Checks

Your hero stands perched on the rooftop, looking down through the skylight. In the abandoned warehouse below, the villain throws the switch that begins lowering your hero’s friends into the vat of boiling acid! You turn to the Gamemaster and say:

“I leap down, smashing through the skylight, swing over to the catwalk, kick the bad guy out of the way, then flip the switch to stop the lowering mechanism!” How exactly do you do that in the game?

Whenever a character in Mutants & Masterminds attempts something where the outcome is in doubt, it requires a check of an appropriate trait: ability, skill, power, etc. (also known as a “trait check” or a “[fill-in trait name]” check, like a “Dexterity check,” for example).

Make a check by rolling the die, adding the appropriate rank, and comparing the result against a difficulty class (DC): if your result equals or exceeds the DC, you succeed. If it does not, then your attempt fails. Sometimes how much you exceed or fail to exceed the DC matters, but often it is simply whether you do or not that counts.

Check = d20 + ability vs. difficulty class

So in the previous example, how many checks are there? Let’s break things down and look at what the hero is doing:


 * • “... leap down ...” Jumping down is literally as easy as falling off a log, so there’s no need for a check here.


 * • “... smashing through the skylight ...” Breaking something can require a check, but in this case—a body hurling through Plexiglas—the Gamemaster does not see a point in making one, so this is automatic, too. This is one of the ways the Gamemaster’s judgment and intervention is important in the flow of the game.


 * • “... swing over to the catwalk ...” This part of the action is a bit of a judgment call. If your hero has the Swinging movement effect (see Powers), then this is automatic. Otherwise, it might call for an Acrobatics skill check to pull it off; even then, if your hero is good enough at Acrobatics, the Gamemaster might call this a routine check and waive the need for a roll (see Routine Checks later in this chapter).


 * • “... kick the bad guy out of the way ...” Here’s the real crux of the hero’s action. You want to hit the villain who, naturally, wants to avoid being hit. This calls for a check of your hero’s Fighting ability (which measures the ability to hit things close-up). If you decided to have your hero shoot or throw something at the villain that would be a check of Dexterity instead.


 * • “... flip the switch back up ...” Assuming the bad guy is out of the way, this is easy, no check required. If the hero’s attempt to hit the villain fails, then the hero still has to get past him in order to do this at all. So it all depends on the outcome of the Fighting check against the bad guy. If the mechanism was especially complex, the GM might ask for a check here, such as using the Technology skill to figure out how it works.

As you can see, once you break it down, checks are actually fairly simple. All the Gamemaster has to say in response to the player’s declaration is: “Okay, roll a Fighting check to hit the villain,” letting the rest of the description stand as what happens. Whether or not the hero is successful in stopping the trap depends on the outcome of the attack against the bad guy.

Of course, if the villain is expecting the hero, there might be another trap, such as part of the catwalk rigged to fall away under him, leaving him dangling above the acid vat and at the villain’s mercy! In that case, the GM would respond to the player’s description: “You smash through the skylight and swing over to the catwalk, but when you do...” and go on to describe what follows. The rest of the hero’s intended action(s) are null and void, because things don’t always go as planned when you’re dealing with cunning supervillains!

Checks are used to resolve all outcomes in Mutants & Masterminds, so once you understand the basic concept, the rest is easy. For detailed examples of how to use checks in the game and their effects, see the Action & Adventure chapter.

CRITICAL SUCCESS
If you roll a 20 on the die when making a check you’ve scored a critical success. Determine the degree of success normally and then increase it by one degree. This can turn a low-level success into something more significant, but more importantly, it can turn a failure into a full-fledged success! A critical success with an attack check is called a critical hit, discussed later in this chapter and in the Action & Adventure chapter.

DIFFICULTY CLASS
Checks are made against a difficulty class or DC, a number set by the GM, which your check must equal or exceed to achieve success. So for a task with a DC of 15 you must roll a check total of 15 or greater to succeed. In some cases, the results of a check vary based on how much higher or lower the result is than the DC, known as its degree of success or failure.

ROUTINE CHECKS
A check normally represents performing a task under a certain amount of pressure, in the midst of the furious action of super-heroic adventure. When the situation is less demanding, you can achieve more reliable results.

Under routine circumstances—when you are not under any pressure—instead of rolling the die for the check, calculate your result as if you had rolled a 10. This ensures success for average (DC 10) tasks with a modifier of +0 or more. More capable characters (with higher bonuses) can succeed on more difficult checks on a routine basis: a +10 bonus, for example, means a routine check total of 20, able to succeed at DC 20 tasks on a routine basis, and achieve three degrees of success on average (DC 10) tasks on a routine basis.

