Duality Dice¶
The core dice in Daggerheart are a pair of d12s called Duality Dice. Choose two d12s of different colours (or, if you prefer, different sizes or patterns)—one to represent Hope and the other to represent Fear. Your Duality Dice should be easily recognisable from each other at a glance. You'll use these dice any time you make an action roll.
Example: Quinn looks at their dice and decides on a blue d12 to represent Hope and a red d12 to represent Fear.
Aliyah looks at her dice and chooses a yellow d12 to represent Hope and a purple d12 to represent Fear.
Nolan thinks about using a black d12 with red inking as the Fear Die and a black d12 with white inking as his Hope Die, but decides to go with an orange d12 as his Hope Die instead so that it's easier to identify.
The Duality Dice represent the way the world pushes the character back or guides them forward throughout the story. Regardless of whether you succeed or fail on an action roll, the Duality of Hope and Fear influences how the action evolves.
Rolling with Hope and Fear¶
One of your Duality Dice is your Hope Die, and the other is your Fear Die.
Hope: When you roll your Duality Dice and the Hope Die rolls higher than the Fear Die, you roll with Hope. When this happens on an action roll, even if you fail, mark one of the Hope slots on your character sheet. You might also gain Hope from spells, abilities, or other events that happen during the game.
Fear: When you roll your Duality Dice and the Fear Die rolls higher than the Hope Die, you roll with Fear. When this happens on an action roll, even if you succeed, the GM gains a Fear and there are consequences or complications that come from the action you were attempting.
Critical Success: When you roll the Duality Dice and both dice roll the same number, that is a critical success. A critical success counts as a roll with Hope, even if you would've otherwise failed because the total is lower than the roll's Difficulty.
When you critically succeed on a roll, along with gaining a Hope, you also clear a Stress from your character sheet.
Additionally, when you critically succeed on an attack roll, you deal extra damage as described in the "Damage Rolls" section on page 98.
Using Hope¶
When you've gained Hope and recorded it on your character sheet, you can spend it to power special abilities, clearing it from your character sheet when you do so. Note: Hope carries over between sessions, but you can only hold a maximum of 6 Hope at a time, so we encourage you to look for opportunities to spend it. Hope can be used in several ways: to Help an Ally, to Utilise an Experience, to Initiate a Tag Team Roll, or to Activate a Hope Feature.
Help an Ally¶
You can spend a Hope to Help an Ally who is making an action roll you could feasibly support. When you do this, describe how you're helping and roll a d6 advantage die (see the "Advantage and Disadvantage" section on page 100). Any number of PCs can Help an Ally as long as they spend a Hope to do so. The ally being helped might also gain advantage on the roll from another source. In this case, they'd roll their own d6 advantage die; the ally has gained advantage on a roll from multiple sources, they take the highest of all the advantage dice rolled and add the result to their action roll.
Utilise an Experience¶
You can spend a Hope to use one of your relevant Experiences on an action or reaction roll, adding its modifier to the result. If more than one Experience applies to the situation, you can spend an additional Hope for each Experience you want to use.
Initiate a Tag Team Roll¶
You can spend three Hope to initiate a Tag Team Roll between your character and another PC in order to combine your efforts together in an exciting and scene-defining moment (see the "Tag Team Rolls" section on page 97).
Activate a Hope Feature¶
A Hope Feature is any effect that allows (or requires) you to spend Hope to activate its effects. If the text instructs you to "spend Hope," you must spend the specified number of Hope, or you can't trigger the Hope Feature.
When using a Hope Feature, if you rolled Hope for that action, the Hope you gain from that roll can be spent on that feature (or toward it, if it requires spending multiple Hope). If you don't roll with Hope, you'll need to spend Hope you gained from previous rolls to activate the effect.
Tip: Some effects only trigger on a success with Hope. This doesn't mean you can spend Hope on a successful roll with Fear to get the effect; it means the effect only occurs when you roll with Hope and succeed on your action roll. You don't need to spend Hope to activate these effects—they happen as long as the conditions of the roll are met.
Each class has a unique Hope Feature, such as the guardian's "Frontline Tank" or the wizard's "Not This Time," that underscores their class archetype and showcases their power. You can spend 3 Hope to activate these powerful abilities. If you find yourself maxing out on Hope, using your Hope Feature could give you the upper hand—but remember to look for opportunities to use Hope to help your allies and utilise your Experiences. You will be gaining Hope regularly, and it's meant to be used often.
Using Fear¶
As a player, rolling with Fear doesn't mean your action roll fails. Instead, you face a complication or consequence. For example, your character learns only some of the information they need, suffers a counterattack from the adversary they just struck, or encounters an unexpected danger or hazard. If you fail the action roll where you rolled with Fear, those consequences or complications are worse.
When you roll with Fear, you don't record it on your character sheet. Instead, the GM gains a Fear and makes a move to reflect the complications of your Fear roll. The GM can spend the Fear they gain on effects such as spotlighting an adversary or making Fear moves (see the "Spending Fear" section on page 154).