Digicanics

Skill Checks

Skill Checks are a type of check made when seeing if you can make a specific Target Number set by the GM or an opposed Static Stat (for example, which Clashing) in order to achieve your goal. These are the most commonly used Rolls out of Combat, rolling 3D6+Modifiers. Modifiers for humans are the combination of the Attribute and Skill used for the Check, for example on a Feats of Strength Check you would roll 3D6+STR+Feats of Strength. If you have no Skill or Attribute Points being added to the roll, you instead roll 3D6-1. Digimon simply use their Derived Stats for this.

Skill Rolls use a Target Number (TN) to decide whether they succeed or fail. TN's vary depending on the difficulty of the Check, but the chart below should offer a helpful guide for how Target Numbers work on a difficulty scale for Children. When considering a scale for Teenagers and Adults, consider them to be one step lower for difficulty than the previous age group (for example, an Adult rolling a TN 14 Check would probably consider that a Very Easy Task instead of an Everyday Task like the chart indicates). Feel free to increase the Target Numbers further for Teenagers and Adults by 3 points per tier on Teenagers, and 6 points per tier on Adults. These numbers are based on Starting Stats, not counting additional investment.

TN              Tier

10               Very Easy Tasks

14                Simple Tasks

18                Everyday Tasks

22                Slightly Difficult Tasks

26                Difficult Tasks

30               Incredibly Difficult Tasks

34+             Almost Impossible Tasks

If you happen to exceed the TN by 5 or more, you have Critically Succeeded the Check, often doing it with style and flair, possibly even gaining a bonus of some type or helping pull the rest of the party through easier. Inversely, if you roll lower than the TN by 5 or more, you have not only failed the Check, but Critically Failed. This means you not only fumbled, but probably receive some kind of penalty or consequence for your roll, such as skinning your knee or tripping.

Whenever a Digimon (or a Tamer) rolls its Accuracy or Dodge Stat, it rolls 3D6 (taking modifiers into account). For example, if you have an Accuracy Stat of 10, you would roll 3D6+10 when making an Accuracy Check. Inversely, if you have a 7 in your Dodge Stat, you would roll 3D6+7 when rolling Dodge in response to a called Attack. 

A Digimon (or a Tamer) rolls its Health Stat to determine how many Hit Points it recovers after Combat as well. Tamer's roll a d6 for every 2 points in Constitution. Digimon roll a number of d6 equal to their Body.

Stunts, Teamwork, and Mounting TN's

Stunts

Sometimes you don't just make a roll, you perform a task with attempted flair or use the environment to your advantage. A bit of extra effort in your descriptions, as well as being a bit daring and adventurous, can go a long way to helping you with a roll.

This type of scenario is called Stunting, or a Stunt. Go the extra effort, don't just climb the side of the wall, you leap up from the ground and take a handhold, rushing up as fast as you can. Don't just jump across the crevice, take a running start and say something corny before you do.

On top of granting Inspiration for good roleplay scenarios, GM's should also reward exceptional roleplay in Skill Checks. When you stunt, the GM may grant a bonus to the Check needed, ranging from +1 to +3 depending on the scenario. If you do something particularly awe-worthy, the GM may allow an additional D6, or even go as high as adding 5D6 in rare, particularly amazing scenarios. And don't be afraid to let your Digimon try to Stunt either, they can benefit the same way a Tamer can.

Teamwork

In addition to Stunting, you can work together as a group to increase the odds of a successful roll.

Teamwork is a mechanic which involves party members making a separate TN check to grant the other party members a bonus. When aiding a teammate in a task, you may roll an additional 3D6 and add the appropriate modifiers for the task at hand (for example, using Feats of Strength an additional time when the group needs to lift a heavy object).

On a successful roll of 14 or higher, a chosen party member gets +2 to the roll for the task at hand. On a Critical Failure however, the chosen party member gets -2 to their roll. On a Critical Success (5 or greater than the target number), the chosen party member gains +5 to their roll. This can help boost a character who isn't good at a task, in order to make sure the whole party gets through safely. Each party member may make a Teamwork roll once per check if they wish, including Digimon.

Mounting TN's

Sometimes completing one task isn't enough, and an obstacle course of multiple TN's need to be rolled.

First; each TN is increased by one stage over the last TN in the collection of rolls. Second: record Crit Fails, Fails, Successes, and Crit Successes. Third: only the result of the last roll matters to whether or not the character makes it through the checks. For each Success: add +1 to the next roll (+5 for Crit Successes). For each Failure, subtract 1 from the next roll (-5 for Crit Failures).

