Each test has the following steps:
The Director decides that a hero’s activities call for a test and asks the hero’s player to make a power roll using an appropriate characteristic (see Characteristics and Tests below). The Director then selects a difficulty for the power roll, either secretly or publicly (see Test Difficulty below).
The player makes the power roll. If the character has a skill that applies to the test (see Skills later in this chapter), they can ask the Director if the skill applies and justify the use of the skill. If the Director agrees the skill applies, the hero gains a +2 bonus to the roll.
The player reports the total of the roll, and the Director interprets its success or failure.
Characteristics and Tests
When you describe a task you want your hero to undertake and the Director determines that a test is necessary, they then determine which characteristic the test uses based on the nature of the task. For instance, if you’re scaling a wall, the Director could ask for a Might test to determine how far and how quickly you’re able to climb. If you’re attempting to plead your innocence in court for a murder you didn’t commit, the Director might ask for a Presence test if you’re attempting to win over the jury with your personality, or a Reason test if you’re laying out a logical argument to support your innocence.
Though the Director can decide to call for tests in any circumstances, a number of tasks that heroes routinely undertake are commonly set up as tests.
Might Tests
You make a Might test whenever a risky task calls for the use of physical strength. Might tests are most often used for breaking down doors and other structures, hurling heavy objects, pulling your body up a sheer wall, swimming against a mighty current, and other feats of physical power.
Agility Tests
You make an Agility test whenever a risky task calls for the use of your physical coordination and nimbleness. Agility tests are most often used for tumbling, sneaking quietly, picking locks, and engaging in sleight of hand.
Reason Tests
You make a Reason test whenever you attempt a risky task that requires the use of your mental acumen and education, formal or otherwise. Reason tests are most often used to recall lore, deduce information based on clues, complete a puzzle, forge counterfeit items or documents, break a code, convince others of a logical argument, or make an estimation.
Intuition Tests
You make an Intuition test whenever you attempt a risky task that requires the use of your powers of observation and instinct. Intuition tests are most often used to notice hidden creatures or details, discern another person’s motivations or honesty, calm and reassure others, and train animals.
Presence Tests
You make a Presence test whenever you attempt a risky task that requires the use of your force of personality. Presence tests are most often used to gain trust, project confidence, and influence and lead other creatures.hough it’s easier than easy, then
Influencing Player Characters With Tests
The things player characters do can’t be influenced by any creature making a test, whether a monster, an NPC, or another player character. Many players feel that their agency is taken away if they’re compelled to jump into a pile of gold filled with hidden scorpions because an NPC convinced them to do so with a Presence test. For most players, it’s not fun to be in control of a hero and lose some of that control.
Instead, Directors should do their level best to have an NPC suggest that a character dive headlong into the gold like a billionaire duck, then let the player decide what their character does. Similarly, a Director might decide that one player character can’t make an Intuition test to discern another PC’s motivations or honesty.
That said, if everyone in your gaming group decides to lift one or more of these restrictions after talking about it, go for it! There’s no wrong way to play as long as everyone is having fun. The MCDM Safety Toolkit (available for download at https://mcdm.gg/SafetyToolkit) discusses how to talk about potentially problematic topics such as limiting character agency at your table.
Test Difficulty
The Director decides how difficult a task that requires a test is: easy, medium, or hard. If a task seems as though it’s easier than easy, then no test is necessary. The hero simply accomplishes the task. If the task seems harder than hard, then the Director is free to decide that it’s impossible to complete with a test.
On a test-by-test basis, the Director can share the difficulty of a task before the player makes the test, which makes interpreting the outcome faster at the table. The Director can also keep a test’s difficulty secret until after the player rolls the test, for dramatic effect.
The Test Difficulty Outcomes table shows all the possible outcomes of the different difficulties of tests. The Director will keep this information handy so as to be able to compare the different difficulties and their outcomes during play.
Test Difficulty Outcomes Table
| Power Roll | Easy Test Outcomes | Medium Test Outcomes | Hard Test Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ≤11 | Success with a consequence | Failure | Failure with a consequence |
| 12-16 | Success | Success with a consequence | Failure |
| 17+ | Success with a reward | Success | Success |
| Natural 19 or 20 | Success with a reward | Success with a reward | Success with a reward |
Whenever the rules talk about obtaining a success on a test, that includes a straight success, a success with a consequence, or a success with a reward. Whenever the rules talk about a failure on a test, that includes a straight failure or a failure with a consequence.
