The Cosmere RPG’s unique, narrative mechanic that grants opportunities and complications.
While the Cosmere RPG seeks to provide a system that should feel relatively familiar to long time RPG fans, it does have a number of unique mechanics of its own.
One of these is the plot die. It’s a narrative mechanic that can be used to raise the stakes of a test and provide opportunities and complications to the players. But just how does this brand new mechanic work? Read on to find out more.
How the plot die works
The plot die is a 6 sided dice that can be rolled and either grants opportunities or complications for the party. It has similarities to the hope and fear system in Daggerheart. But unlike Daggerheart, which creates hope and fear on each test, the plot die is used when the GM determines that a particularly crucial skill test is being rolled. When this is done, it’s known as “raising the stakes”. It’s worth being aware that attacks are a type of skills test (unlike in D&D where a d20 test separates thinks like skill checks and attack rolls).
It’s important that the plot die isn’t overused as it can create a challenge to GMs trying to determine narrative consequences of less important skill checks or provide too many positive or negative benefits. Instead, it should be used only when the stakes are high. This might be for a crucial test that’s integral to the mission, that plays directly to a character’s goals or that has high tension or dramatic importance.
The plot die itself
The plot die is a 6 sided dice. 2 sides have symbols that represent rolling with complications, 2 sides represent rolling with opportunities and 2 sides are blank. The 2 complications symbols also have a number (2 or 4) which is added to the score of the test. This represents a benefit to how well you accomplish the skill despite the complications that occur.
If you don’t have a plot die, you can use a standard d6. 1-2 represents complications, 3-4 are blank and represent no effect and 5-6 represent opportunities. If you roll a complication, you can double the number on the die to determine how much is added to the skill check. You can see a diagram representing how this works below:
Opportunities and complications
If you roll the plot die with opportunity or complications, then you get a mechanical or narrative consequence of that skill check. This occurs whether you pass the test or not. It also occurs immediately. This isn’t like heroic inspiration in D&D where a heroic inspiration point is reserved to be used at a later point.
Opportunities
If you roll on an opportunity, you can choose one of the following benefits to gain:
- Aid an ally – Choose an ally. They gain advantage on their next test.
- Collect yourself – You recover 1 focus.
- Critically hit – You change a hit into a critical hit. Note that this can only be used when the test you’ve made has been an attack and your test has resulted in a hit (it’s possible to roll with opportunity and miss an attack, in which case, it seems this option isn’t available).
- Influence the narrative – Your actions create a positive narrative effect. This is something the player chooses but the GM must approve. This can be the case whether you pass or fail the actual check. For instance, a failed attack might still result in distracting an opponent. Out of combat, a failure to persuade might still result in you at least picking the pocket of your target.
- Special abilities – Some abilities can be used when you roll with opportunity on the plot die.
Complications
If you roll a complication on the plot die, you get a boost to your skill test making success more likely, but it comes with a negative side effect. When this happens, the GM chooses one of the following options:
- Hinder an ally – The next test taken by a playable character is taken with disadvantage.
- Become distracted – You lose one focus points.
- Influence the narrative – Whether the test is a success or a failure, it comes with an added narrative drawback. The example given might be that you successfully convince the guards into thinking you’re an important foreign emissary, but they insist on taking you to their commanding officer.
Other ways to gain opportunities and complications
Not all opportunities and complications come from rolling the plot die. When you roll a 1 on a test, it always leads to a complication and when you roll a 20, it always causes an opportunity.
Some effects can change the range of rolls that can cause a complication or opportunity making this more likely in certain circumstances. This is referred to as the opportunity and complication range. This is a 20 (for opportunities) and 1 (for complications) as standard, but can be broadened depending on other effects in play.
On top of this, some character abilities can be used to raise the stakes and cause the plot die to be rolled. Equally, a player without one of these abilities can suggest the plot die be rolled when they feel the stakes are high and the GM can allow this if they want.
Is the plot die mechanic any good?
As alluded to, the plot die system reminds me a little of Daggerheart’s hope and fear system, as they both push the narrative in more profound ways than standard d20 tests do in D&D. However, having used the hope and fear system in Daggerheart, I prefer the plot die system for 2 reasons:
- It’s not enforced every time a test is made – I found in Daggerheart that adding hope and especially fear consequences every time a test was made, inevitably was very draining for the GM always trying to find ways to push or alter the narrative. The plot die doesn’t enforce this. It just lets this happen when the DM decides it’s a crucial point or when a 1 or 20 are rolled. This significantly reduces the burden on the GM and avoids certain pointless additions of narrative when minor things are being done.
- You can lean on mechanical consequences – If you don’t have a narrative way to deal with a consequence, you can just push for a mechanical side effect instead. Again, this reduces the burden on the GM.
Having said all this, I think that Daggerheart’s hope and fear system was good in many ways and I liked the push to progress and alter the narrative. But it feels like the Cosmere RPG’s plot die does this in a more measured and GM friendly-way.
What do you think of the Cosmere RPG’s plot die system? Let me know in the comments below.