Digivolving

Once certain conditions are met, a partner Digimon gains the ability to Digivolve to a higher stage than their current one (Rookie into Champion, to Ultimate, Mega, Burst, and beyond). There are several very basic conditions that should be met for a Digivolution to occur, but are not hard rules.

- The Digimon is healthy and cared for (do not count Hit Point Loss).

- The Digimon and Tamer have an appropriately strong bond for the Stage they're at in the story.

- The Tamer is in some type of trouble, generally physical danger.

- The Tamer is displaying some type of virtue, such as protecting the rest of the team.

While the first instance of achieving a higher stage should be determined by the narrative means of your campaign, after that, as a rule of thumb, the Digimon may retain the new stage as their permanent stage (essentially their default stage instead of Rookie), if they have a number of Total DP (Base+Bonus), equal to the Base DP for the new stage. For example, a Digimon whose base stage is Rookie who has 15 Bonus DP, could choose to keep Champion as their permanant default stage once they've Digivolved to the Champion stage at least once. A Digimon may not use this rule to maintain a stage of Burst or higher.

Even if a Digimon does not decide to use the next stage as their default stage once they have an appropriate amount of Total DP, after the previously stated prerequisites are met, it may Digivolve to the new stage without any GM permission. For example, a Rookie level Digimon who has previously achieved the Champion and Ultimate stages and has a total of 30 Bonus DP may Digivolve to the Champion and Ultimate stages without any rolls or GM permission required, but would still have to meet further base prerequisites for the Mega stage and higher. This can be a good option if you want your Digimon to not make as much of a scene as its smaller, easier to hide Rookie form than the larger, bulkier higher stages.

A Digimon who has just Digivolved to a higher stage in the middle of combat fully recovers all of its Hit Points, making it a viable healing tactic in a pinch.

When you make a new stage for a Digimon, you essentially create a whole new Digimon, seen on the Advanced Digimon Creation page. While no Digimon have a hard, rigid path to follow down the Digivolution stages, it's still a good idea to have things planned out ahead of time. There is an extensive list of resources online to use to figure out good lines for your partner Digimon.

Alternate Digivolving Methods

Not every method of Digivolving is the same as what was mentioned previously: the basic means are not the only ones. There are plenty of different ways to get to a higher stage or have shiny new tricks to utilize.

Some of them have some very unique downsides, so be careful about using them. Not every campaign will use alternate methods, but keep them in mind either way.

Dark Digivolve

Many games have the Digimon's evolution tied to the Tamer's emotional state. While for the most part positive emotions can help further bring about a new stage, negative ones can have an equally potent effect.

When a Tamer is distracted by negative emotions, whether it's hatred, fear, jealousy, or otherwise, the Digimon can undergo a terrible transformation known as Dark Digivolving. The process in and of itself is often traumatic for the Tamer, depending on the scenario the GM may have them un-mark a number of currently marked Torment Boxes of any amount they deem fit, even going so far as to un-mark every single one.

Dark Digivolving boosts the Digimon by at least one stage as per usual, however it entirely comes under the control of the GM as if it were using the Berserker rules, with a few differences. First: it does not gain any stat bonuses for being in the state from the Berserker Quality, however it is treated as if it were under the effects of Strengthen +3 while in this state. Second, it will not stop until one of three things happen: the Digimon has defeated all enemies and allies present, the Digimon itself is knocked out, or the Digimon's Tamer succeeds in a TN 20 Willpower roll. 

If the Tamer critically fails their Willpower roll, the Dark Digivolution goes further berserk and gains +2 to all of its Stats once more. After the Dark Evolution is stopped with one of the aforementioned methods, the Digimon reverts to the stage directly below its default stage. The process is both straining and potentially traumatizing on the Digimon to the point that it could revert to a stage as low as Fresh after it's all said and done.

This means Dark Digivolving is a double-edged sword: it can be utilized for an immediate, uninvested power boost, but it's also incredibly hard to control, and if it's shut down too early, can put the Digimon and Tamer into a dangerous and vulnerable situation.

GM's, have a general idea of what your players are running for Digimon, and don't be afraid to have their Digimon Dark Digivolve if they've failed a Torment or Sanity check: as stated previously, many stories have the Digimon deeply tied to their Tamer's emotional state. This is a good way to make the Digivolving feel more mechanical rather than purely narrative in nature, which can be used as a fun surprise in the middle of a session.

