Skill Checks (RBv0.13)

Genghis-Pawn · 4 July 2026 01:10

Now that (I think) I understand it, I find the skill check system remarkably clever and elegant. But on pages 13-14 of the Rulebook v.0.13 (“RB13-14”), the subsections on Skill Checks initially left me confused. I took quite a while to think on it, but I will spare you at least some of the details and jump to three main rants/suggestions. I don’t like how thin my hlines are showing up so I’ll put “S#” at the start of each individual point I’m trying to make.

S1: I think it would help players (or at least, players like me) a lot to be told somewhere explicitly, by way of summary, something like this, all in one go:

The three types of skill checks are built one atop the other. A “Skill Check With Progress” involves completing multiple “Skill Checks with Results” – the Results of each skill check are summed to track your Progress. Each individual “Skill Check with Results” requires completing a “Base Skill Check” to score a Hit – your Result is the highest value you rolled on a fate die that is less than the Action Score (1d6+stats+mods). A “Base Skill Check” simply requires scoring a Hit by rolling at least one fate die under the Action Score – in the Base case, the specific value on any die is never noted as the “Result,” only the Hit matters.

Personally, I think something like this would best be placed before the discussion of each type of Skill Check. It primes the reader to see how each type of skill check is “Just like the last one, but then do this additional step.” But, whether here or elsewhere, a gloss of how they all fit together would be helpful.

S2: It is notable that none of the examples of Skill Checks on RB13-14 remind the player to calculate the Action Score by adding Stats and Mods. I think it would be useful to alter some inset image(s) to show how some card(s) in a player’s Hero Tableau can supplement the 1d6 and bump up the Action Score. Otherwise, one might get the impression that they can never get a Hit if their fate die rolls are all 6s, 7s or 8s.

S3: The subsection on “Skill Check With Result” was the source of most of my initial confusion, and it strikes me as too terse and ultimately misleading.

At time of writing, both the subsection on “Base Skill Check” and the subsection on “Skill Check With Result” begin with the identical passage:

“[this skill check type] takes the form: Check STAT. For example, check MUSCLE or check LORE.”

This was the core source of my initial confusion, as the rulebook seems to tell me explicitly that 2 distinct types of skill check are indistinguishable, which can’t plausibly be right.

If I now understand correctly, the vast majority of Skill Checks with Results will occur as Hero Attack rolls in combat, and these never seem to involve a written prompt on any card of the form “check STAT,” rather it is simply to be universally assumed that all Hero Attack rolls are a Skill Check with Result (See RB34). I have checked every card in the box and find only one in which prose instructions seem to indicate that the card is requesting a Skill Check with Result, however it is a problematic case. Spoilers, possibly:

Encounter Card Z8 “Vats” begins with a very puzzling skillcheck: “Open with MUSCLE(3); if the result is >5 then lose D6+2 Party HP.” First, this should be “check MUSCLE(3)” to match the forms of the rulebook. Second, it would then match the form of a Skill Check with Progress. Third, however (and despite RB 13’s suggestion that a Skill Check with Result will be of the form “check STAT”) what specifically indicates that this as a (possible) Skill Check with Result is the fact that (after this ‘form’ has appeared) the sentence goes on to invite the player to check a Result at all. So, pulling it all together, this appears to be a renegade “Skill Check with Progress and also with an independent Result.”

A different spoiler tag is required to accommodate a paragraph break.

I have difficulty making sense of this. On the one hand, it doesn’t seem sensible that the ‘result’ could be the cumulative sum of Progress since that violates the rules for a Skill Check with Result – a Result is never a sum, it’s just the face value of some die. On the other hand – and notwithstanding that with Mods and Stats in view to augment the Action Score, it is indeed possible for a single Skill Check with Result to return a Result >5 – the instruction on the card doesn’t make it sufficiently explicit if the intention is that the player should check the Result on each roll as they try to build up progress. If that’s the intention there is no “the Result” (singular) to check, and the player should instead be told to check “each Result” (one at a time, taken independently in sequence as the player tries to build up progress).

Something needs revision. Minimally: the way the rulebook currently points to the prose “form” of a “Skill Check with Result” doesn’t help players keep track of 99% of the relevant cases. I think that first passage must be struck from the section on “Skill Checks with Results.”