The GM decides when circumstances are suitable for performing a task as a routine check. Certain game traits also change what tasks or situations are considered “routine” for a character. Routine checks help speed-up game play and smooth-out some of the variability of die rolling in situations where a character would be expected to perform at a steady, reliable level.

If a character’s routine check result is not up to a task, the player still has the option to roll the die, since the task is by definition not routine for that character. The idea behind routine checks is to eliminate die-rolling (and possible failures) for things competent characters should be able to accomplish on a regular basis, while still having a good idea of the characters’ capabilities.

{| align="center" border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width: 50%;"
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DIFFICULTY CLASSES
(Perception) guard (Perception) (Technology) (Athletics) (Athletics) security system (Technology) though you’re not wearing an ID badge and aren’t on their list, they should let you into the building (Deception) through the jungle on a moonless night after 12 days of rainfall (Perception)
 * style="text-align: center;"|DIFFICULTY (DC)
 * style="text-align: center;"|EXAMPLE (SKILL USED)
 * style="text-align: center;"|Very easy (0)
 * style="text-align: center;"|Notice something in plain sight
 * style="text-align: center;"|Very easy (0)
 * style="text-align: center;"|Notice something in plain sight
 * style="text-align: center;"|Easy (5)
 * style="text-align: center;"|Climb a knotted rope (Athletics)
 * style="text-align: center;"|Average (10)
 * style="text-align: center;"|Hear an approaching security
 * style="text-align: center;"|Average (10)
 * style="text-align: center;"|Hear an approaching security
 * style="text-align: center;"|Tough (15)
 * style="text-align: center;"|Disarm an explosive
 * style="text-align: center;"|Disarm an explosive
 * style="text-align: center;"|Challenging (20)
 * style="text-align: center;"|Swim against a strong current
 * style="text-align: center;"|Swim against a strong current
 * style="text-align: center;"|Formidable (25)
 * style="text-align: center;"|Climb a wet, slippery rock-face
 * style="text-align: center;"|Climb a wet, slippery rock-face
 * style="text-align: center;"|Heroic (30)
 * style="text-align: center;"|Overcome a sophisticated
 * style="text-align: center;"|Overcome a sophisticated
 * style="text-align: center;"|Super-heroic (35)
 * style="text-align: center;"|Convinces the guards, even
 * style="text-align: center;"|Convinces the guards, even
 * style="text-align: center;"|Nigh-impossible (40)
 * style="text-align: center;"|Track a trained commando
 * style="text-align: center;"|Track a trained commando
 * }

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 * colspan="2" style="text-align: center;"|

CHECK EXAMPLES

 * style="text-align: center;"|Task
 * style="text-align: center;"|Check Using...
 * style="text-align: center;"|Sock a villain in the jaw
 * style="text-align: center;"|Close Combat skill (or Fighting)
 * style="text-align: center;"|Climb the outside of a building
 * style="text-align: center;"|Athletics skill (or Strength)
 * style="text-align: center;"|Do a triple-back flip
 * style="text-align: center;"|Acrobatics skill (or Agility)
 * style="text-align: center;"|Find clues at a crime scene
 * style="text-align: center;"|Investigation skill (or Intellect)
 * style="text-align: center;"|Notice a ninja sneaking up on you
 * style="text-align: center;"|Perception skill (or Awareness)
 * style="text-align: center;"|Recall a particular fact
 * style="text-align: center;"|Expertise skill (or Intellect)
 * style="text-align: center;"|Fix a broken device
 * style="text-align: center;"|Technology skill
 * style="text-align: center;"|Convince someone of something
 * style="text-align: center;"|Deception skill (Persuasion skill, if it’s true, or Presence)
 * }
 * style="text-align: center;"|Recall a particular fact
 * style="text-align: center;"|Expertise skill (or Intellect)
 * style="text-align: center;"|Fix a broken device
 * style="text-align: center;"|Technology skill
 * style="text-align: center;"|Convince someone of something
 * style="text-align: center;"|Deception skill (Persuasion skill, if it’s true, or Presence)
 * }
 * style="text-align: center;"|Deception skill (Persuasion skill, if it’s true, or Presence)
 * }

{| align="center" border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width: 50%;"
 * colspan="3" style="text-align: center;"|