Whenever you make a test whose outcome you don’t like, you can spend a hero token to reroll the test. You must use the new roll.
Easy Tests
An easy test has some risk of consequence, but most heroes will likely overcome it. The power roll you make for an easy test determines the outcome (see Test Outcomes below):
- ≤11: You succeed on the task and incur a consequence.
- 12-16: You succeed on the task.
- 17+: You succeed on the task with a reward.
Medium Tests
A medium test has some risk of failure that most heroes will likely overcome—but with a cost. The power roll you make for a medium test determines the outcome:
- ≤11: You fail the task.
- 12-16: You succeed on the task and incur a consequence.
- 17+: You succeed on the task.
Hard Tests
A hard test has a greater risk of failure, and most heroes are likely to suffer some hardship while trying to overcome the intended task. The power roll you make for a hard test determines the outcome:
- ≤11: You fail the task and incur a consequence.
- 12-16: You fail the task.
- 17+: You succeed on the task.
Natural 19 or 20: Success With a Reward
Whenever you get a natural 19 or 20 on the power roll for a test—a total of 19 or 20 before adding your characteristic score or other modifiers you score a critical success. This critical success automatically lets you succeed on the task with a reward, even if the test has a medium or hard difficulty.
Test Outcomes
Depending on a test’s difficulty and the power roll made to accomplish the task represented by the test, you can obtain one of the following outcomes.
Failure With a Consequence
If you fail a hard test and incur a consequence, you don’t do what you set out to do—in addition to which, you suffer an impactful setback. The Director determines the exact nature of the consequence, which is typically related to the specific task.
For instance, if a hero suffers a consequence while trying to climb a wall, they might make it halfway up the wall and then fall, taking damage and landing prone. A hero trying to sneak by cultists might be spotted by those foes, who immediately attack. If a consequence strikes when a hero attempts to bribe a prison guard, the guard might decide to arrest the hero or lead them into a trap. If a hero suffers a consequence on a Reason test made to recall lore about the king’s favorite meal, they might confuse it for a dish to which the monarch is deathly allergic.
Not all consequences need to be immediate or apparent. For example, a hero might fail with a consequence on a test made to cheat at a high-stakes game of cards with a noble. The failure means the cheating is noticed, but the Director decides that the noble doesn’t say anything. This consequence isn’t made apparent until later in the evening, when the noble has guards surround the hero, intent on taking the cheater down to the dungeon for stacking the deck.
Common consequences for failing a test include the following:
- Making an NPC so upset that they storm off, or betray, attack, or otherwise attempt to harm you
- Drawing the attention of a group of foes
- Triggering a trap or hazard that captures or significantly harms you or an ally
- Breaking an important piece of equipment that is difficult to replace or repair
- Thinking you know something that you don’t
- Getting stuck in a situation that must be resolved with a negotiation or a montage test you didn’t need to make before
In lieu of other consequences, the Director also has the option to gain 2 additional Malice—a resource that creatures run by the Director use in combat—at the start of the next combat encounter.
Failure
If you fail a test without incurring a consequence, you simply don’t do what you set out to do. A hero attempting to climb a wall finds no purchase. A hero trying to recall lore can’t remember the desired facts. If a hero attempts to bribe a guard, they don’t take the bait.
On a failed test, the Director can decide that there might still be a small penalty for failure, depending on the circumstances of the test. This penalty shouldn’t be as harsh as rolling a failure with a consequence, though. For instance, a hero who gets this outcome on an Agility test made to sneak by a group of cultists might draw the attention of one cultist with their failure. Now that cultist is coming to investigate, but they haven’t raised the alarm… yet.
When a hero rolls a failure without a consequence, the Director can offer to let them succeed with a consequence instead. For instance, when a hero rolls a 10 on a medium Might test to break down a locked door, that’s a failure and the door stays closed. But the Director could suggest to the player that instead of not breaking down the door, they can break down the door and lose 1d6 Stamina from being injured in the effort.
