Making Decisions
Æther Jacks is intended to be played without too many Dice rolls but every now and then a decision needs to be left up to fate.
In situations where the Jack tries something that has some chance to it, a decisive roll is made. The ease of this roll is determined by the task's difficulty, starting at a 3+ roll and increasing by 3 each for each increase in difficulty. Only just making the roll results in you succeeding at the task but with some sort of downside.
Decisive rolls
There are 5 potential outcomes for decisive rolls. A success, a success with a complication, a failure, an orderly success or a chaotic failure.
It is the difficulty of the decisive roll that will influence the likelihood of a success. This difficulty is chosen at the GMs discretion based on; what the Jack is trying to Dream Weave, the task the Jack is trying to complete, or the risky situation the Jack has found themselves in.
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Simple decisive rolls require a 3 or above to have a success, with each increase in difficulty, increasing this number by 3.
If a decisive roll is a success but the required number was only just reached, either by meeting the roll or being only 1 or 2 above, it leads to a success with a complication, where there is a small downside to the success.
There is always a small chance that something goes way too well (you roll a 20) leading to an orderly success or way too poorly (you roll a 1) leading to a chaotic failure.
A reminder with these that the GM may choose to give you consequences even if you succeed, as succeeding at doing something that puts you in the position of danger will do just that.
Success
The Jack succeeds at what they tried to do, there should be no backlash unless it was intended. To get a success you need to be at least 3 above the roll required for the task. i.e. you roll 6 or over on a simple roll.
Success with a Complication
The Jack may have succeeded but another less ideal outcome has also occurred. This Occurs when you succeed on your roll but are still within 3 of the passing number. i.e. you roll a 3, 4 or 5 on a simple roll.
The simplest form of complication is that your Jack receives a condition while doing the task. EG. you try to run through an icy waterfall, you get through but receive the Cold condition. The GM may decide to give a more customised complication that puts the Jack in danger some other way.
Failure
The Jack did not succeed at what they wanted to do. This occurs when you roll below the roll needed for a success. i.e. you roll a 2 on a simple roll. The downsides to failure depend a lot on the stakes of what was trying to be done so in some cases the task is simply not completed, in others the player may have to make a wake check or receive a condition with a big effect. EG. running through the icy waterfall results in the Jack receiving the Frozen condition.
Orderly Success
The success is so clean that it effects not just the Jack but the whole dream. This Occurs when you roll a 20. The dreams moves one step towards order on the chaos scale. EG. An interaction with an occupant in a ballroom matches the accent and feel of the dream so much that the dream settles further into that setting, perhaps not just a ballroom but now is a period accurate Elizabethan Ballroom.
Chaotic Failure
Conversely, the task fails spectacularly leading to the whole dream being affected in a chaotic way. This occurs when you roll a 1. The dream moves one step towards chaos on the chaos scale. EG. an interaction with an occupant in a ballroom is so insulting that the occupant turns into a puddle of tears creating a 1-inch layer of water over the floor and occupants start to slip as they dance.
Dream Weaving
Dream Weaving is a special kind of decisive roll used to try to do something that could only be done in a dream. What the Jack is trying to do changes the difficulty of this roll greatly as there is a wide scope for what your Jack could try. As a general rule, small adjustments to sensory aspects of the world are simple or easy, small changes to shapes, Jacks and occupants are normal or hard, then if you are trying to do something similar to a level 1 ability of a specialisation, this would be a grim task requiring a 15+, every ability level above this bumps the decision roll difficulty up by 1. Be careful trying things that are too difficult as failing tasks with higher difficulties have greater consequences.
Don't worry about not getting to do cool dream things though, as there are many ways to reduce the difficulty of these rolls. Firstly, Æther's reduce the difficulty as they do for all decisive rolls. Next, doing anything that is closely linked to your Jack's specialisation also reduces the difficulty by one, EG. an architect would find it easier to change the shape of a cabinet. Lastly, the Chaos Scale reduces the difficulty of Dream Weaving by 1 for every 2 increments above 10, inversely it also increases the difficulty of Dream Weaving by 1 for every 2 increments below 10.
Full Table of Rolls
