Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide


Chapter 1: Running the Game / Special Considerations / Adjudicating Rules

The Basics

Source GM Core pg. 15 2.0
The following are some basic guidelines for adjudicating rules in play—these are the same principles that Pathfinder's game rules are based on. You might want to keep printouts of these guidelines and the DC guidelines (page 53) for quick reference.
  • If you don't know how long a quick task takes, go with 1 action, or 2 actions if a character shouldn't be able to perform it three times per round.
  • If you're not sure what action a task uses, look for the most similar basic action. If you don't find one, make up an undefined action and add any necessary traits (usually attack, concentrate, manipulate, or move).
  • When two sides are opposed, have one roll against the other's DC. Don't have both sides roll (initiative is the exception to this rule). The character who rolls is usually the one acting (except in the case of aving throws).
  • If an effect raises or lowers chances of success, grant a +1 circumstance bonus or a –1 circumstance penalty.
  • If you're not sure how difficult a significant challenge should be, use the DC for the party's level.
  • If you're making up an effect, creatures should be incapacitated or killed on only a critical success (or for a saving throw, on a critical failure).
  • If you don't know what check to use, pick the most appropriate skill. If no other skill applies to a check to Recall Knowledge, use an appropriate Lore skill (usually at an untrained proficiency rank).
  • Use the characters' daily preparations as the time to reset anything that lasts roughly a day.
  • When a character accomplishes something noteworthy that doesn't have rules for XP, award them XP for an accomplishment (10 to 30 XP, as described on page 56).
  • When the PCs fail at a task, look for a way they might fail forward, meaning the story moves forward with a negative consequence rather than the failure halting progress entirely