Building a Dice Pool
Every check in Exodus NDS begins by assembling a dice pool, a collection of positive and negative dice rolled together.
Characteristics
All characters, player and non-player alike, are defined by six characteristics representing their fundamental capabilities. Characteristics are rated from 1 to 5 and form the foundation of every dice pool in Exodus NDS.
| Characteristic | Description |
|---|---|
| Might | Physical power, toughness, and endurance. Governs feats of strength, physical resilience, and the capacity to absorb punishment. Contributes to a character's base Resistance. |
| Agility | Speed, coordination, and precision. Governs athletic movement, fine motor control, and reaction time. |
| Intellect | Reasoning, memory, and analytical thinking. Governs knowledge, technical skill, and problem-solving under pressure. |
| Savvy | Perception, cunning, and situational awareness. Governs reading people and situations, practical instincts, and navigating the world. |
| Willpower | Mental fortitude, discipline, and resolve. Governs focus under pressure, resistance to stress, and recovery from exertion. Contributes to a character's base Strain Points. |
| Charisma | Force of personality, social influence, and leadership. Governs persuasion, intimidation, and the ability to inspire or command. |
Chapter Two defines default starting characteristic ratings and advancement costs. A Universe may introduce a seventh characteristic to represent genre-specific capabilities, such as a Resonance characteristic in a Universe with psychic powers, without replacing the core six.
Skills
Chapter Four defines the default skills, trained areas of knowledge and practice, rated from 0 to 5. Each skill is linked to one of the six characteristics unless a Universe changes that pairing. Skills represent focused expertise within the broader capability that a characteristic describes.
Pool Construction
When making a check, the GM identifies which characteristic and skill apply. Use whichever is higher as the total number of positive dice in the pool, then upgrade a number of those dice equal to whichever rating is lower.
Upgrading means replacing an Ability Die with a Mastery Die .
If no relevant skill applies, treat the skill rating as 0, roll Ability Dice equal to the characteristic only, with no upgrades.
Examples
Characteristic higher: A character has a characteristic of 3 and a skill of 2. Start with 3 Ability Dice, upgrade 2 → final pool:
Skill higher: A character has a characteristic of 2 and a skill of 4. Start with 4 Ability Dice (skill is higher), upgrade 2 (characteristic) → final pool:
Untrained Checks
If a character has no ranks in the relevant skill (rating 0), the pool is simply a number of Ability Dice equal to the characteristic. No upgrades occur.
Downgrading Dice
Some effects and conditions downgrade dice — the reverse of upgrading. Downgrading replaces a Mastery Die with an Ability Die . If no Mastery Dice remain to downgrade, the effect has no further impact on the positive pool. Similarly, a difficulty pool can be downgraded by replacing a Crisis Die with a Trial Die . Downgrading and upgrading are distinct from adding Boon or Bane Dice, they change the type of dice in the pool, not the number. If an effect would upgrade a die but no eligible dice of the lower type remain, the upgrade has no effect.
Adding Situational Dice
Beyond the base pool, circumstances can add Boon Dice or Bane Dice :
- Boon Dice are added for favorable conditions: assistance, superior equipment, environmental advantage, or narrative momentum.
- Bane Dice are added for unfavorable conditions: poor visibility, inferior tools, injury, or environmental hazard.
Boon and Bane Dice can both be added to the dice pool. For example, you could aim (+1 Boon) against someone with defense of 1 (+1 Bane) and both dice are in the pool.
Dice Pool Limits
Dice pools are intended to remain readable and manageable at the table.
A dice pool always contains at least one die. If all positive dice would be removed, roll one Ability Die instead. If all negative dice would be removed, the check proceeds without opposition.
As a general guideline, a dice pool should not exceed 12 total dice after all modifiers are applied. If additional dice would be added beyond this limit, the GM may instead:
- Convert excess positive dice into automatic Boons
- Convert excess negative dice into automatic Banes
- Apply a narrative effect reflecting overwhelming advantage or disadvantage
This guideline exists to preserve speed of play and clarity of results.
Universe Modifications
Universes may modify pool construction for specific actions, magic, vehicle piloting, social influence, and other specialized systems may use different rules for how dice are assembled. Those rules always specify which characteristic and skill apply, and may add mandatory difficulty dice, resource costs, or other considerations.
Chapter Four defines the default skill list and universal talents. Universes may rename skills, replace skills, alter talent availability, add genre-specific talent trees, or define special abilities that augment, replace, or expand standard check mechanics.