OPPOSED CHECK EXAMPLES

 * style="text-align: center;"|TASK
 * style="text-align: center;"|SKILL
 * style="text-align: center;"|OPPOSED BY
 * style="text-align: center;"|Sneak up on someone
 * style="text-align: center;"|Stealth
 * style="text-align: center;"|Perception
 * style="text-align: center;"|Con someone
 * style="text-align: center;"|Deception
 * style="text-align: center;"|Insight
 * style="text-align: center;"|Win a car race
 * style="text-align: center;"|Vehicles
 * style="text-align: center;"|Vehicles
 * style="text-align: center;"|Pretend to be someone else
 * style="text-align: center;"|Deception
 * style="text-align: center;"|Perception
 * style="text-align: center;"|Steal a key chain unnoticed
 * style="text-align: center;"|Sleight of Hand
 * style="text-align: center;"|Perception
 * style="text-align: center;"|Win a trivia contest
 * style="text-align: center;"|Expertise
 * style="text-align: center;"|Expertise
 * style="text-align: center;"|Break computer security
 * style="text-align: center;"|Technology
 * style="text-align: center;"|Technology
 * }
 * style="text-align: center;"|Win a trivia contest
 * style="text-align: center;"|Expertise
 * style="text-align: center;"|Expertise
 * style="text-align: center;"|Break computer security
 * style="text-align: center;"|Technology
 * style="text-align: center;"|Technology
 * }
 * }

{| align="center" border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width: 50%;"
 * colspan="3" style="text-align: center;"|

DEGREES OF SUCCESS AND FAILURE

 * style="text-align: center;"|CHECK RESULT EQUAL OR GREATER THAN
 * style="text-align: center;"|DEGREE
 * style="text-align: center;"|EQUAL OR GREATER THAN... (DC 20)
 * style="text-align: center;"|DC+15
 * style="text-align: center;"|Four (Success)
 * style="text-align: center;"|35
 * style="text-align: center;"|DC+10
 * style="text-align: center;"|Three (Success)
 * style="text-align: center;"|30
 * style="text-align: center;"|DC+05
 * style="text-align: center;"|
 * style="text-align: center;"|30
 * style="text-align: center;"|DC+05
 * style="text-align: center;"|
 * style="text-align: center;"|

Two (Success)
 * style="text-align: center;"|25
 * style="text-align: center;"|DC
 * style="text-align: center;"|One (Success)
 * style="text-align: center;"|20
 * style="text-align: center;"|DC–05
 * style="text-align: center;"|One (Failure)
 * style="text-align: center;"|15
 * style="text-align: center;"|DC–10
 * style="text-align: center;"|Two (Failure)
 * style="text-align: center;"|12
 * style="text-align: center;"|DC–15
 * style="text-align: center;"|Three (Failure)
 * style="text-align: center;"|05
 * style="text-align: center;"| DC–20
 * style="text-align: center;"|Four (Failure
 * style="text-align: center;"|00
 * }
 * style="text-align: center;"| DC–20
 * style="text-align: center;"|Four (Failure
 * style="text-align: center;"|00
 * }
 * }

OPPOSED CHECKS
Some checks are opposed. They are made against another character’s check result as the DC. Whoever gets the higher result wins. An example is trying to bluff someone. You roll a Deception check, while the GM rolls an Insight check for your target. If you beat the target’s Insight check result, you succeed.

For ties on opposed checks, the character with the higher bonus wins. If the bonuses are the same, roll d20. On a 1–10, one character wins, and on an 11–20, victory goes to the other character; decide which character is “high” and which is “low” before rolling.

ROUTINE OPPOSITION
In cases where two or more characters are actively opposing each other, both roll checks and compare the results. In some situations, however, one or more of the characters in an opposed check may not even be aware of it! For example, a guard standing watch and looking for intruders would make a Perception check to oppose any attempt at Stealth, but somebody just sitting in a park, not expecting anyone to sneak up on her, isn’t specifically looking. This is a case of routine opposition, in which case the DC for the active character’s check is the opposing character’s modifier +10, just like the result of a routine check (previously).

Active defenses in combat, where characters are focusing on other actions, are generally routine opposition, which is why attack checks are made against a DC of 10 + the appropriate defense. Active opposed checks in combat are an option when a character goes on the defensive. See Defend in the Action & Adventure chapter for details.

COMPARISON CHECKS
In cases where a check is a simple test of one character’s capability against another, with no luck involved, both participants compare their appropriate ranks. The character with the higher rank wins. Just as you wouldn’t roll a “height check” to see who’s taller, you don’t need to make a Strength check to see who’s stronger; Strength rank already tells you that.

So when two characters arm wrestle, for example, the stronger character wins. If two flying characters race, the faster character wins, and so forth. Note this does not include the use of extra effort (see page 19) to temporarily increase a character’s rank, which can affect the outcome of a comparison check, nor does it include things like maneuvers, tricks, or other ways of trying to affect the outcome. It assumes a straight-out comparison. In the case of identical bonuses or ranks, each character has an equal chance of winning. Roll a die: on a 1–10, the first character wins, and on an 11–20, the second character does.

====GRADED CHECKS

==== Much of the time a check is a simple pass-fail, it either succeeds, or it does not. In other cases, it matters just how well the check succeeded, or how badly it failed. This gradation of results is called a graded check and involves a degree of success or failure.

