…as used this evening. And when I say new, I mean stolen from Pendragon.
This is to avoid the problem with high-skill Runequest where combat is just a series of successfully parried attacks. Realistic, in that two highly trained swordsmen will keep fencing with each other, but tedious because it is only resolved as fatigue starts reducing skill levels.
So instead the Pendragon system. Here the aim is to roll under your skill, but more than your opponent. So there is an advantage in having a higher skill than your opponent because it gives you more headroom – the range of numbers where you are succeeding and your opponent can’t because it is more than his skill, so if he rolls higher than you he fails.
Obviously a 01-05 can’t be a critical in this system so instead your skill is, and the numbers immediately below it. So if you have a skill of 43, 42 and 43 will be a critical. 01 – 41 will be a success, but if you roll 36 and your opponent with a parry skill of 55 rolls 44, he has parried your sucessful attack.