This came up today when I was working on both martial arts and transporting spells from my fantasy RPG into my new FASERIP campaign.

In the fantasy RPG there is a target number for each spell rather than a level or similar. For example you might need to roll 27 or more on 3d6 with various bonuses.

It struck me that this quite possible using FASERIP systems as well.

A spell that has a set "difficulty" no matter who attempts it, meaning that if you have more gifted characters with applicable bonuses the spell is easier and if the character attempting it is neophyte then for them it is probably impossible without massive bonuses and long preparation.

Spending Karma would then be essential to cast some spells with an "impossible" target number.

If it resolved to a roll on Psyche, then if a target number is required even a normal "fail" might be enough to cast an easy spell for a magic using character.

In other words instead of "a Yellow or better result indicates that this spell has succeeded" it would be "if you roll more than 27 the spell succeeds. If the Psyche roll is Red, it is possible that the spell creates a local overpowered effect of extreme danger" and so on. In other words one could add an overpowering rule that meant overpowering a required roll makes the spell erratic or too powerful. Just a thought.

Likewise instead of a trap or technique requiring a "Red result on Agility" it becomes a roll of 44 or more to deactive a trap, pick a lock or execute the Flying Monkey Reprimanding Footstep Technique.

If a target roll is high, say 80, then characters with the appropriate Talent or a high score in the applicable statistic would be making the roll even if it was in normal terms eg a Yellow or Red result, but it would mean a low Psyche / Agility / whatever character has at least a chance to roll it as well.

I'm running a game with a fair few Feeble or Poor statistic characters and this might add a random chance of success that they really need. Plus for magic I think it makes more sense for some spells to have an objective difficult rather than a relative difficulty, even though the normal system does have something like this already with the color results.