Guardians runs on a single die and a single grammar:

What changes is the question. Four questions come up at every table:

• Attack — can I hit them?
• Difficulty — can I do this task?
• Accomplish — can I pull this off, under pressure?
• Save — can I avoid what's coming?

Learn which voice the die is using, and you can rule on anything the story throws at the table. (The fifth voice — the Magic Roll — waits for the First Spell lesson.)

Why this matters: One mechanic, many masks. Because every roll shares the same skeleton, a new player who learns one has learned them all — the table never stops to learn a new subsystem.

🕷 Tela whispers: Textus keeps a ledger of every roll he's ever seen. Four columns. He says the die only ever asks four questions. He's rarely wrong about ledgers.

📖 Core Rule Book — Rolls, p. 12 (“Roll: d20 + modifiers”).

The question of steel:

At range, distance and motion take their toll before the die even lands. For quick table play use range bands:

Moving targets: −2 if the target moved this round, −4 if sprinting or evading (steadied aim can negate). Tables that prefer meters can use the granular ladder instead: −1 / −5 / −10 / −15 / −20 by distance bracket.

Try one — a shortbow at Medium range on a moving raider (base d20 + 9, −4 range, −2 movement = d20 + 3 vs Defense 12):

🎲 At the table: roll d20 + 3 against the raider's Defense 12. Beat it and it's a hit.

Why this matters: The penalties are the tactics. A sniper who closes one band buys +2; an archer who waits one beat for the target to stand still buys +2 more. Position is a modifier you choose.

🕷 Tela whispers: Archi refuses to be a moving target on principle. Then again, Archi refuses most things on principle.

📖 Core Rule Book — Rolls, p. 12 (Attack Rolls; range & movement penalties); Combat v1.2, p. 19 (range bands).

The question of craft — no enemy, just the task:

The book's own examples: picking a simple lock → Dexterity + Lockpicking vs 10. Disarming a complex magical trap → Dexterity + Lockpicking vs 20.

Try the simple lock with Dex 5 + Lockpicking 3:

🎲 At the table: roll d20 + 8 against Difficulty 10 (average). Beat it and it's a hit.

Why this matters: The guideline ladder is the Game Guardian's honest handshake with the table: name the number before the roll and the fiction stays fair. Baseline 10 is where most of the world lives.

🕷 Tela whispers: The 25+ line exists. I have seen a Guardian roll against it and win. I have also seen the same Guardian try to repeat the story and fail against a 5.

📖 Core Rule Book — Rolls, p. 13 (Difficulty Rolls & Guidelines).

The question of the moment — the Game Guardian calls for it when the situation demands proof:

The AA is an attribute, or an attribute + ability combo relevant to the task. Success only if the total is higher — equal or lower fails.

• Disarming a Tech trap — AA: Dexterity + Tech Device
• Disarming a low-tech trap — AA: Dexterity + Mechanics
• Climbing a steep wall — AA: Strength + Climb

The wall it is — Strength 4 + Climb 3 against a rain-slick difficulty 12:

🎲 At the table: roll d20 + 7 against difficulty 12 (steep, rain-slick). Beat it and it's a hit.

Why this matters: Difficulty rolls measure the task; Accomplish rolls measure the attempt — the Game Guardian reaches for one when the moment itself is the drama. Same grammar, sharper spotlight.

🕷 Tela whispers: I weigh seven inches of steel and I have never once failed a Climb. I mention this only because Mylo asked me to stop mentioning it.

📖 Core Rule Book — Rolls, p. 13 (Accomplish Roll).

The question you didn't choose — the world acts, and you answer:

The SD is an attribute, a pair of attributes, or attribute + ability:

Some spells and effects set their own SD — the entry tells you. Equal or lower fails, as always.

A pressure plate clicks under your heel. Reflex — Dex 6 against the sprung trap's difficulty 10:

🎲 At the table: roll d20 + 6 against the trap's difficulty 10. Beat it and it's a hit.

Why this matters: Attacks and tasks are questions you ask the world; saves are questions the world asks you. A Guardian who knows their three save numbers cold never holds up the table in the worst moment.

🕷 Tela whispers: Reflex saves are why I ride on shoulders. High ground, low profile, and somebody else's Dexterity.

📖 Core Rule Book — Rolls, p. 13 (Save Rolls); saves construction, Derived Mechanics Summary, p. 11.

After a hit, damage rides its own d20 mood check:

• Natural 1–4: half damage
• 5–19: normal damage
• Natural 20: roll your damage dice one additional time and add — do not double modifiers.

Some effects widen or narrow the middle band — the entry will say so; the shape of the rule never changes. And remember the formulas from the Round: melee and martial damage carry Strength, ranged does not, and armor carves down whatever gets through.

Feel the moods:

🎲 At the table: Roll the mood and read the bands:

Why this matters: The mood roll keeps even a guaranteed hit uncertain — and the nat-20 rule rewards the dice without letting modifiers snowball. Big numbers stay earned.

🕷 Tela whispers: Caiden calls the 1–4 band “the world's mercy.” He has never once called it that when it happened to him.

📖 Core Rule Book — Rolls, p. 12 (Damage Roll); Combat v1.2, p. 16 (Damage Outcomes).

Four questions, one grammar, ties lose:

Fold it for the table: the Combat Cheat Sheet (PDF) carries the attack-side numbers, and the Game Guardian's sheet lives in the Armory.

Next on the track: The Forge — attributes, skills, and the numbers that make a Guardian yours.

🕷 Tela whispers: Four questions. You'll hear them in your sleep soon. That's how you know the training is working.

📖 Core Rule Book — Rolls, p. 12–13; Derived Mechanics Summary, p. 11.