Genghis-Pawn · 4 July 2026 11:56

Vaguely related: The Quest card Doom’s Defiance in the Thoth’s Bounty Saga is missing the icons for strong hit / weak hit / miss and writes these out in prose. Icons should be swapped in for consistency with the rest of the cards. I don’t think I’ve spotted any other cases like this so far.

Genghis-Pawn · 4 July 2026 14:22

Aaaand can’t help myself from making an attempt at a reorganized summary of the core rules around skill checks, for your consideration. In the end I think this is largely down to stylistic preference, but I do think getting pretty explicit about the “just like the previous one, but then another step” could be helpful, and that has been my main goal here. If I didn’t see something like this in the rulebook, I would probably sit down and make a player aid that says this – but I’m fussy.

Core Mechanics

[…]

Skill Checks

Ziggurat utilizes four distinct types of skill checks: (A) Base Skill Checks, (B) Skill Checks with Results, (C) Skill Checks with Progress and (D) Push Your Luck.

The basic physical action you take for every skill check is identical: perform a simultaneous roll of the d6 Action die and the two d8 Fate die. What mainly distinguishes each type of skill check is (a) how many times you roll the dice, and (b) the calculation you perform after each roll.

To complete any Skill Check, begin at step 1 below, and proceed as far as needed.

A. Base Skill Check: written as: “check STAT” for example, check MUSCLE.

Roll the d6 Action dice and the two d8 Fate die.
Add your Stat to the d6 result, and apply any additional Modifiers on cards in the Hero Tableau (“+X Mod”). This is your Action Score. (It is capped at 8: failure is always possible).
Compare the Action Score to the face values of the two fate dice. A hit occurs if the Action Score is higher than one or more fate die. There are three possible outcomes:
- Strong Hit or [icon]: The Action Score is greater than both fate die values.
- Weak Hit or [icon]: The Action Score is greater than only one fate die value.
- Miss or [icon]: The Action Score is less than or equal to both fate die values.

B. Skill Check With Result: A card will never contain a written prompt asking you to perform this type of check, but it is used for every Attack Action in combat (See pxxx).

Perform all of steps 1-3 above. On a hit, go one step further:

Locate the highest value on a fate die that is less than the Action Score: this is your Result. (On a miss, you have no Result; follow “Miss” instructions on the card that prompted the Skill Check)

C. Skill Check with Progress: written as “check STAT(x)” for example, check MUSCLE(3).

Perform all of steps1-4 above. If you Miss on this roll, you have failed the Check and your attempt to pass it ends immediately; see Failure instructions on the card that prompted the Check. On a hit, go a couple steps further:

Tally the Result of this roll with the Results of any previous rolls performed on this attempt to complete the Skill Check, and compare the total to the target (x). (NB: tally the Result in step 4 above, not the Hits in step 3 above).
Repeat steps 1-5 above until either a Miss ends your attempt, or you succeed by reaching or exceeding the target (x).

D. Push Your Luck: written as: “check STAT(?)” These function exactly like a Skill Check with Progress except there is no defined target (x) that forces you to stop.

Perform steps 1-5 above until either (a) a Miss ends your attempt, or (b) you decide to stop.

When you decide to stop pressing your luck, “bank” the total tally of all your Results. See instructions on the card <etc.etc, I haven’t seen one of these yet>

Lingering ambiguities:

Reference materials are nearly unanimous in saying that the Action Score = 1d6+Stats+Mods. However in v.013’s current text, in the second paragraph in the “Base Skill Check” subsection, it is incorrectly stated: “Roll 1D6, add your STAT. This is your Action Score” (with additional instructions to then add mods).
- A similar omission of the MODs is repeated in the first entry of Glossary v0.13.
Does a Miss return a result of 0, or null – and does that matter? The current rulebook v0.13 takes care to specify in the “Push Your Luck” subsection that a miss yields a result of 0, but does not say the same in either the “Skill Check with Results” or the “Skill Check with Progress” subsection. Rather, the “Skill Check with Results” subsection says only that “If you score a hit (strong or weak), the highest fate die under your action score becomes your result,” which implies that if you have no Hit then you have no Result – it is null, not 0.

tabicat · 6 July 2026 03:20

I’m planning on making a video that gives me thoughts on skill checks, because it would take too long to type it all out, but I wanted to add a few comments here.

