Rules and tips

Cortex Prime is narrative dice pool system where every character has number of Traits that can be called on to add dice to the pool to roll. However, every die that goes into the pool has to be narratively justified in order to use it (kind of like Wushu or Feng Shui, I can't remember which one) so there is baked in role play with your rolls.

Rolling Rules:
1. Define what you want to do
2. Figure out which traits you want to/can call into your dice pool
3. Write a little blurb for each trait you want to roll a dice for (which essentially means a paragraph a roll)
4. Roll the die
5. Compare your die to the difficulty. Select two die to sum for your pass/fail and one die for the effect die type
6. Pass or Fail
-Pass - Assign complication
-Fail - Take a complication
-Roll a 1 - Gain a complication in exchange for a PP

Battle/Conflict:
Attacker rolls first and sets the difficulty (steps 1-6, without 5). Defender goes second (steps 1-6).
-If attacker rolls higher, apply complication to defender
-If defender rolls higher, attacker rerolls until one wins
-Loser takes the complication

Great success / Hero die:
If you succeed with more than 5 over the difficulty, you gain a hero die and your effect die moves up a die type.
Hero die can be spent and added to your rolls allowing you to add up to five dice to your pass/fail die.

Character Creation quick sheet:
Pg. 70
Ranks
d4,d6,d8,d10, d12 - Nothing can be d12
1. Come up with a name
2. Come up with three very short phrases that are Distinct to your character (Probably your RPG class or archetype, personality, "Race"). Whatever will make your character mechanically and narratively distinct. Add the Hinder SFX.
3. Find 2 skills that go with each distinction and step up those die sizes (d4 to d6) and add 2 sfx (pg 62) in addition to the Hinder
4. You have 14 points to assign to your skills, signature assets, specialties, powers, resources
4a. Signature assets would be gear that can boost your rolls (effective armor or weapons)
4b. Specialties can only be assigned to things with a d6 or more for a flat d6 bonus. For every point of know, you get a free specialty, max know is d8.
4c. Powers act as another dice pool (pg 51, 185). Link a limit to it and add an sfx for every 2 powers. Costs one point during Character creation to make a Power Set (2 powers) and then 1 point for every die you step up.
5. Assign your attributes (d8s to all, but you can shift them up or down)

Plot Points
-It's easy to gain a PP by using your limits or hinders on SFXs
-If you come up with a good complication, I'll give you a PP. I won't come up with one every time

Skill List
We won't use all of these for the game.
• Craft: Crafting things, includes building, assembling, or creating stuff.
• Drive: Land and surface vehicles, including cars, boats, and trucks.
• Fight: All kinds of close combat, including weapons or fists.
• Fix: Repairing things.
• Fly: Piloting air vehicles or spacecraft.
• Focus: Concentrating on something, to study or steel your will or whatever.
• Influence: Making others do, think, act, or feel the way you want them to.
• Know: General knowledge and recall. Use specialties to cover specific areas: Business, Navigation, Religion, Animals, Fine Arts, etc.
• Labor: Carrying out tasks of manual labor, lifting, pushing, digging, pulling, hauling.
• Move: Running, jumping, climbing trees.
• Notice: Spotting, sensing, or hearing things.
• Operate: Using things like computers, gadgets, and devices.
• Perform: Acting, putting on a show.
• Shoot: Guns, big rocket launchers, things that you point and shoot.
• Sneak: Sneaking around. Sneakily.
• Survive: Surviving in the outdoors or wherever.
• Throw: Throwing things.
• Treat: Taking care of people. Heal, treatment of injury, but also counseling.
• Trick: Deceiving or conning somebody, sleight of hand, using spin.

SFX:

Mix a Cost and Benefit:
Here’s a list of sample costs to choose from:
• Spend a ●Ⓟ (very common)
• Step down a beneficial die (usually an attribute, skill, or asset)
• Step up a non-beneficial die (usually a complication)
• Choose to do or introduce something risky/ill-advised/complicated ("When you walk right into a volatile situation and start causing trouble…")
• Create a ⑧ complication
• Shut down a trait set (the trait set can’t be used until restored)

Here are some useful benefits:
• Earn a Ⓟ
• Add a ⑥ to the dice pool
• Step up a beneficial die (usually a specialty or asset, like "step up Pistols")
• Double a beneficial die (usually a specialty or asset, like "double Pistols")
• Step down a non-beneficial die (usually a complication)
• Introduce a non-mechanical story detail ("Hey, I think I know that guy’s brother...")
• Rename a complication ("I’m not Sickened, I’m Angry")
• Reroll a single die
• Create a ⑧ asset for the rest of the scene

Clarification
•Stepping up means increasing the size of a die by one step, i.e. a ⑥ to a ⑧, or a ⑩ to a ⑫. Stepping down means decreasing the size of a die by one step, i.e. a ⑧ to a ⑥, or a ⑫ to a ⑩.
• Rerolling means rolling a die or dice again, ignoring the previous result and using the new result.
• Doubling a die means adding another die of the same size to Stepping up means increasing the size of a die by one step, i.e. a ⑥ to a ⑧, or a ⑩ to a ⑫.

Powers
• Attack: blasts, weapons
• Durability: toughness, force fields
• Elemental Control: air, earth, fire, gravity, ice, kinetic, light, weather, water, etc.
• Intangibility: phasing through objects, going ethereal
• Intelligence: inventiveness, knowledge, calculation speed
• Invisibility: vs sight or vs other senses
• Mimic: creating copies of other powers as assets
• Movement: speed, flight, swing, swim, etc.
• Psychic: mind control, telepathy, etc.
• Reflexes: reaction time, coordination
• Resistance: vs sonic, poison, psychic, fire, etc.
• Senses: vision, hearing, touch, weird senses
• Shapeshift: changing shape, copying other’s appearance
• Size-Changing: grow, shrink
• Sorcery: creating magical assets
• Stamina: endurance, staying power
• Strength: might and heavy lifting
• Stretch: elongated limbs
• Teleport: gateways, wormholes, shadow-steps, etc.
• Transmutation: changing one thing into another

Ratings
⑥: Minor (or Influence). A power with this rating allows the character to do something most people can’t do, but it doesn’t have much effect on ordinary tests and contests nor is it likely to be a character’s signature power. Powers that permit levitation, additional senses, or low-level enhancements are often rated ⑥.
⑧: Enhanced (or Control). A power with this rating represents a level of performance beyond ordinary human beings, and one that the character likely uses most of the time. Flight at subsonic speeds, strength or stamina at the absolute peak of human capability, control over an element or energy type in a local area, or attacks that are the equivalent of automatic weapons are rated ⑧.
⑩: Superhuman (or Mastery). A power with this rating is rare and reflects someone with extensive training or use in their power, an individual who stands out among others with this power, or performance at a truly superhuman level.
⑫: Godlike (or Supremacy). Very few have a power at this rating, as it represents a level of control beyond superhuman or at the very peak of potential with a specific ability. It’s reserved for truly godlike characters and aliens, or superhuman individuals
whose signature power puts them among the top tier of those who have it.

Gear

There's not much for actual gear in the game as far as specs go. Basically, your character has whatever makes narrative sense and it's included in the dice you roll.

The exception to this is Signature Assets. These are items, artifacts, gear that get some special narrative weight. It's not just body armor you get from Alamo or knives from Dachs Oriental Imports. It has some narrative weight and is important to your character. SO if your character is always armored up or carries a lot of knives, maybe they would be Signature Assets.