Silhouette is the name of the system used in Dream Pod 9's games: "Heavy Gear", "Jovian Chronicles", "Tribe 8", and "Gear Krieg". The die scheme is to roll a number of d6s and take the highest. If you roll more than one 6, you add +1 to the total for each additional 6. Thus, rolling three 6's nets you a total roll of 8.
The probabilities for the basic roll are given in the table below. The primary thing to note is that, like most highest-roll systems, there are diminishing benefits to additional dice. From 1d to 2d adds +1 to the average. The next die adds only around 1/2, the next die around 1/3, the next die around 1/4. The rule that adds from tied sixes offsets this tendency compared to a straight highest-die scheme, but the tendency is still marked.
Within RPGs, this means that specialization is less well rewarded compared to fixed-dice systems where you add skill plus a die roll (such as skill + 1d20 or skill + 1d10).
| Dice | Result | Average | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | ||
| 1d | 16.67% | 16.67% | 16.67% | 16.67% | 16.67% | 16.67% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 3.500 |
| 2d | 2.78% | 8.33% | 13.89% | 19.44% | 25.00% | 27.78% | 2.78% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 4.500 |
| 3d | 0.46% | 3.24% | 8.80% | 17.13% | 28.24% | 34.72% | 6.94% | 0.46% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 5.037 |
| 4d | 0.08% | 1.16% | 5.02% | 13.50% | 28.47% | 38.58% | 11.57% | 1.54% | 0.08% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 5.394 |
| 5d | 0.01% | 0.40% | 2.71% | 10.04% | 27.02% | 40.19% | 16.08% | 3.22% | 0.32% | 0.01% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 5.666 |
| 6d | 0.00% | 0.14% | 1.43% | 7.22% | 24.71% | 40.19% | 20.09% | 5.36% | 0.80% | 0.06% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 5.895 |
| 7d | 0.00% | 0.05% | 0.74% | 5.07% | 22.06% | 39.07% | 23.44% | 7.81% | 1.56% | 0.19% | 0.01% | 0.00% | 6.100 |
| 8d | 0.00% | 0.02% | 0.38% | 3.51% | 19.35% | 37.21% | 26.05% | 10.42% | 2.60% | 0.42% | 0.04% | 0.00% | 6.290 |
| 9d | 0.00% | 0.01% | 0.19% | 2.41% | 16.78% | 34.89% | 27.91% | 13.02% | 3.91% | 0.78% | 0.10% | 0.01% | 6.472 |
| 10d | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.10% | 1.64% | 14.42% | 32.30% | 29.07% | 15.50% | 5.43% | 1.30% | 0.22% | 0.02% | 6.648 |
The following is a listing of the probability distributions for Margins of Success for skill contests. This lists a contest of base, unmodified skills -- add in the total difference of the two characters' situational and attribute modifiers to the MoS column to figure out the probability of a real skill contest.
| Skill Contest | Margin of Success | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -9 | -8 | -7 | -6 | -5 | -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | +0 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +4 | +5 | +6 | +7 | +8 | +9 | |
| 1d vs. 1d | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 2.78% | 2.78% | 5.56% | 8.33% | 11.11% | 11.11% | 16.67% | 11.11% | 11.11% | 8.33% | 5.56% | 2.78% | 2.78% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| 2d vs. 1d | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.46% | 0.46% | 1.85% | 4.17% | 7.41% | 11.11% | 16.20% | 14.81% | 13.89% | 11.57% | 8.33% | 4.63% | 4.63% | 0.46% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| 2d vs. 2d | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.08% | 0.77% | 0.93% | 3.24% | 6.87% | 11.42% | 16.44% | 20.52% | 16.44% | 11.42% | 6.87% | 3.24% | 0.93% | 0.77% | 0.08% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| 3d vs. 1d | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.08% | 0.08% | 0.62% | 2.08% | 4.94% | 9.57% | 15.43% | 15.97% | 15.12% | 13.19% | 9.88% | 5.94% | 5.86% | 1.16% | 0.08% | 0.00% |
| 3d vs. 2d | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.01% | 0.13% | 0.21% | 1.23% | 3.79% | 8.41% | 15.25% | 21.73% | 19.23% | 14.06% | 8.89% | 4.42% | 1.43% | 1.00% | 0.19% | 0.01% | 0.00% |
| 3d vs. 3d | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.03% | 0.18% | 0.40% | 1.89% | 5.33% | 11.12% | 18.88% | 24.33% | 18.88% | 11.12% | 5.33% | 1.89% | 0.40% | 0.18% | 0.03% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| 4d vs. 1d | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.01% | 0.01% | 0.21% | 1.04% | 3.29% | 8.02% | 14.47% | 16.19% | 15.81% | 14.21% | 10.88% | 6.94% | 6.70% | 1.94% | 0.26% | 0.01% |
| 4d vs. 2d | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.02% | 0.05% | 0.48% | 2.07% | 6.03% | 13.49% | 21.58% | 20.73% | 15.94% | 10.53% | 5.52% | 1.98% | 1.21% | 0.33% | 0.04% | 0.00% |
| 4d vs. 3d | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.01% | 0.03% | 0.13% | 0.83% | 3.14% | 8.46% | 17.39% | 25.04% | 21.25% | 13.37% | 6.78% | 2.62% | 0.66% | 0.24% | 0.06% | 0.01% | 0.00% |
| 4d vs. 4d | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.01% | 0.05% | 0.24% | 1.27% | 4.30% | 10.69% | 20.21% | 26.44% | 20.21% | 10.69% | 4.30% | 1.27% | 0.24% | 0.05% | 0.01% | 0.00% | 0.00% |