introduction to the Lazuur Avatars system

Judging Action Success

The Lazuur Avatars RPG system uses pools of six-sided dice (d6s). For most things your characters attempt to do, you’ll be rolling a number of dice equal to the Active Skill ranks and its Linked Attribute. Instead of adding the dice totals, rolls of ‘5’ and ‘6’ are counted as ‘hits’. If your character heard raised voices from the next room and wanted to get an ear to the door to listen in, you’d roll their Perception (Active Skill) + Intuition (Linked Attribute).

Let’s say, for example, that your character, Shandrah, has 3 ranks in Perception and an Intuition score of 2. You’d roll a total of five d6s and the number of 5s and 6s rolled determine the level of success. If the player said that Shandrah wanted to quickly fashion a conal device to amplify the sound coming through the door, the GM might award +2 dice. So in this example, the player would roll seven dice, but the expected 2 successes might not be enough to hear more than a few angrily barked words based on the GM’s interpretation of the result.

Linked Attributes

Every Active Skill has a Linked Attribute which is used most of the time. However, there are sometimes cases when the GM asks players to substitute another Attribute. For example, the party is on a small boat on the Sea of Ales and some sea creature has been circling… everyone stands up to get a better look for the creature with melee and missile weapons at the ready, knowing that one of their legs has been securely strapped to the boat in case it flips over. The creature smacks into the boat and everyone needs to check to determine whether or not they’re able to maintain their balance. The GM asks everyone to roll their character’s Athletics (Acrobatics) + Reaction (despite Acrobatics usually being linked to Agility).

Specializations

Each Active Skill has a list of specializations. In the above example, if the characters had 3 ranks in Athletics, they’d apply that 3-die bonus to rolls involving all 5 specializations (Acrobatics, Climb, Ride, Sprint, and Swim). Once reaching 5 or more ranks in an Active Skill, a specialization may be purchased for an addition +2 die bonus for that specific use of the Active Skill. (see ???)

Defaulting

If your character attempts to use an Active or Knowledge Skill and has no ranks in it, they must rely only on the Linked Attribute and have a -1 die penalty.

For example, Trudy, a wannabe contact between adventurers and nobles, is wining and dining some potential high-class customers. Her Influence (Etiquette) and Charisma are pretty good, so she’s been able to socialize well throughout the dinner, but eventually, one of the clients asks her opinion on the expensive red wine they’ve been drinking. She’s nervous about letting on that she knows nothing about the subject (Trudy doesn't have ranks in the Alcohol Knowledge Skill) but is worried about saying something foolish. The GM asks the player to do an Alcohol (Knowledge Skill) + Intuition (Linked Attribute) Test, but since she has no Alcohol ranks, the player rolls dice equal to her Intuition (4) minus one (for 'Defaulting'). She gets lucky and with two ‘hits’ — she’s able to intelligently comment on the vintage in comparison to some other famous brand before rerouting the conversation to more familiar topics.

There are some situations in which not having at least a rank in the Active Skill means that there's really no chance of success, preventing an attempt. Two or more points of Luck can be spent in this situation, however, to make the attempt. In other situations, menial tasks will be ruled as automatic by the GM if the character has a certain threshold of Skill ranks.

Test Types

Tests are when you roll dice to determine the outcome of your character’s actions. There are three types:

• Success Tests: the GM has Thresholds in mind (various numbers of needed ‘hits’ to moderately succeed in the boat example, everyone who was able to get at least one ‘hit’ on their Athletics (Acrobatics) + Reaction test is able to remain standing and ready to act unimpeded on their next turn.


• Opposed Tests: the character and GM-controlled NPC or creature both do Skill + Attribute rolls and compare the number of ‘hits’; Trudy had 3 net successes/‘hits’ on her Influence (Etiquette) + Charisma Test compared to that of the nobles’ 2 ‘hits’, meaning that she did a good job of impressing them with her attire, manner of speaking, etc.


• Extended Tests: when an action will take a much longer time and progress can gradually be made, this type of Test will be used. The GM will set an interval and accompanying Skill + Attribute will be set, as well as the ultimate Threshold (number of needed ‘hits’ to complete the task).

Assisting & Synergy

Many tasks that are performed outside the heat of battle can benefit from helping hands (or mouths). If another character wishes to Assist a character about to act, they can make the same (or similarly appropriate) roll and their number of ‘hits’ are added to the acting character’s dice pool as a modifier.

For example, Trudy is accompanied by one of her adventuring contacts, Ygirr, a rather dour dwarf. He’s not much for etiquette but it’s easily overlooked by the nobles as the player said that he would primarily keep him mouth shut. However, he attempts to assist his friend Trudy in hammering out the details for their contract. The GM asks Ygirr’s player to roll his Influence (Negotiate) + Charisma and he manages a single ‘hit’. Thus, Trudy gets one bonus die on her own Opposed Influence (Negotiate) + Charisma Test with the nobles in an attempt to get more favorable conditions put into writing.

Glitches & Critical Successes

Whenever a Test is made, if half or more of the dice come up as 1s, something bad will likely happen. When accompanied by one or more 5s or 6s (‘hits’), it’s considered a Glitch and when there are no potential successes, it’s a Critical Glitch — that’s when players need to brace themselves!

Some examples include:

• Glitch — an increase to the damage a mage will take from channeling their magic for a spell;
• Critical Glitch — the shield not only doesn’t help absorb any damage, but its straps break and will need to be repaired;
• Critical Success (half or more 6s rolled) — regain a point of Luck (see Attributes on the next page for more on Luck). When not used in this way, the successful result of the Test becomes more dramatic.

Boon & Bane

There are various situations in which chance is stacked in favor of or against the character. If the GM says a roll is made with Boon, the player may convert any single failed die to a 5, or a 5 to a 6 (to achieve a Critical Success). Conversely, Bane requires the player to shift a success (preferably a 6) to a 1. A common example of when these are applied is that smaller races like karboten (tinker gnomes) get Boon on hiding attempts whereas larger races like ani-yuniwa (lion-centaurs) get Bane on such attempts.