Means of Evaluating Success

Several different methods are used to interpret the level of success produced by die rolls. Which is used is determined by the calling context.

Lengthy Jobs

Some jobs require the repeated application of a single task from a given skill. These jobs use the level of success to determine how quickly the job is being completed. An example would be the job of thatching a roof. While this is a fairly simple task which could be attempted by most people, it will take time and repeated thatching tasks.

The level of success is used in such cases to determine how far along the overall job is. The job is assigned a number of successes required for completion and each time the task is successful the level of success is subtracted from that number until it is reduced to zero. This also gives a pretty clear idea how far along the overall job is at any given point.

Thus, the thatching job will be assigned a number which will help determine how long it takes. The number will probably be partially determined by the size of the building being thatched. But the skill level of the thatcher will automatically be factored in by the Level of Success system.

Quality Jobs

Some jobs result in a product which will be evaluated on its quality. The level of success can be used in such jobs to help determine the quality.

Level-of-Effect Tasks

Some tasks produce different levels of effect which can be affected by a variety of things, including level of success. Examples would include tasks intended to do damage to other characters. The calling context should be able to incorporate level of success into the calculation of the resultant level of effect.

Sometimes level-of-effect tasks are much like threshold tasks except that, instead of having a single threshhold, they have several thresholds each with different effects. Examples of such tasks would include many types of perceptiveness tasks, which might result in different descriptions of the object being perceived depending on the level of success.

Threshold Tasks

Threshold tasks have two numbers associated with their difficulty, the level of difficulty and the threshold of success. The threshold of success determines the required number of successes (on a single roll) required. This increases the likelihood of a non-critical failure (which is a desirable result in most cases).

Such a threshold evaluation is contained entirely in the calling context. The element which is resolving the die roll is never responsible for returning more than the number of successes.

It is possible for a threshold task to have more than one threshold, making it effectively a level-of-effect task. In this manner, the programmer creating the task can produce Critical Successes as well as Critical Failures.

See also Developmental Object, Die Rolls and Critical Failures.

— Scotus - 23 Sep 2000