Aim and Block Dice
Aim and Block dice are dice that can further modify an attack roll. They represent a wide variety of circumstances and actions in a strife that increases (aim) or decreases (block) your odds of landing a hit.
- You have Shieldkind: the action is that you raise your shield to physically block an incoming swing.
Whenever making an attack roll, roll up all Aim dice, or all Block dice, and take the highest die. If you rolled Aim dice, add the die to the roll. If you rolled Block dice, subtract the die from the roll. If you have both, remove one of each until you only have one kind of dice left (or none!).
- You have Shieldkind: as a reaction, you impose a d4 Block die against an incoming attack. Your attacker reduces their attack roll by 1d4.
There are a plethora of ways to get aim dice for your attacks, the easiest being the Aim minor action. There are almost as many ways to throw block dice at your enemies’ attacks, the most common being the Block reaction from the Shieldkind specibus. Pillars and Paths contains numerous ways to get both of these.
- You have Shieldkind, Defensive Stance, Bonus Block, and Spirit of Mars: you can impose a d8 Block die against up to two incoming attacks.
The highest an Aim or Block die can go is a d10. If they would go higher, the roll gains +1 per additional die step instead. The lowest it can go is a d2. If it must go lower, the roll takes -1 per additional die step instead.
Other Hit Bonuses/Maluses
Per the Core Rules chapter, anything that adds to or subtracts from an attack roll that isn’t Proficiency or stat modifier is considered a hit bonus or malus, depending on whether it adds or subtracts. For example, flat hit bonuses from Pillars and Paths are bonuses, while partial cover acts as a malus.
There is one exception to this, in the +4 or -4 granted from stacking advantage or disadvantage. The bonus/malus from that advantage/disadvantage stack uniquely do not count; they can neither be increased through certain Steps nor ignored through certain abilities.