When determining an outcome in combat, you use a formula. The most common formulas are Offensive, Defensive, and Damage. These formulas usually consist of three parts:

• Ability bonus - derived from modifier of the ability or abilities included in the formula
• Base bonus - Base Attack or Base Defense Bonus
• Dice bonus - How many dice are rolled

The dice bonus is not always calculated in the same way. When using Offensive and Defensive formulas to determine if and where an attack hit, the dice are rolled and any dice that comes up as a “4”, “5”, or “6” is counted as one point and added to the formula

• Example: Your Offensive formula is Attack Bonus + Dex + 5d6. Your BAB is 4, and your Dex modifier is +3. You roll five dice and the result is [5,3,4,2,1]. You count the “5”, and the “4” from this result and your final result is [4]+[3]+[2]= 9

When calculating damage, dice is rolled and the result is summed and then added to the formula

• Example: Your Damage formula is Strength x 2 + 3d6. Your Strength modifier is +4 and you roll the result [3,6,2]. Your damage is [4]+[11]= 15

Normally, when a talent has an improvement available, the cost of that improvement is shown by the number of squares in the description:

□ Reduce the cooldown by 1 round Costs one talent point
□□ Increase the duration of the Base Bonus by 1 round Costs two talent points

Talent improvements that improve the dice bonus do not follow this rule. The first time you select the improvement, the cost is one, but subsequent improvements incur increasing costs. The cost incremental is different depending on the formula it will be used in. These costs are for improving the dice bonus, any bonus that is part of the base formula is not considered

• Damage Example: Your base damage formula is Strength + 2d6 and you wish to increase the formula by 4d6 for a final formula of Strength + 6d6. You must increase the dice formula four times with a total cost of 1+2+3+4=10 talent points
• Hit Example: Your base Offensive formula is Attack Bonus + Dex + 2d6 and you wish to increase the formula by 5d6 for a final formula of Attack Bonus + Dex + 7d6. You must increase the dice formula five times with a total cost of 1+1+2+2+3=7 talent points