Niche D20This section details the dice rolls and statistics that determine success in combat.
Attack Roll
An attack roll represents a creature’s attempt to strike another creature, when making an attack roll a creature rolls a d20 and adds their attack bonus. If your result equals or beats the target’s Armor Check, you hit and deal damage.
Attack Bonus
Your attack bonus with a melee weapon is:
Base attack bonus + Strength modifier + size modifier
Your attack bonus with a ranged weapon is:
Base attack bonus + Agility modifier + size modifier + range penalty
Other miscellaneous modifiers exist that may add or subtract from this value in the final attack roll; in addition some abilities, such as the weapon finesse minor perk, may change the ability score modifier used in these calculations.
Base Attack Bonus (BAB)
Base attack bonus is derived from a character’s level in classes, determined by their class types. Base attack bonus is gained at different rates depending on the source. Base attack bonuses gained from different sources, such as when a character is a multiclass character, stack.
- Martial: A character gains +0.5 base attack bonus per level in martial classes.
- Hybrid: A character gains +0.5 base attack bonus per level in hybrid classes.
- Casting: A character gains +0.25 base attack bonus per level in casting classes.
The following chart effectively shows the progression of a character’s base attack bonus depending on their levels in types of classes (rounded down)
| Level | Casting Class | Martial & Hybrid Class |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | +0.25 | +0.5 |
| 2nd | +0.5 | +1 |
| 3rd | +0.75 | +1.5 |
| 4th | +1 | +2 |
| 5th | +1.25 | +2.5 |
| 6th | +1.5 | +3 |
| 7th | +1.75 | +3.5 |
| 8th | +2 | +4 |
| 9th | +2.25 | +4.5 |
| 10th | +2.5 | +5 |
| 11th | +2.75 | +5.5 |
| 12th | +3 | +6 |
| 13th | +3.25 | +6.5 |
| 14th | +3.5 | +7 |
| 15th | +3.75 | +7.5 |
| 16th | +4 | +8 |
| 17th | +4.25 | +8.5 |
| 18th | +4.5 | +9 |
| 19th | +4.75 | +9.5 |
| 20th | +5 | +10 |
| 21st | +5.25 | +10.5 |
| 22nd | +5.5 | +11 |
| 23rd | +5.75 | +11.5 |
| 24th | +6 | +12 |
| 25th | +6.25 | +12.5 |
| 26th | +6.5 | +13 |
| 27th | +6.75 | +13.5 |
| 28th | +7 | +14 |
| 29th | +7.25 | +14.5 |
| 30th | +7.5 | +15 |
| 31st | +7.75 | +15.5 |
| 32nd | +8 | +16 |
| 33rd | +8.25 | +16.5 |
| 34th | +8.5 | +17 |
| 35th | +8.75 | +17.5 |
| 36th | +9 | +18 |
| 37th | +9.25 | +18.5 |
| 38th | +9.5 | +19 |
| 39th | +9.75 | +19.5 |
| 40th | +10 | +20 |
Base Attack Bonus and Class Types
Normally a character can simply follow the chart on their class to determine their base attack bonus, but when taking levels in both casting and Hybrid or Martial classes you need to add the base attack bonus progressions from the levels in each class type to determine the total base attack bonus. When adding 1/2 and 1/4 your BAB is calculated to the decimal point before being added together and then rounded down. This system is so a character does not feel obligated to take their levels at specific points.
For example, without a fractional bonuses should a level 3 wizard multiclass into level 1 fighter their BAB would remain a +0 despite being level 4. With these fractional bonuses their BAB is in reality 0.75 meaning added together to martial class of 0.5 BAB their BAB becomes 1.5, rounded down becomes 1. This otherwise would have no benefit should a level 1 wizard multiclass into level 1 fighter, their BAB would be 0.75, which would mean it is still +0.
Critical Hits
When the result of a d20 roll shows a 20 on the die, this is known as a natural 20. A natural 20 for an attack roll is always considered a hit, unless the defender also rolls a natural 20 on their armor check (see Automatic Hits and Misses below). If the total attack roll value would be capable of overcoming the defender’s AC normally (without relying on a natural 20 resulting in an automatic hit), the attack also becomes a critical hit. If the total attack roll result fails to overcome the defender’s AC, the attack does not become a critical hit. Attacks that exceed the defender’s AC result by four degrees of success or more result in an automatic critical hit, regardless of what the dice roll was.
