How dice checks work in a text RPG (2d6 + stat, explained)
Each risky choice rolls two six-sided dice plus a stat against a target of 7, 9 or 11. Here is how success, partial success and failure work, and how perks, items and difficulty change the odds.
On Lantern Saga, a check rolls two six-sided dice and adds one of your stats (Might, Wits or Charm). If the total meets the target, you succeed. If it falls short by one or two, you get a partial success: you get what you wanted, at a cost. If it falls further short, you fail, and the story goes somewhere new.
The targets are fixed: 7 for easy, 9 for normal, 11 for hard.
What are the odds?
Two six-sided dice add up to 7 more often than any other number, which makes the system easy to feel. With a stat of 2:
| Difficulty | Target | Roll needed (2d6) | Chance to succeed | Success or partial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | 7 | 5 or more | 83% | 97% |
| Normal | 9 | 7 or more | 58% | 83% |
| Hard | 11 | 9 or more | 28% | 58% |
Every point of a stat moves the needed roll down by one. A Warrior with Might 4 succeeds on a normal Might check (needing 5 on the dice) 83% of the time.
What does a partial success cost?
A partial is a success with a price. The quest may say exactly what it costs (a scraped hand, a lost coin, a guard who will remember your face). When it doesn't, a partial takes the success and costs 2 health.
What changes the odds?
- Your stats. Characters start between 1 and 4 in each stat, and milestones can raise a stat to 5.
- Items. A carried item can add +1 to checks of one stat (a knife for Might, a charm for Charm), or to one specific check (rope for a climb). Only one item bonus counts per check.
- Perks. Silver Tongue makes Charm checks a step easier. Keen Eye makes noticing and searching easier and shows hidden choices. Lucky lets you reroll a check once per quest, Steady turns one failure into a partial.
- Difficulty mode. Story mode lowers every target by 2, Hard raises them by 1. Enemies hit softer in Story and harder in Hard.
How do fights work?
A fight is several checks in a row against an enemy's difficulty. Each round you choose:
- Attack (Might), Outsmart (Wits) or Talk down (Charm, if the enemy will listen),
- or Flee, when the scene allows it.
A success takes one of the enemy's hits away; a partial takes a hit but costs you 2 health; a failure costs you the enemy's damage. Most enemies have a weakness: one of the three approaches is a step easier against them, which is usually the clever way through.
What happens at 0 health?
Usually a setback: you are dragged off, robbed or captured, and the story continues from there with 3 health. Only if a scene has no setback do you meet the defeat screen, which sends you back to your last checkpoint.
Questions
Why two dice instead of one?
Two dice make middle results common and extremes rare, so stats and bonuses matter more than luck. A single die makes every number equally likely.
Can I see the roll?
Yes. Every check on Lantern Saga shows the dice, your stat, any bonus and the target, so you always know what happened and why.
Is Hard mode fair?
Yes, but it is risky. Every quest is played thousands of times by a simulator in Story, Normal and Hard to make sure every ending is reachable and no single fight defeats too many players.
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