Delta Green has some monsters (and people) with stats outside of the normal human range of 3-18. Just using the rules in the Agent's Handbook makes resolving stat tests a bit weird when the stat in question is at 20 or higher. Fortunately, page 188 of the Handler's Guide has us covered: they succeed on all rolls except for 100, which fails and fumbles, and critically succeed when the dice match and if the result is less than or equal to their stat. I like this rule. It's elegant, and because of the way opposed tests work, it makes 20 CON different from 30 CON, since one is more likely to critically succeed.
The most obvious place for these rules is in combat. For example: lets say a Greater Deep One has grappled an unlucky Agent. Ordinarily, it would get a +20% to any attack roll to rip their throat out with its razor-like teeth because the target is pinned. However, the Deep One instead drags them to a stone altar. The Agent tries to escape from the Deep One's grip. Because it didn't make an attack roll against them, it uses the higher of it's grappling skill and STRx5 to oppose the Agent's escape roll. The Deep One rolls a 15. The Agent rolls a lucky crit, 11! Unfortunately, the 15 counts as a critical success, and beats the 11 because it's higher. The Agent remains pinned.
But that's an easy example, how else could we use it?
Maybe Miskatonic funded another expedition to Antarctica, and they uncovered another Elder Thing in stasis. Delta Green can't shut the project down at this stage, so it sends some Agents to keep an eye on things. The Elder Thing wakes up in a lab, surrounded by unfamiliar technology. By its standards, everything is laughably primitive. Their Super-Intelligence ability lets them use their INT for any human skill they've had a few hours to study. In a situation like this where I can't just use my intuition (after all, I'm three lobes short of an Elder Thing's brain), I like to use the dice as an oracle. The Old Ones didn't conquer the planet by not being curious, so it examines its surroundings and decides to investigate the computer terminal and rolls INT. With a regular success, it learns how the computer works and the basic layout of the facility. With a critical success, it achieves something beyond human capabilities. Maybe it cracks the encryption for everything the terminal theoretically had access to. Maybe it reprograms the security system to seal everyone inside their individual rooms. Maybe it even figures out that a few personnel at the science base aren't like the others (it's the Agents). A fumble doesn't have to mean a creature is pathetically incompetent. Maybe the Elder Thing's tentacles are too stiff to type properly, or maybe someone just walks in at the worst possible time, interrupting it.
As another example, one of Yog-Sothoth's spawn has spotted the Agents spying on her in her backyard. She could just use her Jumping, Climbing, Loping ability to hop the fence, but it's topped with barbed wire and the spawn doesn't want to ruin her ceremonial robes. An Agent would have to use bolt cutters or pry two fence-posts far enough apart to squeeze through. The spawn starts kicking at one of the corners of the fence. With 20 STR, she's got a 99% chance to succeed. But if she critically succeeds, she rips the fence out of the way, letting her run straight for the Agents instead of having to squeeze through a hole. A fumble could be a complication arising from her inhuman anatomy. Maybe she gets a hoof or a tentacle stuck in the chainlinks
But what if you want to apply a penalty to these rolls? Maybe an Agent paints a Mi-Go's delicate fungal sensorium reddish orange with mace, or flashbangs some ghouls in a dark cave.
When an entity attempts a stat test at a penalty with a score of 20 or higher, they fail on any roll higher than 100 minus the penalty. As a rule of thumb, they still only fumble on a 100. The rules for critical successes are unchanged from the Handler's Guide.
For example, a fresh-faced PISCES Officer foolishly fires a taser at one of the insects from Shaggai. Somehow, both of the pronged electrodes sink into its unearthly flesh. Unsurprisingly, the bug fails its CONx5 roll to not be stunned. It gets lucky on its turn and immediately shakes off the stun. Now it's taking a -20% penalty to all actions for 1D20 turns. It tries to take revenge on its next turn, using a ritual to blast the Officer's mind. However, the ritual requires an opposed POW test. Ordinarily, this would be easy with 20 POW, but right now it only has a 80% chance of success. Though it's still better than a human with 16 POW (giving them a POWx5 of 80), as it has a 26% chance to critically succeed instead of a mere 8%.
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