When a defender rolls a natural 20 on their AC an attack can no longer be an automatic hit and instead must be compared against the AC result of the defender to determine a hit if the attacker also rolled a natural 20. In addition, if the defender’s result is a natural 20, an attack against the defender cannot be a critical hit unless the resulting attack is a natural 20 and the attack exceeds the defender’s result by at least four degrees of success.
Critical Multipliers
When an attack is a critical hit, usually this results in additional damage added to the attack. The additional damage from a critical hit is determined by a weapon’s critical multiplier, which indicates the amount of increase from base weapon damage and the weapon’s enhancement bonus (for example: a x3 multiplier on a 1d6 base damage weapon would roll 3d6 for the weapon damage and add the weapon’s enhancement bonus to the damage three times). Unless otherwise specified, no additional dice, modifiers, abilities, or bonuses are multiplied by this critical (such as a melee weapon’s strength modifier bonus damage). If a weapon or attack does not specify a critical multiplier, the multiplier is x2.
Critical Threat Range
Some weapons have a critical threat range other than merely a natural 20, which allows for a critical threat to occur on a dice roll result other than 20. Critical threat range is specified in a weapon’s statistical breakdown, and if a weapon or attack does not specify a critical threat range it only threatens a critical hit on a natural 20. A dice roll below 20 is not considered an automatic hit even if it is within the critical threat range of the weapon, and must still overcome the defender’s armor check result to hit the defender; however, a confirmed hit using a die result within the weapon’s critical threat range results in a critical hit.
Examples:
A +1 weapon with 1d8 base damage critical range of 19-20/x2 would threaten a critical hit on a die result of 19 or 20 (rather than just a natural 20) and on a confirmed critical hit would deal double weapon damage (2d8+2, plus additional modifiers). A weapon with a 18-20/x2 critical range would threaten a critical hit on a die result of 18, 19, or 20 and deal double weapon damage on a critical hit. A weapon with a 20/x3 critical range would only threaten a critical hit on a natural 20, but would deal triple weapon damage on a critical hit.
Spells and Critical Hits
Any spell or other ability that requires an attack roll (whether melee or ranged) can critically hit if it also would deal damage on a successful hit. Unless otherwise specified, spells have a 20/x2 critical range and multiply both the spell’s base damage and the enhancement bonus of the implement for the purpose of determining the total damage of a critical hit. Spells that utilize save attack rolls or that simulate maneuvers cannot critically hit but might still be automatic successes on a natural 20.
Stamina
Stamina is a pool that all martial classes have access to. Most stamina pools are Endurance modifiers plus their levels in martial classes. All classes have a type such as martial, hybrid, or magic, allowing a player to quickly identify what is a martial class to be counted for this progression. When multiclassing the initial Endurance bonus is not added more than once, and if a class allows for a different ability modifier than Endurance you use the higher of the two stats to determine the total stamina pool (such as a class allowing Focus for Stamina mixed with a class that uses the normal Endurance would use Focus if it was higher than their Endurance, and would not add both their Endurance and Focus for uses per day).
Temporary adjustments to an ability score, such as through bonuses or penalties, do not affect a creature’s current or maximum stamina points. Permanent adjustments to an ability score may increase the maximum but do not grant bonus stamina until the creature properly rests to regain the stamina. Permanent adjustments that reduce the maximum only reduce a creature’s current stamina if the maximum would become lower than the creature’s current stamina, reducing the current to the maximum value currently for the stamina.
List of Universal Stamina Abilities
Creatures with a Stamina or Mystic Pool may use the following abilities:
- Second Wind: As a 2 AP action you may spend one stamina to grant yourself temporary hit points equal to your Endurance modifier multiplied by your MPB plus an additional 8; and these temporary hit points last for 1 minute. This ability may only be used if you’re injured and cannot raise your current hit points plus these temporary hit points to be higher than your total hit points. You must take a short rest before you use this ability again.
- Extra Effort:As a reaction you may spend one stamina to add an additional 1d6 to a single Strength, Agility, or Endurance based skill check (such as swim or acrobatics). At 5 MPB may instead add 1d6 + ½ your base attack bonus to these rolls. This bonus may be added after the skill check has been made, but before the result of the roll has been revealed.
- Marching Stamina: You may spend 1 stamina each time you fail a check to avoid becoming fatigued while performing a forced march to avoid the fatigued condition.
