Taking Action
Something your character does during your turn is an action. (Often, the term task is used interchangeably with action, but technically a task is an activity you attempt and an action is you performing that task. So while they can be synonymous, it's not always true—for example, defense tasks don't require your action.)
Most basic actions are routine (difficulty 0), so you don't need to make a roll and you succeed automatically. For example, you might do one of these things:
- Walk across a room
- Open a door
- Throw a stone into a nearby bucket
- Introduce yourself to a stranger
All of these things are actions. None of them requires a roll.
To make sure one player doesn't hog all of the GM's attention, normally the players take turns saying what their character does. If the exact order in which these actions happen doesn't matter, the order you say them to the GM doesn't matter either, as long as everyone gets a chance to act and the GM knows what everyone is doing. For example, the GM might go clockwise around the table (or video screen during an online game) to talk to each player, ask a random player to go first, or start with the person who just brought some snacks to the table.
So your character might search a room for clues, another character might spend some time treating a wound, and a third character might try to pick a lock on a mysterious door. An allied NPC might do something, too.
In a time-intensive situation like combat, the order that things happen in matters a lot. You'll make an initiative roll to see whether you get to act earlier or later in combat.
Some things your character attempts don't require an action. As noted above, your defense rolls to avoid attacks do not happen on your turn but instead in response to your foes' attacks on their turns. And whenever you use a special ability tagged as an enabler, you usually don't use an action—the ability is already affecting you, happens automatically, or requires so little effort on your part that it doesn't distract you from your regular action.
Task Difficulty Table
| Difficulty | Description | Target Number | Guidance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Routine | 0 | Anyone can do this basically every time. |
| 1 | Simple | 3 | Most people can do this most of the time. |
| 2 | Standard | 6 | Typical task requiring focus, but most people can usually do this. |
| 3 | Demanding | 9 | Requires full attention; most people have a 50/50 chance to succeed. |
| 4 | Difficult | 12 | Trained people have a 50/50 chance to succeed. |
| 5 | Challenging | 15 | Even trained people often fail. |
| 6 | Intimidating | 18 | Normal people almost never succeed. |
| 7 | Formidable | 21 | Impossible without skills or great effort. |
| 8 | Heroic | 24 | A task worthy of tales told for years afterward. |
| 9 | Immortal | 27 | A task worthy of legends that last lifetimes. |
| 10 | Impossible | 30 | A task that normal humans couldn't consider (but one that doesn't break the laws of physics). |
Task Difficulty
The GM uses the Task Difficulty Table to determine the difficulty of the task, which in turn sets the target number you need to roll to succeed. If you're acting against an NPC, that NPC's level is the difficulty. You can look at the table to see the target number, but a shortcut is simply taking the difficulty and multiplying it by 3. That's the target number. You'll notice that at difficulty 7 and above, the target number is higher than 20, and since you're rolling a d20, those targets are impossible. However, you can ease the difficulty of a task in many ways. Lowering the difficulty means lowering the target number.
If your task is opposed by a creature, the GM will likely use their level to decide the difficulty. So to attack a level 3 mugger, the task is level 3 and you need to roll a 9. If a level 4 psychic tries to control your mind, the task to resist will be level 4.
All NPCs have levels. Objects and obstacles also have levels. If you need to pick a level 5 lock or smash through a level 6 barrier, the GM will use those levels to determine the difficulty.