Success With a Consequence
If you succeed on a test and incur a consequence, you do what you set out to do, but with an added cost. A hero might succeed in climbing up a wall, but the surface of the wall crumbles and becomes unstable as they do, making the climb more difficult for the ally ascending after them. When trying to sneak by a cultist, a hero successfully does so, but leaves footprints or other evidence of trespassing behind. If a hero bribes a guard to be allowed to sneak into a prison, the guard lets them in—but then demands a gemstone the hero needs for an important crafting project before they let the hero out.
Just like failure with a consequence, the consequences accompanying success don’t need to be immediately apparent. In lieu of other consequences, the Director has the option to gain 2 additional Malice at the start of the next combat encounter.
When a hero rolls a success with a consequence, the Director might give them a chance to fail instead. For instance, when a hero rolls a 10 on an easy Agility test to pick the lock on a chest, that’s a success with a consequence. The Director could suggest that the character has opened the lock but broken their lockpicks in the process (knowing the picks can’t be replaced until the hero returns to town), but can also give them the option of failing to pick the lock but keeping their lockpicks intact.
Success
If you succeed on a test without consequence or reward, you simply achieve whatever you set out to do. A hero climbs that wall, sneaks by those cultists, or bribes that guard just as they planned. Smooth.
Success With a Reward
If you succeed on a test with a reward, you accomplish whatever you set out to do. But you also gain a little something extra, in the form of momentum or luck that makes the immediate future easier for you or your friends.
The Director determines the reward for a success, which is most often related to the task at hand. For instance, if a hero succeeds with a reward while climbing a wall, they might find a ladder at the top they can lower so that any allies climbing up after them can do so without needing to make a test. A hero trying to sneak by cultists who succeeds with a reward might be able to dose the cultists’ nearby water barrel with sleeping poison as they pass by unseen. Succeeding with a reward while bribing a prison guard could mean that the guard unlocks a door for the hero in addition to forgetting they were ever there.
As with consequences, the reward that comes with a success doesn’t need to be immediate or apparent. For example, a hero succeeds with a reward on an easy test made to cheat at a high-stakes game of cards with a noble. Not only does the hero win the game, but the Director decides that their reward comes from a servant watching the game who’s impressed with the character’s performance. After the game, the servant approaches the hero, offering magic from the noble’s private stash in congratulations and admiration.
Common rewards accompanying success on a test include the following:
- Automatically accomplishing a related follow-up task that would typically require a test
- Allowing an ally engaged in the same task to accomplish the task without needing to make the test as well
- Obtaining a consumable treasure or useful piece of mundane equipment
- Learning a piece of helpful information
- Impressing or ingratiating yourself with someone who grants you a small favor
- Noticing a hidden danger well before it strikes, giving you time to avoid or prepare for it
In lieu of other rewards, the Director can also decide that a hero who succeeds on a test with a reward earns the players a hero token (see Hero Tokens in Chapter 1: The Basics).
Optional Rule: Pitching Consequences and Rewards
Coming up with consequences and rewards for tests can be a big part of the fun for many Directors, but even the best Directors occasionally run low on ideas. That’s why the game gives the default option of consequences and rewards in the form of Malice and hero tokens. However, a Director who prefers narrative consequences and rewards can ask the players to pitch different consequences and rewards when they make a test. The Director can reject, add to, or modify the players’ ideas as they choose, and will remind the players that they need to pitch real consequences, and not minor rewards disguised as consequences.
How Long Does It Take?
The amount of time required for a task involving a test is determined by the Director. A task such as recalling lore with a Reason test might take no time at all. Ducking behind a barrel to hide with an Agility test might require a maneuver or a main action, while tracking a band of voiceless talkers through the World Below could take hours or even days.
Tests During Combat
Many (but not all) tests that a hero might make during combat are made as maneuvers. See Maneuvers in Chapter 10: Combat for more information.
Can I Try Again?
In many cases when you fail a test, you can’t attempt the test again unless the circumstances of the test change. For instance, if you attempt an Agility test to pick a lock and fail, you can’t attempt to pick the lock again unless you get better lockpicks, oil the lock, have someone demonstrate how to pick a similar lock, and so on.
The Director decides when the circumstances have changed enough to allow a new attempt at a test.