- Roll With It: You may spend 1 stamina once per round as reaction to reroll a failed AC roll, though you must keep the new result even if its worse. If the new roll fails by one degree or less you may convert all the damage from the attack into nonlethal damage, failure by more than one degree converts half of the damage to nonlethal.
You may only use this ability while unarmored, unencumbered, and not carrying a shield. - Unarmored Duelist: On your turn, as long as you have at least 1 stamina, as reaction you may designate a single foe; once designated you may roll twice and take the better result on AC rolls against attacks originating from the designated target. This lasts until you designate a new target as a reaction.
You may only use this ability while unarmored, unencumbered, and not carrying a shield.
Armor Check (AC)
Your Armor Check (AC) represents how hard it is for opponents to land a solid, damaging blow on you. When being attacked both the attacker’s attack roll result is compared against the defender’s AC result.. Similar to an attack roll a Armor Check is made by rolling a d20 and adding their AC bonus.
If the attacker rolls higher the attack is a success, if the defender rolls higher then the attack is a miss.
AC Bonus
Your AC (Armor Check) bonus is equal to the following:
Base Defense Bonus + armor bonus + shield bonus + Agility modifier + other modifiers
Note that armor limits your Agility bonus, so if you’re wearing armor, you might not be able to apply your whole Agility bonus to your AC (see Table: Armor and Shields).
Sometimes you can’t use your Agility bonus (if you have one). If you can’t react to a blow, you can’t use your Agility bonus to AC. If you don’t have a Agility bonus, your AC does not change.
Other Modifiers
Many other bonuses can modify a creature’s AC, below are some examples:
- Enhancement Bonuses: Enhancement bonuses usually are not applied directly to AC, but rather are applied to one’s armor, natural armor, or shield to increase the bonus it provides.
- Deflection Bonus: Magical deflection effects ward off attacks and improve your AC.
- Natural Armor: If your race has a tough hide, scales, or thick skin you receive a bonus to your AC.
- Dodge Bonuses: Dodge bonuses represent actively avoiding blows. Any situation that denies you your Agility bonus also denies you dodge bonuses. (Wearing armor, however, does not limit these bonuses the way it limits a Agility bonus to AC.) Unlike most sorts of bonuses, dodge bonuses stack with each other.
- Size Modifier: You receive a bonus or penalty to your AC based on your size. (See the creature Size Chart under Basic Rules)
Touch Attacks
Some attacks may bypass armor, including shields and natural armor. The attacker need only touch a foe for such attacks to take full effect. The attacker makes a touch attack, which may be a melee or ranged touch attack based on the effect calling for the touch attack.
When targeted by a touch attack your AC does not include any armor bonuses, shield bonuses, or natural armor bonuses (including any enhancement bonuses to these individual bonuses). This is normally tracked as a creature’s Touch AC Bonus for ease of calculation. All other modifiers, such as size, dodge bonuses, and other bonuses normally applied to an AC Bonus are still applied.
Base Defense Bonus (BDB)
While leveling your AC will gain a passive bonus determined by your Base Attack Bonus.
A base defense bonus is an AC bonus derived from creature’s base attack bonus creature type and Hit Dice (or combination’s thereof). This bonus to AC is a dodge bonus.
Base Defense Bonus is calculated at 1/2 a creature’s Base Attack Bonus. Some feats and abilities may boost a character’s base defense bonus progression or value.
| Base Attack Bonus | Base Defense Bonus |
|---|---|
| +1 | +0 |
| +2 | +1 |
| +3 | +1 |
| +4 | +2 |
| +5 | +2 |
| +6 | +3 |
| +7 | +3 |
| +8 | +4 |
| +9 | +4 |
| +10 | +5 |
| +11 | +5 |
| +12 | +6 |
| +13 | +6 |
| +14 | +7 |
| +15 | +7 |
| +16 | +8 |
| +17 | +8 |
| +18 | +9 |
| +19 | +9 |
| +20 | +10 |
Automatic Misses and Hits
- A natural 1 on the attack roll, or a natural 20 from the defender is always a miss.
- A natural 20 on the attack roll, or a natural 1 from the defender is always a hit.
- A natural 20 from the attacker always hits and possible a critical hit
- A natural 20 from both the attacker and defender is not a critical, and will simply use the higher value to determine the success of the attack.
