I can't find the rule now but somewhere I thought I saw that five was the most you could add into a PC or NPC's side of the pool (not including Boost Dice). I have a very difficult challenge coming up where the heroes have to save a city from being crushed by a droid left over from the Infinite Empire. The solution is actually role play/socially based but they of course will try to smash it first.

That said, it has a Brawn of 6 and a Brawl of 4. That would call for four Challenge Dice and two Ability Dice? Is that correct? Or does the pool cap at five dice?

Sorry about the nebulous question, I can't find where I read five was a cap before. Thanks for clearing things up for me!

No cap. Not sure what you mean about Challenge and Ability though.

Probably intended 4 Proficiency dice and 2 Ability dice. Abilities and skills do have caps, which puts and effective limit on that part of the pool, but there is no defined hard limit to the number of dice total or of a particular kind.

on Table 1-3 in the very beginning of the EOTE core book is the difficulty table. I would imagine that is what you might be looking for. You can also upgrade (make purple to red) as you see fit.

Edit: If you are referring to skills then there is a max of 5 (pretty sure) and characteristics of 6 (7 if you include cybernetics).

Beyond the 5 Skill limit and 6 (7) Attribute limit, there's no limit to how many boost and setback dice can be added to a situation. I would be hard pressed to come up with a reason why you would add this many, but in theory you could add 20 Blue and 20 Black to a single roll.

But realistically, much beyond 4 or 5 of each unlikely (and even then, 5 is a stretch).

Pick a lock [complex task] that's rusted (2 Setback), in the dark (1 setback), while it's raining (1 setback), under fire (1 setback), with lockpick tools (1 boost), and droid providing unskilled assistance (1 boost), with your buddy covering you (2 boosts from advantage), while your inspired with Improved Rhetoric (1 boost)

Better be very good reason to pick that lock under those circumstances, otherwise I'll just come back tomorrow when it's

sunny, not raining, not under attack, etc.

If you were worried about having too many dice you could just cancel some out. You have lock pick tools (Yay) but its dark (Boo). Forget about both dice altogether. I know it isn't an issue of a maximum dice pool but I can see why people might not want to roll a dozen dice and then determine the results.

I believe there is a max difficulty of formidable (I think may be daunting I get those two confused) with 5 difficulty dice. These difficulty dice can be upgraded as needed but IIRC 5 is the max difficulty.

May be off topic but thought it was worth mentioning.

No cap. Not sure what you mean about Challenge and Ability though.

Oops. I meant to say Proficiency and Ability Dice. My bad.

Thanks everyone for clarifying the answer! I really appreciate the fast and friendly helpful community on this board.

If you were worried about having too many dice you could just cancel some out. You have lock pick tools (Yay) but its dark (Boo). Forget about both dice altogether. I know it isn't an issue of a maximum dice pool but I can see why people might not want to roll a dozen dice and then determine the results.

This does work, but it's worthwhile to realize that the odds are slightly different between Boost and Setback dice.

If you were worried about having too many dice you could just cancel some out. You have lock pick tools (Yay) but its dark (Boo). Forget about both dice altogether. I know it isn't an issue of a maximum dice pool but I can see why people might not want to roll a dozen dice and then determine the results.

I do not understand this concept.......

I come from a LOOONNNGGGG WEG and Shadowrun history. Lots of dice are the norm in my mind. If your dice box/bag doesn't out-way the main book, something is seriously wrong.

If you were worried about having too many dice you could just cancel some out. You have lock pick tools (Yay) but its dark (Boo). Forget about both dice altogether. I know it isn't an issue of a maximum dice pool but I can see why people might not want to roll a dozen dice and then determine the results.

This does work, but it's worthwhile to realize that the odds are slightly different between Boost and Setback dice.

Too true. regardless of what's needed on the face of a die, lots of dice (skewed in either direction) is by no means a 'sure thing'. Canceling dice might work for some games, but I would personally avoid it here.

Our main pilot has an X-30 Lancer with a Blaster Actuating Module. The blaster is Accurate, the BAM gives a setback. MANY a time, he regrets the extra attachment...hehehe.

A little OT, but, I remember a character in a Shadowrun 4th game I was running (mechanic is roll dice to reduce damage, needing 5 or 6 on a d6 called a hit). He needed to resist 10 damage (almost enough to take him out) and rolled 23 dice. Statistically you would expect him to get 7 or possibly 8 hits....he got 1. Spent a point of Edge (that games equivalent of Destiny on a personal level) to reroll failures (22 dice needing 5 or 6) and only got 1 more.

