When an adversary you’re controlling attacks a PC, you’ll make a simplified version of the attack roll made by players. Every adversary can make normal attacks using the weapon in their stat block, and some adversaries can also use special moves to attack.

Step 1: Choose Dice

You make your attack roll with a d20. If the adversary has advantage or disadvantage on the attack, add an extra d20 to that roll.

Step 2: Find the Attack Modifier

Unlike PCs, adversaries don’t use traits on their attacks; instead, the stat block’s Attack Modifier is the value added to or subtracted from the adversary’s attack roll. You can also spend a Fear to add an adversary’s Experience to the roll’s result. Set aside a number of character tokens equal to the Attack Modifier and any applicable Experience you have spent Fear to add.

Step 3: Roll the Dice

Once you’ve gathered your dice and tokens for the Attack Modifier, roll them all at the same time. Counting each token as 1 (or −1 for a negative modifier), add the tokens and dice roll result together to determine the total. If you rolled with advantage (or disadvantage), don’t count both d20s, only the highest (or lowest) one.

Step 4: Resolve the Situation

Share your roll total with the player who was attacked and compare it against their Evasion. If the attack meets or beats that value, it is successful and deals the damage indicated in the stat block for that attack. If it rolls below their Evasion, the attack misses and no damage is dealt; invite the player to describe how they avoided the blow.

Attacking Multiple Targets

By default, an adversary can only hit one target with their standard attack. When an adversary’s action lets you make an attack against multiple targets, you make one attack roll and ask if it hits any of the targets. If you are making individual attacks with multiple adversaries during the same GM move, make an attack roll for each adversary.

Attack Rolls as Story

Every attack roll is an opportunity for you to show how that attack changes the scene. When your attack roll hits, you’re taking away resources from the PCs (Hit Points, Stress, Armor Slots, etc.), so ensure you provide context for that depletion in the fiction. When your roll is a failure, it’s an opportunity to celebrate the prowess of the PC and ask the player to describe how their character avoids the attack.

If a player isn’t sure how to describe their Evasion, remind them it’s not just about how quick a character is, it’s about how skilled they are at not getting hit. This could manifest as the sorcerer reaching out and stopping an arrow mid-flight or the wizard throwing up a magical barrier. It could be the rogue transforming into a swirling mass of darkness and letting the axe pass through them, a ranger backflipping out of the way, or anything else that aligns with the character they built.