- A natural 1 from both the attacker and defender is not a failure either, and will simply use the higher value to determine the success of the attack.
- If an attacker succeeds against the defender by 4 degrees of success, their attack is a threat, a critical hit.
- If and attacker fails against a defender by 4 degrees or more, their attack is an automatic miss, even if the attack was a natural 20.
Damage
When an attack succeeds, it deals damage. The type of weapon, spells, or ability used determines the amount of damage you deal. Damage reduces a target’s current hit points.
Minimum Damage
If penalties reduce the damage result to less than 1, a hit still deals 1 point of nonlethal damage.
Damage Reduction (DR)
Some classes and creatures have the ability to ignore a portion to all of the damage they receive from a physical attack. The numerical part of damage reduction (DR) is the amount of damage the creature ignores from physical attack, usually an attack performed by a weapon or natural weapon dealing piercing, slashing, or bludgeoning damage; some damage may be untyped but still qualify as physical specified by the ability dealing the damage. Sometimes damage reduction represents instant healing. Sometimes it represents the creature’s tough hide or body. In either case, other characters can see that conventional attacks won’t work.
Usually, a certain type of weapon can overcome this reduction. This information is separated from the damage reduction number by a slash. For example, DR 5/magic means that a creature takes 5 less points of damage from all weapons that are not magic. If a dash follows the slash, then the damage reduction is effective against any attack that does not ignore damage reduction.
Whenever damage reduction completely negates the damage from an attack, it also negates most special effects that accompany the attack, such as a monk’s stunning fist, and injury-based poison. Damage Reduction does not negate touch attacks, energy damage dealt along with an attack, or energy drains. Nor does it affect poisons or diseases delivered by inhalation, ingestion, or contact. Effects such as bleed are only negated if the triggering attack was required to apply, abilities that unconditionally apply bleed are unaffected; in addition damage reduction only affects damage from an attack and not ongoing damage.
Attacks that deal no damage because of the target’s damage reduction do not disrupt spells. Spells, spell-like abilities, and attacks that deal elemental damage (even non-magical fire) ignore damage reduction. Spells that deal physical damage are still subject to damage reduction but count as magical for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction.
If a creature has damage reduction from more than one source, the two forms of damage reduction do not stack unless otherwise specified. Instead, the creature gets the benefit of the best damage reduction in a given situation.
Damage Types
Damage is usually either Physical Damage or Elemental damage. The damage type is usually important for determining the interaction with a creature’s defense and resistances either in the form of DR or Resist they may possess; though other special interactions may exist.
See the Damage Types rule page for more detailed information on each damage type.
Strength Bonus
When you hit with a melee weapon, or a weapon with the bow or thrown weapon keyword, add your Strength modifier to the damage result.
Wielding a Weapon Two-Handed
When you deal damage with a weapon that you are wielding two-handed, you add 1-1/2 times your Strength bonus (Strength penalties are not multiplied). You don’t get this higher Strength bonus, however, when using a light weapon with two hands.
Despite being held in two hands, bows by default only deal base strength modifier damage, with some dealing more based on the individual weapon.
Wielding a Double Weapon
When you deal damage with a double weapon, you add 1-1/2 times your Strength bonus on the main hand attack (Strength penalties are not multiplied). You still deal normal damage with your off-hand attacks made with a double weapon.
Ability Damage/Drain
Certain creatures and magical effects can cause temporary or permanent ability damage (a reduction to an ability score). More details can be found under status conditions.
Hit Points
All creatures and even objects have hit points, representing how much damage a creature can take before they are knocked unconscious or even killed. Creatures are not impaired by a loss of hit points until their hit points drop to 0 or lower. A character at 0 or fewer hit points gains the disabled condition while a creature at -1 or lower instead gains the dying condition.
Loss of Hit Points
Most attacks that successfully hit will deal an amount of hit point damage. Any time a creature takes damage, the damage is subtracted from their current hit point total.
Disabled
Once a creature’s hit points reaches 0 they are disabled, gaining the staggered condition. This limits the creature to a single move or standard action each turn; but in addition any standard action taken will deal 1 damage to you after the action has completed; this means if the action did not increase their hit points they will be at -1 hit points and begin dying. Move actions may be taken while disabled without causing additonal injury.
This condition is removed as soon as the creature’s hit points are brought above 0 hit points. A creature below -1 hit points or lower that is healed up to 0 can also recover from dying into being disabled again, though additional healing can remove the disabled effect as normal.
