ShadowRealms resolves uncertainty through a single, consistent process. Whenever a character attempts something that carries risk — striking an enemy, persuading a guard, resisting poison, leaping across a rooftop, or channeling supernatural power — the outcome is determined through a dice roll.
Every roll answers two essential questions:
Do you succeed?
How well do you succeed?
Results are not limited to simple pass or fail. A narrow success may achieve the goal with strain or complication, while a stronger success may produce momentum, advantage, or decisive impact. This structure allows tension and escalation to emerge naturally without adding unnecessary complexity.
Once you understand the core roll, you understand the mechanical foundation of ShadowRealms.
Action Tests
When the Game Master determines that an action’s outcome is uncertain and meaningful, the player makes an Action Test.
The first step is choosing the appropriate Attribute. Attributes represent a character’s natural capabilities — physical power, reflexes, perception, intellect, discipline, and force of personality. Each Attribute belongs to one of four Aspects.
The Four Aspects and Their Attributes
Body
Body represents physical strength and endurance.
- Might – Strength, force, and physical power.
- Vitality – Physical resilience and health.
- Endurance – Stamina and sustained exertion.
Grace
Grace represents coordination and speed.
- Agility – Balance, movement, and bodily control.
- Finesse – Precision and delicate coordination.
- Quickness – Reaction speed and reflex.
Mind
Mind represents intellect and awareness.
- Reason – Logic, analysis, and problem-solving.
- Memory – Knowledge and recall.
- Awareness – Perception and alertness.
Soul
Soul represents instinct and presence.
- Intuition – Instinct and spiritual sensitivity.
- Willpower – Mental strength and discipline.
- Presence – Force of personality and influence.
The chosen Attribute determines how many twenty-sided dice (d20s) are rolled. If your Agility is 4, you roll four dice. If your Willpower is 3, you roll three.
Attributes determine opportunity — how many chances you have to succeed.
Difficulty and Target Numbers
After selecting the Attribute, the Game Master assigns a Target Number (TN). The Target Number reflects how difficult the task is within the story. Each die must roll equal to or greater than the Target Number to count as a success.
| Target Number | Difficulty |
| 15 | Routine |
| 18 | Easy |
| 21 | Standard |
| 24 | Challenging |
| 27 | Difficult |
| 30 | Severe |
| 33 | Extreme |
| 36 | Heroic |
| 39 | Legendary |
| 42 | Mythic |
| 45 | Transcendent |
| 48 | Impossible |
Routine tasks are regularly accomplished by trained individuals. Standard tasks represent professional resistance. As difficulty rises into Heroic and Legendary territory, the challenge exceeds ordinary limits. Mythic and Transcendent difficulties represent extraordinary or supernatural opposition. Impossible tasks are rarely overcome without exceptional capability.
Skills
Skills represent learned proficiency and experience. Skills range from 1 to 24.
Rather than granting additional dice, Skills reduce the Target Number. After the difficulty is set, subtract the relevant Skill rating from the Target Number to determine the final number each die must reach.
Attributes provide raw potential.
Skills convert that potential into consistent performance.
Rolling and Counting Successes
Roll a number of d20s equal to the chosen Attribute.
Each die that meets or exceeds the final Target Number counts as one success. Dice are evaluated individually; they are not added together. The total number of successful dice determines the outcome.
Exploding 20s
A natural 20 represents exceptional execution.
A die that shows a 20 counts as one success and immediately generates an additional die. That die is rolled against the same Target Number and may generate further dice if it also rolls a 20.
There is no limit to how many times this may occur.
Success-Eating 1s
A natural 1 represents instability or error.
After all dice — including those generated by exploding 20s — have been resolved, each die showing a 1 removes one success from the total.
Success totals can never fall below zero.
Even the most capable characters remain vulnerable to misfortune.
Dice Limits
To maintain clarity and speed at the table, no more than five dice are rolled for any test.
If a roll would use more than five dice, roll five dice and reduce the Target Number by 3 for each die beyond five.
If penalties would reduce the roll below one die, roll one die and increase the Target Number by 3 for each missing die.
A character always rolls at least one die.
Advantage and Disadvantage
Circumstances may influence how stable an action is. Positioning, preparation, fear, surprise, magical effects, and environmental conditions may grant Advantage or impose Disadvantage.
