Automatic success

Dune: The Roleplaying Game
1

Quick rules quesion. There are a couple of talents which gives you automatic successes on tests (e.g. Voice, Other Memoy, Mentat Disciple).

Do I still roll the dice for the test? Do I still roll the same number of dice? (I.e. dice are not replaced by an automatic success, as if spending Determination of an automatic double success). If I actually roll additional successes, will I just add up the automatic and the rolled success?

2

I would always require a roll because there’s always a chance for complications.

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3

I go with the idea of is this a dramatic roll? I.e Would the chance of failing it have an impact in normal game play. If it would then I would say roll for the chance of complications. If not then I would handwave it as you are so good it is just an everyday task for you.

In the example of a Mentat trying to recall some information on spice production in preparation for a negotiation. I would say that the character need not roll if they want the basic info. If they want more they need to risk it.
If they were trying this during the negotiation with the NPC staring at them across the table then I might want a roll as a complication could be damaging.

Also players may want to roll as there is a good chance of gaining Momentum from it.

With almost all the automatic successes they replace a rolled dice with a dice set to 1.
So for a standard understand test to recall something the character with Mentat Discipline would roll 1d20 and set their other d20 to 1. So they start with 2 successes plus whatever else they roll.

4

Thanks, guys!

@CountThalim , how would you treat odd number of automatic success (Make Haste talent 1, Other Memory 3)? Replacing dice with 1 results always generate even number of successes (2/die).

5

For purposes of do you make a roll I would treat it in the same way: Is the roll dramatic?

  • As a GM I wouldn’t usually require a roll for Make Haste outside of combat. The player is already giving me the complication to play with so no more is needed for a simple D1 task.
  • Other Memory I would normally treat narratively. Having the Talent means that you are capable of asking the previous lives for advice. At that point it becomes what do I as the GM want to give the player. After all, as shown in the books, those previous lives have their own agendas.

Looking through the other talents there are more that do the same thing. So it look like talents have more flexibility when it comes to the additional successes. My confusion may have come from the change between STA and Dune where determination went from add an additional dice at 1 to set a current dice. During the playtest this threw me & my group a couple of times so I may have embedded it a bit too much.

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