First, there are a lot of neat ideas in the way skill checks are handled in Ziggurat. I’ll speak more to that in my video, but the major concern I have is that it seems too difficult. If you roll a 1 on the Action die, you’re almost guaranteed a failure if you don’t have a +2 stat. Even rolling a 2 is highly unlikely to result in success. And in some skill checks, even a weak success is punishing.

I created a spreadsheet to demonstrate the problem: Ziggurat Probabilities - Google Sheets

Genghis-Pawn · 6 July 2026 22:44

I’m no math wiz – basically if you reply with any confidence I’ll fold immediately – but I think the Weak column here may be off. It looks like it’s calculating the odds that one dice ("A) will roll under the Action Score while the other dice (“B”) does not, but it does not consider that it could also go the other way. If that’s right the whole column would be… *2? ^2? Thoughts fail me.

tabicat · 7 July 2026 01:09

Yes, it seems you’re right. I thought I had taken that into account, but I didn’t. Here’s the corrected spreadsheet:

So the numbers aren’t as bad, but still not great. With a +0 bonus, you’re looking at a 50/50 chance of success. I’m on the fence as to whether that’s enough. The problem is that in a lot of skill tests, even a weak success results in some kind of punishment. In addition, progress skill checks have a low probability of succeeding in general.

modius · 7 July 2026 13:00

An important part of the playtest feedback is the feeling of balance, and the game being lets say, “harsh but fair”. I’m super interested in everybody’s general sense of enjoyment over the length of a quest, especially since the raw odds are definitely stacked against you.

While its true that non-combat skill checks have a less pleasant outcome from a weak hit or partial success, a weak hit in combat nearly always has a positive outcome for the player. Combat feels a bit more like a fair fight.

The propensity for missed or weak non-combat skill checks work to beat down the hero’s party over the course of the adventure; tarry to long in the ziggurat and ultimately bad luck will grind you down. This is especially true for skill checks with progress.

But all that said, every miss generates Grit. And Burning Grit is a guaranteed success. If you hold onto your Grit for skill checks that really matter to you, it can make all the difference and feels great when you get the timing right.

I’ve worked hard to balance skill checks over the course of the adventure. For me the punishing odds feel challenging, and add to the drama… but I get that it’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea

modius · 7 July 2026 13:55

Agree.

It’s written in the combat section, but I think it needs to be more explicit and show an example of a hero weapon highlighting the ATK modifier stat (top of the weapon card), and attack type; melee or ranged (bottom of the weapon card).

Results

A few more definitive statements to clarify the rules

All skill checks generate a result.

In the case of a basic skill check, the result is not needed.

A skill check with result is either the value of the highest fate die under the action score, or if a bonus result applies, the value of all fate dice under the action score.

A skill check with progress and push your luck, generate a result (in the same way as skill with result) each roll that accumulates until the player stops rolling or a miss is rolled. Note, a bonus result can apply to cumulative checks.

All misses are a result of 0.

Encounter Z8 Vats: Elemental

ERROR: Open with check MUSCLE(3)…
ERROR: Open with check LORE(5)…

The hero finds an elemental trapped in a magical jar.

Brawn.
He can either wrench it open with strength but too much force and it will explode.

The skill check simulates this by asking you to make check MUSCLE(3). If you fail, there is no consequence – you are just weak and could try again in the next turn. But if you put in too much effort (a result of 6 or more), you rip the jar opened and everyone is burnt by the fire elemental as it bursts out. Still you make a friend.

Brains
He can try to open it with “magic” but if he fails the elemental perishes or perhaps escapes this dimension.

The skill check is difficult; check LORE(5). But there is no consequence to the party if you fail; you don’t gain the elemental as a companion.

An interesting set of choices for the player leveraging a surprisingly versatile skill check system.

modius · 7 July 2026 14:01

Noted.

See above. But yes I think its easiest to just say that all misses are 0 – if a result is needed.

Genghis-Pawn · 7 July 2026 14:58

A distinct spoiler tag is required to accommodate the paragraph break.