Advantage increases reliability.
Disadvantage introduces instability.
Each level of Advantage allows you to reroll one failed die. Each level of Disadvantage forces you to reroll one successful die. The new result replaces the original result.
Advantage and Disadvantage are applied after the initial roll, but before natural 1s remove successes.
If you have multiple levels of Advantage, you may reroll that many different failed dice. A die may only be rerolled once through Advantage.
If you have multiple levels of Disadvantage, you must reroll that many successful dice. Each die may only be forced to reroll once.
If both Advantage and Disadvantage apply, they cancel one-for-one before any rerolls are made.
Advantage and Disadvantage do not change how many dice you roll. They affect how dependable the result is.
Resistance
Not all tests represent actions you choose to take. Sometimes you must endure, avoid, or withstand an effect directed at you. Resistance governs these moments.
Resistance appears in two forms: active resistance and passive resistance.
Resistance Values
Every character possesses four Resistance Values, each based directly on one of the character’s Aspects:
- Toughness equals Body.
- Evasion equals Grace.
- Insight equals Mind.
- Resolve equals Soul.
Traits, abilities, and equipment may modify these values.
Resistance Values measure how well you endure harm, avoid danger, perceive deception, or withstand mental and spiritual pressure.
Active Resistance
Active resistance occurs when you roll to resist an effect.
A Resistance Save follows the same procedure as an Action Test, except that instead of subtracting a Skill from the Target Number, you subtract the relevant Resistance Value.
The Game Master sets the Target Number of the effect. You subtract your Resistance Value, then roll dice equal to the appropriate Attribute. Exploding 20s, Advantage or Disadvantage, and success-eating 1s apply normally.
If at least one success remains, the effect is resisted at a basic level. Additional successes may further reduce harm or severity.
In active resistance, you are pushing back against the effect.
Resistance Thresholds
Passive resistance applies when another character acts directly against you.
In these situations, your defense becomes the obstacle they must overcome.
Your Resistance Threshold equals your Resistance Value + 12.
When an opponent attacks, casts a spell, or attempts to impose a condition, they must meet or exceed your relevant Resistance Threshold.
In passive resistance, your defense stands in their way.
Realm Dice
Some abilities — particularly supernatural ones — require you to invest power directly.
When activating such abilities, you make a Realm Roll.
Unlike an Action Test, a Realm Roll does not determine how many dice you roll based on an Attribute. Instead, you choose how many dice to commit. These are called Realm Dice.
The difficulty of a Realm Roll is usually determined by the level of the power being used. Higher-level powers are inherently more difficult to control and therefore have higher Target Numbers.
Realm Dice are rolled against the Target Number like any other test. Exploding 20s, Advantage or Disadvantage, and success-eating 1s apply normally. Realm Rolls follow the same universal five-dice compression rule.
There is no separate cap beyond this rule.
Risk and Consequence
Realm Dice represent power willingly channeled. Power is never entirely safe.
Each Realm defines what happens when dice fail.
A divine caster may lose Faith.
An arcane caster may suffer Drain.
Other Realms may impose strain, corruption, instability, or backlash.
The more dice you commit, the greater both your potential success and your potential consequence.
Realm Rolls are therefore both an opportunity and a gamble.
The Three Core Roll Types
ShadowRealms uses three fundamental types of rolls:
- Action Tests – You attempt to accomplish something.
- Resistance Saves – You attempt to resist something.
- Realm Rolls – You choose how much power to unleash and accept the risk.
All three use the same underlying structure of Target Numbers, exploding 20s, success-eating 1s, Advantage, and dice compression. They differ only in how dice are determined and what consequences follow.
Degrees of Success
After resolving exploding 20s, applying Advantage or Disadvantage, and removing successes from natural 1s, count the remaining successes.
0 Successes — Failure
The action does not succeed. The Game Master describes the consequences.
1 Success — Minimal Success
The goal is achieved narrowly, often with strain, delay, or minor complication.
2 Successes — Standard Success
The action is completed cleanly and competently. This is the expected baseline of success.
3 Successes — Strong Success
The character gains additional benefit beyond simple completion.
4 Successes — Powerful Success
The result exceeds expectations and has clear impact.
5 or More Successes — Exceptional Success
The character achieves something remarkable or decisive.