Shadowrun 6E Roll resolution cheat sheet
A 1-page summary of how to resolve rolls. At-the-table reference for Shadowrun 6th Edition.
Shadowrun 6E resolves everything with d6 dice pools: Attribute + Skill, count 5s and 6s as hits, compare to a threshold. Edge bends the odds, glitches complicate them.
Core mechanic
- Pool
- Attribute + Skill (+ modifiers)
- Hit
- Each die showing 5 or 6
- Success
- Hits ≥ threshold
- Glitch
- More than half the dice show 1s: complication
- Critical glitch
- Glitch with 0 hits: catastrophic failure
Opposed tests
- Both sides roll their pool. Higher net hits wins.
- Tie goes to the defender (or status quo).
- Common: attack vs defense, con vs Judge Intentions, stealth vs Perception.
Extended tests
- Roll repeatedly until you accumulate enough hits (threshold) or run out of attempts.
- Each roll after the first reduces the pool by 1 die (fatigue/diminishing returns).
- Interval between rolls varies by task (minutes for research, hours for repair, days for design).
Threshold reference
- Easy
- 1 hit
- Average
- 2 hits
- Hard
- 3 hits
- Very hard
- 4 hits
- Extreme
- 5-6 hits
Common mistakes
- 6E dropped Limits: combat resolves as an opposed test (net hits add to damage), with Attack Rating vs Defense Rating deciding Edge only. Other tests compare hits to a threshold.
- Glitch check is based on total dice rolled, not dice after removing hits.
- Extended test pool shrinks each iteration: plan for it or the test becomes impossible.