Just rolling a success or failure counts as one degree. Every five full points a check result is over or under the difficulty class adds a degree. Fractions are ignored when determining degrees. So DC 10 check with a result of 13 is one degree of success, just as a result of 8 is one degree of failure.

There is no limit to the number of degrees a check may have, although more than two degrees of failure rarely matters, and some degrees of success may have no further effect beyond a certain point (once you have succeeded as well as is possible in a given situation). For example, failure on an Acrobatics check to balance means you wobble and spend that turn maintaining your balance, but don’t move. Two degrees of failure mean you lose your balance and fall! After that point, further degrees of failure don’t really matter.

In cases where a single degree of success or failure is sufficient, the rules simply specify “success” or “failure” without giving a degree.

Specific types of graded checks—notably skill and resistance checks—give specific results for degrees of success and failure in their descriptions.

CIRCUMSTANCE MODIFIERS
Some circumstances make checks easier or harder, resulting in a bonus or penalty to the check. Characters in a favorable situation are said to have a circumstance bonus for the check, while those in a disadvantageous situation are said to be have a circumstance penalty. As a general rule, apply a modifier of plus or minus 2 if the character is at a minor bonus or minor penalty, and a modifier of plus or minus 5 if the character is at a major bonus or major penalty for the check:


 * +/-2 for bonus/penalty
 * +/-5 for major bonus/penalty

CIRCUMSTANCES AND DIFFICULTY
Technically, circumstance modifiers could apply to either the check result of the difficulty class of a check, affecting the character’s performance, or making the task itself easier or harder. If you want to differentiate between circumstance modifiers that affect performance versus those that modify the difficulty of a task, feel free to do so. Mutants & Masterminds applies circumstance modifiers directly to the check result because it is easier to deal with them consistently, and the game effect is the same: the chance of success changes.

UNDER THE HOOD: CIRCUMSTANCES
Circumstance modifiers are another useful Gamemaster ool for handling a lot of the variables that come up during game play. Specific examples are discussed throughout the rules for various types of checks. One example includes the following:

TOOLS

Some tasks require tools. If tools are needed, the specific items are mentioned in the description of the task or skill. If you don’t have the appropriate tools, you may still be able to attempt the task, but at a major disadvantage, for a –5 circumstance penalty on your check, if the GM decides you can attempt the task at all. A character may be able to put together makeshift tools in order to make the check. If the GM allows this, reduce the circumstance penalty to –2.

TEAM CHECKS
Sometimes characters work together and help each other out. In this case, one character (usually the one with the highest bonus) is considered the leader of the effort and makes the check normally, while each helper makes the same type of check using the same trait(s) against DC 10. The helpers’ individual degrees of success (and failure!) are added together to achieve the final outcome of the assistance.

Success grants the leader a +2 circumstance bonus. Three or more total degrees of success grant a +5 circumstance bonus. One degree of failure provides no modifier, but two or more impose a –2 circumstance penalty!

The GM sets the limit on how many characters can help as part of a team check. Regardless of the number of helpers, the leader’s bonus cannot be more than +5 (for three or more total degrees of success) nor the penalty greater than –2 (for two or more total degrees of failure).

Team Check = +2 circumstance bonus for one total degree of success


 * +5 circumstance bonus for three or more total degrees of success
 * -2 circumstance penalty for two or more total degrees of failure

ATTACK CHECKS
An attack check determines whether or not you hit an opponent in combat with an attack. It is a d20 roll plus your bonus with that particular attack, usually based off of Fighting or Dexterity and appropriate modifiers, like the Close and Ranged Combat skills. The difficulty is your target’s defense class: Parry for close attacks, Dodge for ranged attacks. Certain attacks may target other defenses. If you equal or exceed your target’s defense class result, your attack hits. Otherwise, you miss.

Attack Check = d20 + attack bonus + modifiers vs. defense class

A natural 20 on an attack check (where the die comes up 20) always hits and may be a critical hit (see Critical Hits in the Action & Adventure chapter). A natural 1 on an attack check (where the die comes up 1) always misses, regardless of the check total. This differs from normal checks and reflects the variable and unpredictable nature of combat.

RESISTANCE CHECKS
A resistance check is an attempt to resist different effects, ranging from damage and injury to traps, poisons, and various power effects. A resistance check is a d20 roll + the appropriate defense (typically Dodge, Fortitude, Toughness, or Will).

Resistance Check = d20 + defense bonus + modifiers vs. hazard’s DC (generally 10 + rank)

The difficulty class is based on the strength of the hazard, such as the rank of an effect or the strength of a disease or poison, typically that value plus 10 (like a routine check). Resistance checks may be graded, with different results at different degrees.

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