Have a few ideas for Dark Digivolving stages planned out ahead of time, but you can further cut down on the time spent building by using stages your players have already made and re-fluffing the Attacks and Stage Name. Having the mechanics laid out saves time that could be better spent having their precious Digimon attacking everyone!

DNA Digivolve/Fusion

Sometimes two heads are better than one, quite literally even. When one or more Digimon combine, it's called DNA Digivolving, or Fusion. The level of the new Digimon is calculated by taking the highest stage Digimon involved in the process, and then adding an additional stage for every additional Digimon in the mix.

For example, a Champion stage Digimon who DNA Digivolves with a Rookie stage Digimon would create an Ultimate stage Digimon. For another example, a Rookie level Digimon who DNA Digivolves with an In-Training and two Fresh level Digimon, will create a Mega level Digimon. Be careful with how many Digimon you allow to be tossed into a DNA Digivolving mix at a time, they can get out of hand very fast. 

In addition to achieving a higher stage, DNA Digivolved Digimon gain a number of additional bonus DP to use when creating the new stage, equal to the number of stages it is above In-Training times 5. 

For example, if two Digimon DNA Digivolve to create a Ultimate level Digimon, it has an additional 15 Bonus DP to use when making the new stage, in addition to the Bonus DP the Digimon who sported the highest stage before DNA Digivolving had. So if a Champion stage Digimon with 40 Bonus DP and a Ultimate stage Digimon with 25 Bonus DP DNA Digivolve to a Mega stage Digimon, it would have the usual base DP allotted by a Mega, in addition to 20 Bonus DP from the DNA Digivolving, and 25 Bonus DP from the Ultimate level Digimon's Bonus DP Pool.

Bonus DP does not follow the usual rules for Character Advancement in this manner and may be allotted in any area.

As with Dark Digivolving, DNA Digivolving takes a lot of energy to use, so Digimon who aren't used to this type of Digivolving will revert to a stage below their default stage once it ends. So while this is an incredibly powerful tool that Tamers have at their disposal, be careful simply tossing it out, as it can put the party in danger if it backfires and the Digimon is defeated.

Try to have any future DNA Digivolved stages ready for when they pop up. These stages are even harder to create on the fly than a normal Digimon, so waiting while two players coordinate to build one can really slow down the process. If you really want it to go fast and have faith in your GM, you could allow them to make the stage as a single, unbiased individual over two people having to meet in the middle of the process.

Furthermore, if you want to use a ruleset where Digimon are inherently tied to the Tamer's emotions, maybe having the Tamers make a check of some type (presumably Willpower) to make sure both parties are on the same wavelength, could help further tie the mechanics of the system into the flavor of DNA Digivolving. But don't feel the need to use it as a hard rule.

Hybrid Digivolve

Sometimes a Digimon and Tamer either become a single being, or in some cases, a Human gains the power to turn into a Digimon themselves, creating an extra-powerful, Hybrid form. It's not entirely Digimon, as it at least shares its mind with a human, but it's not fully human either. Hybrid Digivolving is not a stage in and of itself, in fact each Hybrid stage has an equivalent stage that it's associated with, such as Champion, Ultimate, or the like. A Hybrid Digimon template can be further mixed with other things such as DNA, Armor, or Dark stages. Feel free to have a bit of fun making Hybrid Digimon.

Hybrid Digimon remove the Tamer/Digimon dynamic from the scenario, creating a single role to be played instead of two, that still has the mechanical benefits of both halves. When making Skill Checks (outside of Clash checks), use the Tamer's Skills, Attributes, and Aspects, but while in combat, use the Digimon's Stats, Qualities, and Derived Stats. In addition, a Hybrid Digimon gains a bonus Simple Action to use on its turns. This means a Hybrid Digimon could have either a Simple Action and a Complex Action, or three Simple Actions over the course of its turn.

Armor Digivolve

Some Digimon have the ability to undergo an ancient, special type of Digivolution, known as Armor Digivolving. While the exact methods can vary, between it being a natural part of the Digimon's Digivolving line, to requiring a special item such as a Digimental to obtain, it doesn't have many natural bonuses other than the fact that the method has no known means of being interfered with from outside means.

Not every Armor stage has to use the Armor Template. This may be confusing at first, but consult your GM as to whether or not they wish for Armor Digivolving to be part of their system mechanically, or if they'd prefer Armor stage Digimon to simply be a normal stage instead. Armor stage Digimon have an equivalent stage that they use the base DP and Stats from, whether it's Champion, Ultimate, or otherwise