Explosive Protagonist
Progression Style: Immediate
Recommended For: Short or medium length campaigns, one-shots
Pairs well with: High risk and reward gameplay
The Explosive Protagonist progression system is best suited for groups that desire fast-paced gameplay, shorter multi-session campaigns, larger one-shots, or an atmosphere of great risk and reward. For campaigns, it is recommended to make use of the Weak Start character building option -- as the likelihood of a D4 exploding is relatively high, character stats will generally improve rapidly at the start of the game, slowly getting less frequent as the characters proceed through the story and become increasingly strong. One possible modification to the weak start that can be made in this circumstance is providing players with one stat which starts as a D6, and/or can be rolled with advantage1 when being made in a way that conforms to a proficiency. Note that with this rule a stat with a D4 die assigned to it functionally rolls with advantage, as proficiency adds 1D4 to the roll. In this case, the highest of the two rolls is always considered the stat itself's roll, not the bonus. This results in additional opportunity for the player's stat die to explode and improve. Should this occur, the player will roll their improved die again, adding its result to the total, but will not re-roll the lower of the two initial die. After the stat has finished rolling, finally add the second initial dice roll's value to the total.
Example
A player character with Research proficiency makes a check, rolling 2D4. The first die lands on a 2, and the second lands on a 4, exploding. The Research stat is progressed to a D6, and the player now rolls the new die, which lands on a 5. The player adds this to their previous roll, and then adds the held proficiency roll, achieving a total rolled value of 11 (4+5+2)Variant: this advantage may be optionally taken in lieu of the proficiency dice bonus, I.E., rolling 2D6 and taking the higher number, rather than 1D6+1D4.