First thing I'll say is, DammitVictor, I think I'd prefer if you were a little less declarative (at least at this point) in your IC post. Nothing wrong with the sneaking in part, but I think I'd like to have a bit more control over what the scene inside of the bank looks like in terms of hostages, robbers, environment, etc. Sorry.

For your questions, Kareeah_Indaga, I'd say that no, you did not see Kaine, and yes, you have a working knowledge of Electro (when villains start showing up, I will probably post stat blocks, though I may censor parts to conceal some surprises).

Quote Originally Posted by Kareeah_Indaga View Post
Yes please, and can we start with 'when would we need to roll'?

For example, I'm planning to have Sleeper sneak over invisibly. There's a die associated with his invisibility. Do I need to roll for that, or is it just for combat and similar situations?
So, normally you can use your powers and do things without rolling. The dice are generally reserved for situations with stakes. Hercules wants to pick up a car (or, y'know, the Baxter Building), he can probably just pick it up. If, for some reason, he really needs to pick up the Baxter Building in the middle of a fight or something, I might ask him to roll for it, but even there it's probably more of a question of whether he can do it in time, or something like that.

Most of the time when dice are being rolled, it is because there is a conflict, or sometimes because you are preparing for or dealing with the aftermath of one. Most of the time, when you roll the dice, you are either creating an asset or inflicting a condition, or you are trying to reduce an asset or recover a condition. Dealing damage in the form of stress is just a special form of inflicting a condition.

So how do you roll the dice? Well, you start off by saying what you're trying to do. "Invisible Woman is going to try to trap the Juggernaut in a force bubble." "I'm gonna rush across the street and pop Dr. Doom right in the kisser." "Spider-Man is going to make a big web slingshot." This should say what your primary intent is - Invisible Woman is inflicting a complication on Juggernaut, whoever the middle character is is trying to inflict physical stress on Dr. Doom, and Spider-Man is trying to create an asset. You may be able to expand your action after you roll, but it's good to have an idea to start.

After that, you put together your dice pool. Your dice pool can include one die from each of the following:
One affiliation
Up to one relevant distinction
Up to one relevant power from each of your power sets
Up to one specialty
Up to one complication or stress die from your target
Up to one asset
Up to one push die, stunt, or resource

You always have an affiliation - either Solo, Buddy, or Team, depending on what's going on.

A relevant distinction can be positive (in which case it's a D8), or negative (in which case it's a D4 and you get a plot point).

Powers are fairly straightforward, but note that your SFX can make big changes to your dice pool. Powers are only used when positive.

Specialties are also only used when positive. Unlike other dice, you can choose to step them down and get an extra die. So if you have Combat Expert D8, you can use that as D8 or 2D6. If you have Combat Master D10, that could be D10, 2D8, or 3D6.

Complications, stress, and assets are things that get created during the action. We'll touch on how in a minute, but basically, if Spider-Man inflicts D8 Emotional Stress on Fixer by taunting him, Wolverine could add that D8 to his own dice pool to show Fixer the pointy end of his claws.

Finally, pushing, stunts, and resources are part of where plot points come in. You can spend a plot point to add a D6 to your pool (that's a push). If you can relate that D6 to your power set or a specialty in an interesting way, it becomes a D8 (that's a stunt). Resources are normally created during a transition scene or when my dice give you an opportunity; they're always related to your specialties. This is a D6 for an Expert or D8 for a Master, and it lasts until the end of an action scene. For example, Hercules is a Business Expert D8. If you thinks it would be helpful to have a fat wad of cash or to get in touch with his business contacts, those things would be resources.

Once you have all your dice, you roll them. First, you set aside any 1's. These are called Opportunities. I can give you a plot point, and if I do, I get to add dice to the doom pool based on how many 1's you rolled. Of the dice that are left, you pick two to make the total and a third one to be the effect die. On the effect die, only the type of die counts, not the number rolled. You can spend plot points to add more dice to your total or take more effect dice. For example, if Invisible Woman wanted to add an extra effect die, she could trap Juggernaut and one of his buddies in the force bubble instead of just Juggernaut. Again, some SFX modify this process.

