The Wild Die and Higher Skill Levels

[zarberg]

I love the concept of the wild die; it can let characters with even low skill levels (I.E. less than 3d6) perform amazing tasks. The flip side, though, is that characters with high skill levels can be (pardon the expression) royally screwed at times.

I've come up with a house rule that my players really seem to like;

If you have less than 4d in a skill and roll a 1 on the wild die, resolve as normal
If you have 4d or more up to less than 6d in a skill, when you roll a 1, roll a second time. A 1, 2, or 3 resolve as normal, and a 4, 5, or 6 you simply remove the wild die (I.E. the "1" that you rolled)
If you have 6d or more, roll a second time. If you roll a 1 a second time, resolve as normal. If you roll 2-6, ignore the fact that you rolled a 1 on the wild die.

This always felt more realistic to me, because once you start getting into the 5d and 6d ranges of a skill, having a "mishap" seems more comical and goofy than anything else.

[Naaman]

I'm not sure I understand what is meant by "ignore the fact that you rolled a 1."

How is that different than "resolve as normal"?

I've always felt that a 1 in 6 chance for a mishap was a little high, but the 1 in 6 isn't strictly enforced by the rules, so its not terrible.

[CRMcNeill]

There are multiple methods of using the Wild Die; treating all the dice as Wild is one of several options, and there are less...punishing alternatives. For example, you could select a single die (usually a different color from the others so as to distinguish it) to serve as the Wild Die, so that there remains a flat 1-in-6 chance of either Wild Dice result. Alternately, you could use the confirmation method, where any die that comes up 1 or 6 must be re-rolled, and only comes up Wild on a re-roll of the same number (as in, two sequential 1's or 6's).

There is also the Open D6 optional rule for dealing with characters with high dice levels; once a character's skill dice level reaches a certain point (5D, IIRC - 4D plus one Wild Die), all subsequent dice are treated as having a value of 3.5 (rounded up) and added to the pips. Thus, a character with a 8D+2 in Blaster would instead roll 5D + 13 (3.5 x 3 = 10.5, rounded up to 11, plus 2 pips).

No doubt there are plenty of other methods.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Whill]

[Argentsaber]

I can't recall how closely this fits RAW, but we generally use the "remove the wild die as well as the highest die rolled, then total the result" rule. I have experimented with the concept of "saving" 1s and applying them to NPC rolls in a similar way to character points, which can make the actual boss fights much more dangerous.
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[cheshire]

[garhkal]

For me, i generally go with the wild takes the higest off.. Some times i like asking the player "Give me both results.. Now which would you rather i take".. and making that a complication..
Such as last con, someone went to punch out cold a NPC we were trying to capture (going for stun damage only), but his wild complication, was he went lethal damage, and mortally wounded the guy...
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[Whill]

[Savar]

One campaign I was in, EVERY 1 on the wild die was a complication.

That got tiring quickly.

[garhkal]

[deano]

I love and hate the wild die in almost equal measure, as you point out it’s great at low levels to pull something heroic but annoying at higher levels. Some time ago we lost the d6 wild dice and added a d20 into the roll. On a 1 on the d20, 10 is subtracted from the roll total and should this reduce the roll to 0 or below a complication occurs. On a 20, 10 is added to the result. All other results on the d20 is ignored.

It smooths out the complications for very competent characters and still allows for heroics
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[CRMcNeill]

[MrNexx]

Posted years ago, but still valid...

My rule of thumb is to always subtract the highest die, then consider the results:

If "minus highest" is still a success, then they get a "Yes, but"... a success but a complication. Luke figuring out how to lock the door, but missing that it will also prevent them from extending the bridge.

If minus highest is a failure, but would've succeeded with that die? Simple failure.

If the full value wouldn't have succeeded anyway, then you get a failure plus a complication... Han trying to hotwire the door on Endor's moon, but accidentally closing the door that's already opened.
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