At my table, heartbreak has a specific look: a player asks to search a room or scour a city for clues, only to roll one or two points under the target number. Or, they roll far above the DC, only to get the same answer they would have on a normal success.

As the GM, it hurts. I know that the map behind the secret door or the contact they missed would have moved the plot along beautifully. It’s tempting to “fudge” the dice—give them a phantom +2 just to keep the momentum. But there’s a better way that preserves the tension and rewards the attempt: Variable Skill Checks.

Moving Past “Pass or Fail”

In a binary system, a roll is either a “Yes” or a “No.” If it’s a “No,” the story can get pretty bland, and leave too much to chance. Variable checks turn that “Barely no” into a “No, but” and that “very yes” into a “Yes, and.”

I don’t use this for every mundane roll—overusing it dilutes the impact. I save it for cinematic, key moments. If it’s an intense “rule of cool” scene or a moment where the whole party is rolling, variable checks allow me to give each player a slightly different piece of the puzzle based on their results.

The “Band” Method

When I set a target number or DC, I like to create a “band” around it. For systems like D&D 5e or West End Games, I usually go two points up for a “great success” and two points down (twice) for “partial” successes or interesting failures.

Example 1: The Distraction

Gryff is performing Acrobatics to distract a crowd so Yuri can sneak past.

• 15 (Success): Gryff’s dizzying series of backflips and handsprings turns the dusty street into a vibrant stage. The crowd is so enamoured by Gryff’s display, Yuri gets a +2 (or Advantage) to his Stealth.
• 17+ (Great Success): Gryff’s gravity-defying somersault is followed by the perfect landing atop Patches’ saddle, arms thrown almost as wide as his grin. The crowd’s whistling and cheers is distracting even to the keenest observer, and Yuri gets a +4 (or Advantage and a bonus).
• 13 (Partial Failure): As Gryff flips over Patches’ saddle, his foot catches on the stirrup, sending him into a clumsy, rolling sprawl, which he narrowly manages to play off as a comical pratfall. While they can’t help but stare, the crowd grows quiet, and Yuri gets only a small +1 bonus.
• 11 (Near Miss): Intrigued by his rider’s sudden renewed interest in circus hijinks, Patches begins to wag his tail violently, overturning a nearby barrel of apples, causing Gryff to tumble to the ground in tangle of limbs and bruised fruit. The crowd wants to look anywhere but at Gryff, but at least he’s still something of a distraction. Yuri will now be making opposed rolls against the crowd’s collective perception check, which may or may not be a good thing.
• 9- (Total Failure): Yuri better hope he rolls well, because nobody wants to make eyecontact with the halfling that just whacked his head on that apple cart…

Example 2: The Secret Door

The party is battered and looking for a safe place to rest. Clarence searches for a hidden room.

• 17 (Success): Clarence’s fingers trace the cold, damp stone until they catch on a hairline fracture that doesn’t match the natural wear of the masonry. With a rhythmic click a secret door swings open, revealing a corridor beyond…
• 19+ (Great Success): With a rhythmic clic, a secret door swing sopen wide, revealing a corridor beyond. In the candle light, however, a set of muddy tracks come and go several times. They aren’t alone in this corridor, and should proceed with caution…
• 15 (Partial Success): Clarence’s fingers trace the cold, damp stone until they catch on a hairline fracture that doesn’t match the natural wear… there’s certainly something here, but the poor cleric just can’t seem to see what.
• 13 (Near Miss): Clarence’s hands slide over the cold, damp stone, finding nothing of interest. However, standing by the wall like this, it’s impossible not to notice the deep scratch marks and clawed footprints on the floor, but he just can’t see what might have caused them…
• 11- (Total Failure): Exhaustion is really creeping at Clarence, and he is distracted by his party’s suffering. The walls seem to blur and the floor looks to comfortable to hold any clues…

Why It Works

These checks don’t break the game’s math; they enrich the narrative. Instead of a “dead end” roll, you give the players a “No, but…” or a “Yes, and…”

It moves the game from a binary search for a number into a collaborative navigation of consequences. It keeps the plot moving without the GM having to cheat the dice.

Give it a try at your next session and let me know how it goes. Do you use these in combat? Maybe for grapples or complex maneuvers? Sound off in the comments.

Be good, or be good at it. You’ve got the juice.