Dice rolls, balancing and thematics

[Orgalorg]

I'm working on a homebrew system for a homebrew setting. The goal for the system is to remain generic and approachable, but easy to expand and mix and match content. I've broken down dice rolls to a couple of qualities, and I'm trying to isolate those qualities among parts of a character you might get them from.

Currently I have a split roll in mind, counting successes to determine if a task is successful, and using numeric rolls to determine further outcomes like degrees of success or failure, and extra stuff that can be done regardless of, or depending on success. I also have each character attribute split between Nature and Focus.

Dice: The Breakdown
Dice Category
What you roll, I like having this determined by character attributes Nature, as it allows attributes to push your top end without producing a large amount of raw power. starts at d6
Flat Bonus
Raw numeric increase to your result, won't contribute to likelihood of success, but provides numeric results to mitigate bad failures and add bonus effects to rolls. I am currently thinking of including a flat bonus for having training in a skill
Number of Dice
Determined by how developed a skill is, 1 untrained
Success Threshold
Determined by attribute focus, starts at three. The lowest n numbers on the dice count as a success, focus must be less than Nature
Rerolls
Produced only by outside affect like circumstance and aid from an ally

Beyond this, items and special abilities give players special actions and effects they can use their numeric points for, aside from mitigating the penalties associated with a failure or seeking particularly exceptional completion of the task.

I know what I have right now is rough, but I'm looking for questions and insight.

[Joxeta]

This is definitely a good, rough start.

I need to know a little bit more about how you determine successes and failures to provide any good feedback.

What sorts of "difficulty categories" are there?
I understand that it is a split roll - something like 7+ being success and total the dice for degrees - but I don't know what to map these to.
Is it good enough to roll 1 success and get 30 total?
Is it better to get 5 successes but total only 20?
Things like that :smallsmile:

I see that this is kind of answered in "Success Threshold" but I'm a little lost in the language presented. I could just be missing something minor that makes the whole thing click, but right now I'm vexed.

Everything else seems pretty solid to me at the moment. Just need some input before I can get anything else to you :smallbiggrin:

[JBPuffin]

So, something like this occurs if I'm not mistaken:

Jeff Swordguy has an Agility Nature of 1d8 (one step up from the base) and Focus 4, as well as a Swords Training of 3 (Expert). Based on this, he'd roll 3d8+3 (I added his training score, you can make it a flat +3 or some other smallish number for safety). He makes an attack with his greatsword, rolling an 8, a 4, and a 2. By the logic you're presented, he has a total of 17, and because his Focus is 4 he got 2 successes.

The way you worded Success Threshold is strange; I think you mean, "When you roll n or less on a die," because if you mean the other way then you'd always have the same number of successes. Rolling 3+ as default for success is nice, making larger dice more advantageous while still making a d6 a good baseline. d4s would represent notable weaknesses, d8s notable strengths, and d10s and d12s representing superhuman ability. I'm guessing Nature almost never changes, while Focus and the others can be increased? That'd be best for balance. It's a nifty system, complex but workable. Leaves a lot of little floating bits around, though, which will complicate character-building.