So, for me at least, if you have 10 boost and 10 setback? Oh, let the laws of probability fracture with every shake of the pool. LOL

http://maxmahem.net/wp/star-wars-edge-of-the-empire-die-probabilities/

For anyone interested in EoE dice probabilities.

I'm all for rolling a billion dice but as there might be those who are less keen on it or in situations where it simply isn't practical, canceling out is an option.

I'm all for rolling a billion dice but as there might be those who are less keen on it or in situations where it simply isn't practical, canceling out is an option.

I totally agree on the option. There are those options in most of the games that use large pools are concerned. Mine wasn't a statement to discount that option. Just in my personal history and presence, it's at the bottom of my list of them. Personal tase, nothing more.

We almost started that route when we first started EotE. One set of dice, 5 players, LOTS of re-rolling to get the right amount of Proficiency and ability dice, etc. LOL. It was horrific. Now we have 4 sets, getting ready for a 5th when I can F&D box on the 1st of the month. Still......doesn't seem like enough dice though.

I have an opinion question about the dice for anyone who has used them a lot. My group and I only just switched to the FFG system. We had been playing Saga and for the most part liked it but the more narrative oriented play of FFG seemed likely to be more up our alley and saga can be hard to find resources for nowadays.

The biggest change for us was the dice difference. We were used to D20 system with skills and characteristics adding a set number to your roll and officially the FFG dice are very different. We were kind of put off at first by the idea of having to use special dice but we have since adjusted. Still there are differences.

1. A D20 system gives you a much larger range of possible rolls. 1-20. This meant that you could sometimes do extremely well and sometimes do extremely poorly. As such you mostly relied on your skill bonuses. High skill bonuses means its less likely a bad roll will destroy you. With FFG your rolls don't have as much variability. It's the dice pool that causes variation and your skills and characteristics only add extra die, they don't give you a set bonus. Which system do you feel is most random with the results?

2. In D20, a 20 is instant success. A 1 is instant fail. This meant that sometimes your skill level didn't matter. You could succeed against all odds and even the best pilot sometimes fails miserably. This felt rather like real life. You don't have instant successes and instant fails in FFG. In my group some of our best memories were when everything was riding on one character to complete a very important task and then he or she rolled a 1. It may seem odd but it created a very dramatic memory. Is the instant success/ instant fail mechanic something that FFG suffers for not having?

My group also came from Saga, so I know you your feeling.

1. A D20 system gives you a much larger range of possible rolls. 1-20. This meant that you could sometimes do extremely well and sometimes do extremely poorly. As such you mostly relied on your skill bonuses. High skill bonuses means its less likely a bad roll will destroy you. With FFG your rolls don't have as much variability. It's the dice pool that causes variation and your skills and characteristics only add extra die, they don't give you a set bonus. Which system do you feel is most random with the results?

FFG feels more 'random' because it's based on hedged possiblities, not absoluties. If you have +10 in a skill, you know the minimum you'll ever roll (baring 1's auto-fail, which IIRC wasn't true on skills) is 12. This means anything with a DC of 12 or lower will never fail. Likewise, if you have no bonus, you will never succed anything with a DC of 21 or higher. Bonus stacking led famously to situations where you'd have whole sections of modules the players, because of build, could not fail at.

If you break it down to %s, you'll find that FFG's dice provide a series of uneven steps, rather than the absolute 5% steps that a +1 provides. Meaning that more dice provide deminishing returns, because they begin to bellcurve out. Furthermore, because FFG's system is bound within the dice's positive and negitive values, it is impossible to reach the outer bounds (0%, 100%) without using a probiblity breaker (auto-fail or auto-success).

2. In D20, a 20 is instant success. A 1 is instant fail. This meant that sometimes your skill level didn't matter. You could succeed against all odds and even the best pilot sometimes fails miserably. This felt rather like real life. You don't have instant successes and instant fails in FFG. In my group some of our best memories were when everything was riding on one character to complete a very important task and then he or she rolled a 1. It may seem odd but it created a very dramatic memory. Is the instant success/ instant fail mechanic something that FFG suffers for not having?

It doesn't because it's impossible (see above) to have a diepool with an garanteed result. Even a simple (no difficulty) check in which the person has 5 yellows and 2 greens (maximum ability/proficiency dice) can result in a falure - the player can simply have no successes appear on any die. At the same time, a person with 1 ability die (lowest possible) can succed an impossible (5 difficulty) task simply by virtue of having no falures appear on their difficulty dice, and 1 success on their ability die. Auto-success and Auto-Falure are not really 'bonuses' of the d20 system, but rather a patch to deal with possiblity of modifiers creating an absolute situation.