Now the other side gets to react. If you are trying to inflict a complication or stress, then the target makes their own dice pool and rolls. If you're making an asset, then you're rolling against the doom pool. In either case, the reaction roll produces its own total and effect die. If the reaction total is higher than yours was, your action failed. If it's equal or less, you succeeded, but your effect die may still be stepped down based on their effect die.

Assuming you succeeded, your effect die is the size of the asset or complication, or the amount of stress inflicted. Stress normally lasts until recovered. Assets and complications usually last for one use and then they're gone, but you can spend a plot point to make them last until the end of the scene (and you can work on making them bigger if you like).


Example
So, to put this together, suppose Cyclops and Storm are wandering around some sewer tunnel when they're attacked by Carnage. The Watcher tells them there's a scene distinction of Tight Quarters. Heroes normally get to go first, and in the Cyclops is the leader, so he'll go first. Cyclops knows that he and Storm might be in trouble if Carnage gets in too close, so he wants to come up with a battle plan. That's creating an asset. Cyclops has his Buddy D8 (because he's with Storm), Tactical Genius D8 (he could also use I Don't Have Time For This as a D4, but he'd rather have the plan then the plot point), and Combat Expert D8. His force blast power doesn't help. However, he has some plot points on hand and decides to spend one. He could push, but he sees he has Cosmic D8 as a specialty, so he decides to stunt by working the Klyntar weakness to sound and fire into his plan. He could be rolling 4D8, but he decides to split his Combat Expert into 2D6, so he'll be rolling 3D8 and 2D6.

Cyclops rolls 1, 5, 7 on the D8's and 2, 6 on the D6's. He uses the 6 and 7 for a total of 13 and has an effect die of D8. The Watcher gives him a plot point to add a die to the doom pool.

Cyclops is creating an asset, so the Watcher reacts with the doom pool instead of Carnage. In this case, the doom pool is 3D6 (it was 2D6, plus the extra die from the opportunity). The Watcher rolls 2, 2, 2. His total is 4 with a D6 effect die. Cyclops has the larger total and the D6 is smaller than the D8, so Cyclops has created a Brilliant Plan D8 asset. He spends a plot point to make it available for the whole fight.

After Cyclops, he picks who goes next from the people who haven't gone yet this turn. He picks Storm, and she inflicts D8 stress on Carnage, using Cyclops' Brilliant Plan asset to help her. Then Carnage goes and inflicts D8 stress on Storm. That ends the turn and Carnage went last, so he picks who goes first next turn. He picks himself and puts D8 stress on Cyclops. Then Cyclops gets to go again.

This time, Cyclops wants to blast Carnage. He still has D8 for Buddy. This time, he adds D8 for I Don't Have Time For This. He also adds D10 for his Force Blast and D8 for his Combat Expert. Plus, he has SFX which let him double his Force Blast against a single target and add three dice for his total, at the cost of having to set aside his highest die. He goes for it. He also has D8 for his Brilliant Plan and D8 for Carnage's stress. This is 2D10 and 5D8. Cyclops rolls 10 and 7 on his D10's and 8, 5, 3, 2, 1 on his D8's. He has to set aside the 1 and the 10 (and the Watcher chooses to give him another plot point to continue building the doom pool). Then Cyclops has a choice: he could take 7+8+5 for his total and have an effect die of D8, or he could use 8+5+3 and have an effect die of D10. Cyclops really wants to hit and picks the former.

Now Carnage gets to react. He has Solo D10 and Sneaky D8. In his power set, he has Enhanced Durability D8 and Superhuman Reflexes D10, but they're both in the same power set and he can only pick one. He's about to pick the D10 when he notices he has Multipower SFX that let him use both if he steps them down. Great - D8 and D6 go in. Finally, he adds his Combat Expert D8. Carnage rolls 1D10, 3D8, and 1D6. Carnage ends up wi a decent roll, but he doesn't get anything that can beat Cyclops's total of 20. The Watcher doesn't want to spend doom to add more dice to the total, so Carnage picks two dice for a 16 total and uses his D10 for effect. Cyclops hits Carnage, but since the D10 is higher than Cyclops's D8, the D8 is stepped down to D6. Carnage takes D6 stress, bumping his existing stress up to D10.