[HERO Light] Flipping the 3d6 roll

[Kenneth New]

The core mechanic is HERO for resolving combat and skills is the 3D6 roll. The official rules require you to roll a target number or lower. This results in a lot of subtraction each round at the table. The following proposed rule flips the 3D6 roll so that the player will always try to roll high and subtraction will only be necessary if there's a penalty to a roll.

Combat Rolls

Attacker	Roll 3d6+OCV
Defender	Hit Number = 10+DCV

All other rules remain the same. Penalties and bonuses are now applied to the roll instead of to the chance of success.

Characteristic Rolls

The formula for determining characteristic rolls is (CHA-10)/5, but for convenience sake I have included a table.

Characteristic Value	Characteristic roll
1-2	-2
3-7	-1
8-12	+0
13-17	+1
18-22	+2
each +5	additional +1

Skill Rolls

Skills in HERO are purchased as "familiarities", as "11- rolls" or as "CHA rolls". The starting value for the skill is listed below.

HERO System Skill	HERO Light Bonus
familiarity 8- roll	-2
11- roll	+0
CHA roll	See table above

Skill levels now add into the die roll.

Critical Success

If a player rolls 4 higher than the character needed to succeed, then the roll is a critical success. In combat that means that the character gets the maximum amount possible on the effect dice.

Fumble

If a player rolls 10 lower than the character needed to succeed, the roll is a fumble.

Design Notes

• This is effectively what 3rd edition D&D did to simplify things by getting rid of THAC0. It should simplify the HERO Light system for players.
  
• The math works the same in this system as in the standard HERO system as far as chance to hit or succeed is concerned.
• 10 or more is 62.5% chance of success with no bonus, which is the same exact chance to succeed on 11- when rolling under the value like in the standard HERO system

[John Niska]

This should work out perfectly.
Very cool.