Dying
When a creature’s hit point total is negative they are considered dying. A dying character immediately falls unconscious and can take no actions. While dying, and not stable, the creature will lose 1 hit point at the start of their turn each round until they become stable.
Death
A creature dies when their current hit points become low enough to meet or exceed their death threshold.
A creature’s death threshold is their Endurance score plus the number of hit dice they possess; for example a creature with a 14 Endurance and 4 hit dice would have a 18 death threshold, thus would die a -18 hit points or lower.
A creature may also die if their Endurance maximum hit points are reduced to 0 or lower through ability damage or ability drain.
While death may be the end for most, some types of rare or powerful magic can prevent and even undo death.
Dead Creatures
A dead creature cannot act and is otherwise treated as an object. A dead creature is not the same as an undead creature can still act and is not treated as an object. When a creature dies in combat they are removed from the turn order, and if brought back to life in combat must roll initiative again as if they had just joined the combat.
Spells and abilities that are not maintained through concentration persist beyond the creature’s death until they run their course; though should the creature return to life may dismiss such spells and abilities if they normally would be able to.
The condition of a corpse is largely up to the GM as to how brutal a death may have occured; though it is assumed a creature that simply bled to death or failed to stabilize and died from it would be mostly intact, while it is assumed the further beyond the creature’s death threshold a single attack was the more damaged the creature’s body would be. Mechanically some forms of resurrection or animating undead care about the condition of the body; but may be important to players and GM for roleplaying purposes as well.
Stabilizing
When a creature is a -1 or lower but not yet dead they are considered dying until they are stabilized. At the start of their turn they must make a DC 15 Tenacity check to stabilize. The creature takes a penalty to this roll equal to the number of negative hit points they are currently at. A creature that is stable is no longer dying, and as such will not lose additional hit points each round, and does not need to make further Tenacity checks to stabilize. If the creature fails this check they remain dying and lose 1 hit point as usual.
If a stable creature at negative hit points takes damage, they are no longer stable and begin dying again, requiring Tenacity checks to become stable again on their turn.
Other creatures may attempt to assist the dying character and stabilize them with a DC 15 Medic Check.
Healing
After taking damage a creature may regain hit points through natural or magical healing. Creatures cannot regain hit points beyond their maximum hit point toal.
Natural Healing
After a long rest, a character recovers a number of hit points equal to the number of hit dice they possess plus their Endurance modifier. If a creature instead rests for an entire day and night they instead double the amount of hit points regained this way.
Magical Healing
Potions, Spells, and even some class features may allow for the restoration of hit points. These methods usually are quicker and more potent forms of healing, and as such are usually limited in their number of uses; usually through spell point, material, or monetary cost.
Healing Ability Damage
Ability damage, but not ability drain, returns naturally at a rate of 1 point per long rest, for each affected ability score. Similar to natural healing for hit points, resting for an entire day and night doubles the amount restored this way.
Ability Drain is not healed through this method and usually requires the application of restorative magics or abilities to restore a drained ability score.
Temporary Hit Points
Some effects, such as the second wind ability martial classes are capable of using, grant temporary hit points. These hit points serve as a buffer against damage and any damage taken by the creature is subtracted from these temporary hit points first. Once a creature’s temporary hit points are depleted, any remaining damage in excess of these temporary hit points are applied to their current hit points as normal. Once temporary hit points are lost, they cannot be restored with healing like normal hit points.
Once the effect that granted the temporary hit points ends or is dispelled, temporary hit points granted by that effect go away. Temporary hit points, unless stated otherwise, do not stack with themselves if they are from the same source. Temporary hit points from different sources may stack, but should be tracked separately from each other especially if an effect ends before the others. A creature may decide which source of temporary hit points take damage first should they have multiple sources active at once.
Endurance Adjustments
When an effect would increase or decrease their Endurance score, the creature will need to recalculate their maximum hit points from the adjustment.
For example a creature with 4 hit dice gaining having their Endurance boosted from 14 to 16 by an effect would gain 4 additional current and maximum hit points due to the 1 higher Endurance modifier they now possess. The inverse of this is true as well when a creature with 4 hit dice having their Endurance reduce from 14 to 12 would suddenly lose 4 hit dice from their current and maximum hit points due to the 1 lower Endurance modifier they now possess.