Skirmish Test

So I figured we'd begin with a fairly basic scenario. You are travelling along a dirt track high up in the mountains, there is snow falling in the air but because it is still early in the season, the snowfall hasn't significantly impacted the terrain. As you continue to make your way through the winding path, four bandits emerge from the rocks. Three begin to charge towards you, while the other readies a bow. Can I please get everyone to make a tactics check, please?

The young shugenja, dressed in padded traveling clothing befitting the season, grabbed the reins of the warhorse he sat atop and readied himself...

Which Ring did you use?

You don't get to pick whether you take it or not. Strife is a bit of a misnomer, it's not necessarily a bad thing. So you got a blank, an Opportunity and Strife and a Success. So for the purposes of Initiative you have a success and an opportunity.

Sorry, I misunderstood what you were referring to. I thought you were talking about separating the Opportunity and Strife. Its been a long day, I need a coffee. You get to keep the number of die that are equal to your Ring. Since your Earth Ring is 3, you keep all three dice you rolled.

You only need to keep one though as a minimum (Page 24, Step5), from the book:

The player must choose at least one die to keep, and can choose to keep a maximum up to the value of the ring the character used for the check. The player then removes all dropped dice.

Older editions you'd just keep everything as you were simply after the highest number possible but in this edition there's a little more thought needed for which dice you keep

With a roar Minato charges at the bandits, both swords flashing clear of their sheaths

And this is why we are doing this, the idea is that we learn together as we go, so thank you for correcting me, my friend.

Bandit 1 Results: Explosive Success and Strife, Success and Opportunity.
Bandit 2 Results: Success, Opportunity, Opportunity
Bandit 3 Results: Explosive Success and Strife, Success, Opportunity and Strife
Bandit 4 Results: Success, Success and Strife, Opportunity.

Bandit 1 Results: Explosive Success and Strife, Success and Opportunity. Total Successes: 2
Bandit 2 Results: Success, Opportunity, Opportunity. Total Successes 1
Bandit 3 Results: Explosive Success and Strife, Success, Opportunity and Strife: Total Successes: 2
Bandit 4 Results: Bandit 4 Results: Success, Success and Strife, Opportunity. Total Successes: 2