"Will robots inherit the earth? Yes, but they will be our children."—Marvin Minsky
When the outcome of a decision or action is uncertain, players roll dice and apply certain rules to determine the result. This is called a Check.
Checks are comprised of rolling one or more 6-sided dice. This “dice pool” represents the chance of success due to things under your control—your raw strength, experience, skill—and is determined by the ratings on your Character Sheet. Certain numbers on each die represent a contribution towards success, called a Mark. A 4 or a 5 grants 1 Mark, and a 6 grants 2 Marks.
A Check will usually have a Difficulty Level, such as 3. This means that the player must roll Marks equal to or greater than the Difficulty for the Check to be considered a success. If they roll fewer, the Check is a failure.
When the Guide decides a Check is necessary, they may optionally announce the difficulty level: for instance, "Make a Mark 2 Perception Check" or "Give me a Mark 4 Melee Check."
If your Check fails, tick an XP box next to the Pattern used in the Check—when you accrue enough checked XP boxes, that pattern will go up a level! See “Learning and Improving” for more information.
Some Checks may not have a simple Success/Fail result. For example, a Check could be used to see how long something takes: a higher number of Marks on a Perception Check could indicate that tracking someone goes faster and more efficiently, whereas a lower number of Marks could indicate that it takes a long time and requires more trial and error. See Chapter 4, “Running the Game.”
See below for a list of Common Checks and how they are determined. Usually it is a combination of a Parameter (a physical hardware rating, such as Neural Complexity) and a Pattern (a learned skill or ability, such as Opsec, or Operations Security). For example, to make a “Network Attack” Check, you would count the number of Levels in your “Mesh” Parameter and the number of Levels in your “Opsec” Pattern, add them together, and roll that many dice.
There are also several ways to improve your chances of success: “Pushing” a roll and Re-Rolling, described below.
<aside> ☝ A Note on Notation: Traditionally, the notation “2d6” means “roll 2 6-sided dice and add the numbers together.” In Sentients, we don’t add the numbers together, but rather count Marks. To represent this system, we write a number followed by the letter “d”, such as “2d.” This means “roll two 6-sided dice and count the resulting Marks.” A “+” sign followed by a number adds Marks to your roll. You will find this notation in various places, such as the Damage rating for weapons: a Light Pistol does 1d+1 Damage. This means “roll one 6-sided die and add 1 Mark to the total.”
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Some circumstances may specify that a Check has a +1d, -2d, or similar. This adds or subtracts dice to the roll. For instance, physical access to a networked computer terminal grants +1d to Network Attack Checks. When the player makes that Check, they will add an additional die to the roll.
This is distinct from notation such as “3d+1”, which adds 1 Mark to the resulting roll.
A Check is a most often a combination of a Parameter and a Pattern. If you don't have any levels in a particular Pattern, the Check can still be made without it. Some Checks may use 2 Patterns instead of a Parameter and Pattern.
If a Check lists more than one Parameter or Pattern, choose the most relevant one. For instance, “Repair” lists “Neural Complexity + Technology or Knowledge: Anthroids or Vehicles.” If you were doing an Repair Check on an anthroid, you would choose “Knowledge: Anthroids.” As another example, “Agility” lists “Upper or Lower Mobility.” If the action involved jumping, Lower Mobility (referring to legs) would be the most relevant. If either can apply, the Player chooses.
Remember that if a Check fails, tick one of the Experience Point boxes to the right of the Pattern(s) used in the Check. See “Learning and Improving,” below, for more information.