • Desire to look cool
  • Dispute over the correctness of the scenario or the storyteller’s decisions
• Is this cheating a common occurrence?
• Can the cheating player explain their own motivation, or do they blame others?

If possible, try to work with the player to help address the issue. After all, you are presumably in this game group for mutual enjoyment. (If not, why are you still here?!)

If these steps fail, then either remove the offending player from the group or play something else.