Situations will arise in which there is a need to pit an Ability of a character against an Ability of an adversary. For example:
- A character attempting to sneak past a guard would pit their Stealth Ability against the guard’s Perception Ability.
- A character attempting to hold a door shut would pit their Strength Ability against the Strength Ability of whoever (or whatever) was trying to open the door.
- A character trying to bribe someone might pit their Influence Ability against the target’s Will Power Ability.
Such “contests” are known as Opposed Tasks. To resolve an Opposed Task, each competitor performs a Task Roll as usual, but rather than there being a pass/fail outcome, the two results are compared. A Critical success beats an ordinary success, which beats an ordinary failure, which beats a Fumble. In the case of a tie, the highest roll wins, thereby favouring the more proficient competitor.