Many times during the game, you’ll need to succeed at checks to do things, like acquiring weapons or defeating monsters. Many cards require checks to activate powers or to let you recharge them after playing them. If a card refers to a check against another card, that refers to any check required by that card, whether it’s a check to defeat, a check to acquire, a check to recharge, or any other check. Checks typically list one or more skills followed by a difficulty; for example, “a Strength 10 check” or “an Arcane or Divine 8 check.”

Most monsters and many other cards call for a combat check. Typically, when you attempt a combat check, you’ll use a power that tells you what skill to use for your combat check; if you aren’t using such a power, use your Strength or Melee skill for your combat check.

If multiple checks are listed on the card with “or” between them, choose one of them. If there’s a “then” between them, you’ll need to succeed at both checks sequentially; you must attempt both checks, even if you fail the first, because failure often has consequences. “Or” takes priority over “then,” so if a card says “Wisdom 10 or Combat 13 then Combat 15,” you must first attempt either a Wisdom check with a difficulty of 10 or a combat check with a difficulty of 13; after that, you must attempt a combat check with a difficulty of 15.

Only the character who encounters the card may attempt the check, with one exception: if a card requires sequential checks to acquire or defeat, the character who encountered the card must attempt at least one of the checks, but any others may each be attempted by any local character. While you are attempting a check against such a card that you did not encounter, powers that would apply to the character who encountered it apply to you instead.

You may choose to fail a check; if you do, your result is 0.

Attempting a check requires the several actions listed below:

- Determine Which Skill You're Using

- Determine the Difficulty

- Play Cards and Use Powers That Affect Your Check

- Assemble Your Dice

- Roll the Dice

- Suffer Damage, If Necessary