Savage Worlds: dice & strategy guide

Savage Worlds is a generic system that runs pulp, horror, fantasy and sci-fi on the same engine. Its dice feel unlike anything else at the table: your ability is measured by the type of die you roll, and heroes get a second die that can turn a fumble into a triumph. Here is how it all works.

What dice Savage Worlds uses

Every trait — each attribute and skill — has a die type rather than a number: d4, d6, d8, d10 or d12. A d4 is a novice; a d12 is world-class. Improving a trait means stepping up its die one size. You therefore want the full polyhedral spread on hand, plus a distinctly coloured d6 to serve as the Wild Die.

Player characters (and important NPCs) are Wild Cards. When a Wild Card makes a trait test they roll two dice at once: the trait die and a d6 Wild Die. You then keep the higher of the two results. Ordinary NPCs, called Extras, roll only their trait die with no Wild Die.

How a roll resolves

The standard Target Number is 4. Roll your trait die and your Wild Die, take the higher, add any modifiers, and compare to 4. Meet or beat it and you succeed.

Then come the two signature rules:

• Acing (exploding dice). Whenever any die rolls its maximum, it “Aces”: roll it again and add the results together, repeating as long as it keeps rolling maximum. A d6 that rolls 6, then 6, then 3 gives 15. Both the trait die and the Wild Die can Ace.
• Raises. For every 4 points over the Target Number, you score a raise. One raise on an attack adds a bonus damage die; raises on other tasks mean you did the job better, faster or cleaner.

Because the Wild Die can Ace and you keep the higher result, even a lowly d4 hero can occasionally pull off the impossible — but consistency still comes from a bigger trait die. Rolling a 1 on both the trait die and the Wild Die on the same test is a Critical Failure, the worst possible outcome.

Effective strategy

Learn the Bennie economy. Bennies are physical tokens (poker chips work well) that players spend to reroll a failed trait test — taking the new result — or to shrug off wounds by making a Soak roll. You start each session with a few and earn more for good play. Hoarding them until the finale is a classic error; spend them on the rolls that matter and trust that more will come.

Play to the team. The Support action lets one character roll a skill to grant an ally a bonus, and ganging up in melee gives attackers a stacking bonus. A coordinated party running Support and flanking will out-perform a group of lone wolves every time.

Respect the Shaken state. Damage that beats Toughness but doesn’t cause a wound leaves a target Shaken — rattled and limited until they recover. Stacking Shaken and small hits is often more reliable than swinging for a single knockout.

When an attack Aces repeatedly and you need to add up a growing chain fast, it helps to roll exploding dice in your browser and let the total tally itself.

Beginner tips & common mistakes

• Keep the higher — don’t add the dice together. The Wild Die and trait die are not summed; you take whichever is higher after any Acing.
• Never forget to let dice Ace. A maximum result always rerolls and adds. Missing this quietly makes every character weaker.
• Count raises in steps of 4. Beating the target by 3 is still just a success; you need a full 4 over for each raise.
• Extras don’t get a Wild Die. Only Wild Cards roll the extra d6, which is a big part of why heroes outshine mooks.
• Spend Bennies. New players sit on them and lose. Treat a Bennie as fuel to be burned, not a trophy.

Like the exploding-die feel? The same idea drives combat in our Cyberpunk RED dice & strategy guide.