Note, neather of these answers go into the Advantage/disadvantage system on the dice, which is a whole different discusson, and I belive quite possibly the best part of the whole thing.

1. A D20 system gives you a much larger range of possible rolls. 1-20. This meant that you could sometimes do extremely well and sometimes do extremely poorly.

Likewise, the above is never normally true in D20 either.

It is true that you can have a range of 20 possible results on a typical roll; but in almost all cases the outcome is binary - success (period) or failure (period).

If you need (along with your modifiers) to roll a 13 on the die in order to succeed, then any result of 13+ is "success". A mere 13 is just as good as a 19. And if a roll of 12 or lower will cause you to fail, then rolling a 3 is no worse than rolling a 12 - both are simply "failure".

The max number of difficulty dice that should be rolled is 5. Though if enough effects were able to upgrade it, I could see it being higher. Opposed checks are also an exception (if you want to be mean, have your players end up needing to rolled opposed resilience check against a Hutt crime lord).

The natural cap on ability and proficiency dice is 7 ability with no skill ranks involved, and 5 proficiency (replacing ability dice) with max skill ranks involved. Other things can upgrade it it further. With enough ranks of True Aim talent, a player could be rolling 9 yellow dice on a combat check.

^^^^ THIS! I am not Saga player, but I do come from Star Wars D20 and D&D. The advantage is the main reason I've stayed and loved this game for so long. In D20 you fail or pass. There isn't any room for DC 20 I roll 19.... Does at least SOMETHING happen in my favor for being close?

It is true that you can have a range of 20 possible results on a typical roll; but in almost all cases the outcome is binary - success (period) or failure (period).

If you need (along with your modifiers) to roll a 13 on the die in order to succeed, then any result of 13+ is "success". A mere 13 is just as good as a 19. And if a roll of 12 or lower will cause you to fail, then rolling a 3 is no worse than rolling a 12 - both are simply "failure".

While there is no actual mechanism built in to D20 for advantage and disadvantage the GM is capable of working that in to the story and in fact there are a few instances where there are bonuses or penalties for every increment of 5 that you pass or fail something by. I know in my group if you needed a total of 20 and got a total of 30 we treated it as being very successful. Likewise we made adjustments to force powers and a few other things to give them bonuses to damage or utility for every 5 points you passed the skill check by. So while the mechanism is not explicitly there, it is entirely possible to work in yourself.

I've always understood the maximum amount of difficulty dice to be rolled is five. Every extra step beyond that is upgraded to a Challenge die (things like item rarity, 'impossible' actions, etc.)

As far the maximum of ALL dice... how many do you have?

And also: while it's probably not an intentional limit, the FFG dice roller app for EotE/Imperial Assault/X-wing etc on iOS has a hard limit of 20 die.

One of my characters has a 6y1g1b on all ranged heavy checks, with 4 agi, and 5 ranged heavy

base dice pool: 4y1g

+four points of "true aim" that i got from (soldier) sharp shooter, and (ace) gunner

each rank upgrades the next combat check once per rank of true aim, so upgrade my original dice pool four times. Four ranks pretty much add 2 yellow, since upgrading a green adds a yellow, upgrading when you are not rolling a green adds one.

now I can still go further, if i capped agi i would have a base dice pool of 5y1g, and i could buy the (hired gun) mercenary tree, for two more ranks of true aim, bringing me a dice pool of 8y1g1b,

And all of this is not counting any boost from 2nd aim maneuver, boost given by other PCs with advantages, or possible upgrades to checks from triumphs, or your destiny pool.

And there is still room for a higher base pool!

Off the top of my head, a truely min-maxed character could get around 11 or 12Y. How? simple

True Aim that I already discussed has 6 places it can be purchased, each one upgrading next (any, including melee and brawl) by one per rank.

Frenzied attack also does this for brawl and melee, but at the cost of one strain per time upgraded, and this one is not a maneuver. I believe there are 3 ranks of it in marauder tree, and 2 in the infiltrator tree, giving 5 possible upgrades

so with a 6 brawn, 5 brawl character, you could do a frenzied attack with 5 upgrades, plus a true aim for 6 upgrades.

so your base of 5y1g becomes 8y with frenzied attack, upgrade that six times for 11y1b melee attack. Get an upgrade from a friends triumph, and use a destiny point, that is a 12y1b dice pool...Hope ya got 6 dice sets laying around for that

so your base of 5y1g becomes 8y with frenzied attack, upgrade that six times for 11y1b melee attack. Get an upgrade from a friends triumph, and use a destiny point, that is a 12y1b dice pool...Hope ya got 6 dice sets laying around for that

Reading this post, I start to yearn for that moon to come crashing down on that Wookiee.