Dice
Power Fudge uses 4 Fudge dice (which are sometimes called Fate dice). Fudge dice are special 6-sided dice with two minus ("-") faces, two blank (" ") faces, and two plus ("+") faces. Rolling Fudge dice is referred to using the shorthand "dF", with the number immediately preceding "dF" indicating how many Fudge dice to roll. The most common roll is 4dF, which means to roll 4 Fudge dice. If more or fewer dice are needed, the number before "dF" will change; 3dF means to roll 3 Fudge dice, whereas 5dF means to roll 5 Fudge dice.
If you do not have Fudge dice, regular 6-sided dice can be used in their stead: read each result of 1-2 as a minus ("-") result, each result of 3-4 as a blank (" ") result, and each result of 5-6 as a plus ("+") result.
Rolling the Dice
Generally speaking, all dice rolls will be made against a target number; you need to roll equal to or greater than the target number for the dice roll to be considered a success. To help, modifiers can - and usually will - be added to the dice roll. Modifiers will be included in the dice shorthand as a plus or minus value, so rolling four Fudge dice with a +2 modifier would be shown as "4dF+2". When totaling up the roll, add one for each plus result and subtract one for each minus result. So, a result of plus, plus, minus, blank would total to +1; a roll of minus, minus, blank, blank would total to -2. Simply add the modifiers to the total from the dice roll, and compare against the target number.
The easiest way to count up the dice is to move all blank results to the side, as well as all equal pairs of plus and minus results, and total what's left.
Advantage and Disadvantage
Sometimes you will be told to roll with Advantage or Disadvantage. When you have Advantage, one minus result is ignored; when you have Disadvantage, one plus result is ignored. Advantage and Disadvantage can stack once; having Double Advantage when you roll means that two minus results are ignored, and having Double Disadvantage means that two plus results are ignored. Equal levels of Advantage and Disadvantage cancel each other out, and the roll is made as normal. So, a roll of plus, plus, minus, minus with Advantage is actually a roll of plus, plus, minus for a total of +1; that same roll with Disadvantage would actually be a roll of plus, minus, minus for a total of -1.
Take Zero
At any time when a dice roll does not have Advantage or Disadvantage, instead of rolling the dice the roller may decide to "take zero". When this happens, it is treated as though the dice were rolled and the result was blank, blank, blank, blank, or 0. So, if a player needed to roll 4dF+2 and decided to "take zero", the total result would be +2.
Essentially this means that the character is putting in just enough effort to do a passable job at whatever it is they're doing. They're not trying their hardest, nor are they taking chances which could lead to failure. This does not imply an automatic success, however; if the game master has declared that a +3 or better result is needed, and the player takes zero on a 4dF+2 roll to get it, the +3 or higher would not be attained and so the roll would be considered a failure.
Interpreting the Dice Results
It is sometimes helpful to equate dice roll results to real world meanings. This can be done by cross-referencing the result of the dice roll against the following table:
Level Description
>= +14 Cosmic
+10, +11, +12, +13 Unearthly
+7, +8, +9 Superhuman
+5, +6 Legendary
+4 Incredible
+3 Superb
+2 Great
+1 Good
0 Fair
-1 Mediocre
-2 Poor
-3 Terrible
<= -4 Subhuman
So, a roll of 4dF+2 which resulted in plus, minus, plus, minus (or 0) for a total of +2 is considered to be a Great result. The descriptions can be used during game play: your GM may tell you that you need to get a Superhuman result to break down a locked, iron door (meaning you'd need your dice roll to total +7 at least), or you may tell your GM that you did Superb damage on your attack (meaning you did +3 damage).
Using the descriptions during game play is optional. They’re more to help players and GMs understand what the numbers mean, even though they are specified in the rules.