[spoiler]If I put in too much effort (a result of 6 or more) on any single roll that I make? This is the part that’s unclear. Suppose I roll once with a Result of 2, and then again with a Result of 4. I have now hit the Progress target. No individual roll/Result topped the threshold to trigger the damage, but the sum of them does. Do I trigger the damage, or not?

I don’t have a problem with a clever use of a versatile skill system, but the player must be told clearly how to make use of it, and in this case the cross-application of Check With Result + Check With Progress means that – I think – additional clarification is needed. Especially so since this appears to be the only example in game of this cross-application, unless I’ve missed it elsewhere.

modius · 7 July 2026 23:51

A “skill check with progress” such as check MUSCLE(3)

Has a target threshold for success; generally 3 or 5
Has multiple rolls for a single outcome
There is only a single result regardless of the number of rolls to get there
It is always hit or miss
– a hit will have a cumulative result of all underlying rolls
– a miss is zero (0)
The result is always available, but depending on the encounter may or may not be referred to

Push your luck is a “skill check with progress” that has no target threshold, such as check MUSCLE(?)

Has multiple rolls for a single outcome
There is only a single result regardless of the number of rolls to get there
It is always hit or miss
– a hit will have a cumulative result of all underlying rolls
– a miss is zero (0)
The result is always referred to in the encounter; the higher the result the better the potential outcome

Final result of 6. Yes, you trigger the damage.

You may be right in the base game – I hadn’t thought of that. Certainly the mechanism of referring to the “with progress” result post skill check is not used often.

There are several places where I’ve play tested this mechanic in developing content. However, if we can’t settle on a clear definition it might be worth removing or reworking content that uses the concept to simplify the rules.

Genghis-Pawn · 8 July 2026 00:02

This last sentence is not at all what I understood from RBv0.13 pages 13-14. Page 14’s discussion of Skill Check With Progress introduces the concept of a “cumulative result (aka progress)”, but the example walkthrough of a Skill Check With Progress says that on each roll along the way, there is a Result even before the cumulative result reaches the target (cohering with the prior definition of “result” in the section on a Skill Check with Result.)

You need to decide whether
(a) “Result” is ambiguous between the result of a single roll in a Skill Check with Result vs the Cumulative Result of multiple rolls in a Skill Check with Progress
or
(b) “Result” is the term reserved for the outcome of any individual roll (never a sum) and “cumulative result” (or just “Progess”) is the term reserved for the cumulating total during a Skill check with Progress.

I vastly prefer (b). The rulebook seems to support (b), along with some other comments I think I’ve seen you make elswhere. But your most recent comment I’m quoting here suggests (a).

modius · 8 July 2026 00:25

Does it help to think of all forms of “skill check with result” to have a single cumulative result?

For example, a simple “Skill Check With Result” could be written:
check MUSCLE(1)

I think the reason I have three different forms is historical; i had a strong/weak/miss check… followed onto the same check with a result… followed onto the same check with a difficulty threshold.

Perhaps, I should combine both Result and Progress? Then just define check MUSCLE as a natural abbreviation of check MUSCLE(1).

UPDATE: the more i think about it, using check MUSCLE(1) removes the need to instruct a player to skill check with result, as its implied in the command. Is a naked skill check with result only ever used in combat? Perhaps it is. Hmm.

Genghis-Pawn · 8 July 2026 01:26

If there’s a way to drop the rules overhead of “3 different skillchecks” without loss, that’s a boon. but I think intuitively this shouldn’t extend to Hero Attack rolls and the ‘assign Block’ rolls. So I think we’re getting down to 3 basic types of rolls:

Skillchecks, written check SKILL or check SKILL(x)
- always with some target (x), assumed to be 1 if not specified in parentheses;
- you always roll until either you Miss/fail, or you succeed by hitting the target with the Cumulative Result of all your rolls.
- If you’re ever prompted to check your Results, this refers to the Cumulative Result of all the rolls you’ve made in this attempt.
Attack rolls
- akin to skillcheck, but comparing to ARM and assigning damage to enemy is quite different.
Defence rolls
- akin to a skillcheck, but assigning individual dice to block is quitedifferent

Would that leave any type of roll out? (Still need the rules for Matches, bonuses, etc).

I still think Encounter Z8 Vats: Elemental may require some finessing. It depends how ^this gets done.