Sentinel Comics RPG Core Rulebook

Altering the Results
You can improve basic actions — add a static bonus
to the result, use a different die, add a new effect,
etc. — in two main ways: abilities and mods.
• Abilities: Apply the effects of the ability you
chose before you rolled. Some apply a static
bonus to the result on the effect die, some
let you use your Max die (or even Max+Min
dice) as your effect die. Some let you get a
secondary effect, such as a mod using the Min
die in addition to your Attack.
All of these effects refer to the Max, Mid, and Min
results of the same roll. You don’t roll separately
for each effect, and remember that Max, Mid, and
Min refer to the numbers showing on the dice and
have nothing to do with the size of the die.
Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense to defer a
bonus, so you need to use it right away. If you have
multiple effect dice in a roll, you decide which die
the bonus applies to.
Headlong has been brawling with a bunch
of bots in the subway station in the basement
of City Hall, and his Health is down to 17.
Headlong has a persistent bonus of +2
(made a couple of turns ago using his Get
Moving ability), and he’s just Attacked one
of the bots using his Friction Transfer
ability.
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• Mods: Mods are bonuses and penalties that
are generated using the Boost or Hinder
action; we talk about mods in detail on pages
26-27. If there is a mod in play that applies to
you, apply it to the result on the effect die. For
instance, if you are trying an Overcome action
with a penalty of -2, and your effect die shows
a 5, the penalty reduces the actual result to
a 3. You look that up on the chart (page 26)
and see it produces a failure or success with a
major twist.
A few important bits about applying mods:
• You must declare that you are using a mod
before rolling your dice.
• Applying the mod doesn’t change which values
are Min, Mid, and Max; that determination is
done before you apply the mod.
• Some mods are labeled exclusive (such as the
bonuses generated by hero points); you can
use no more than one exclusive bonus and
one exclusive penalty on any single roll.
• A mod can only alter one effect die. Some abilities
use more than one effect die (such as: Attack
with the Mid die and Hinder with the Min die).
A mod can only affect one of them. For bonuses,
which effect die is up to the player applying the
Mod. For penalties, the player who created that
penalty decides which effect die it alters.
• If a single modded die affects multiple targets,
the modified value of the die affects all of
those targets, not just one of them.
• If you have a penalty, it applies to the next roll
you make after the penalty is created.
• If you have a bonus, you may apply it on your
next roll or defer it to a later roll if you can
narratively justify doing so.
Steps of Taking an Action
Jennifer writes Frictionless Platform
-2 on a note card and sets that next to the
other bot’s die. She rolls a damage save for
the first bot, the one Headlong Attacked, and
resolves that as usual.