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Pretty Basic Concept , each player get's a dice pool of just successes. When needed he can use one of those dice to automatically succeed. The opposing player can choose to use equal or more ( I would probably go with a 2 to 1 ratio for canceling a automatic success) , on a cancellation player has to roll as normal.

For Example

Bob's Captain has a 4 + Invulnerable he is struck by a Lascannon, Bob has 3 dice in his pool of successes and expends one to automatically make the save. Mike the person shooting has 3 Dice in his pool and expends his 2 Dice from his pool to stop and force the roll.


Determining Dice Pool
Each Player Receives 2 dice automatically. Players may purchase 1 Dice for 100 points. Player May relinquish a Warlord Trait for a Dice.


I think it's best to keep the pool super low, but I think it's a neat concept.

You mean similar to Fateweaver?

Seems a bit pointless really.

How is it a neat concept? What does it add to the game?

This would be exploited in a way that makes the game less fun. People would figure out combos to do things like get guaranteed first-turn alpha strikes, or deep-striking 1000 point deathstars accurately without a beacon, or auto-killing expensive ICs on turn 1. The randomness of dice in 40k is important to the flavor of the game - even the most sure things will fail 1/6 of the time, and so you can't have perfect battle plans.

We do have something in 40k that is similar to a "sure bet": 2++ rerollable saves. This has proven so powerful that it totally dominates the competitive meta. Adding in a guaranteed success dice pool would create more of the same dynamic, and basically turn the game into even more of an exercise in list building rather that dynamic gameplay.

I do like dice manipulation as a gameplay mechanic, and think that there should be more things like Fateweaver's ability. It gives players more difficult and important choices to make. But it should never be a sure bet.

a success on any roll? Sure, I'll take two dice and trade a warlord trait for a third.
Riptide: Pass a nova charge, pass gets hot, direct hit with a S9 AP2 large blast first turn.

As it currently stands, the randomness of the current game is just... It's not right for this.
Some quick examples:
Wraithguard hitting something with their S4 template against anything T6 or higher now becomes a garunteed instant death or a pen against any vehicle.
A demon player getting a roll on the warpstorm table can guarantee to hit a specific unit if he rolls one of the damage results.
An Imperial Knight can instantly succeed his scatter on the apocalyptic explosion, making a single suicide knight incredibly dangerous.

Maybe if you changed it to something else. Like just something like a re-roll or mulligan pool that trumps the book limit on re-roll.
Say I fire a broadside at a flyer: 4 shots all miss and I re-roll for another 4 dice without a single 6. I use a mulligan token and now i get to re-roll a final time.

I believe this concept would be similar to or inspired by, the team rerolls from Bloodbowl? While the viability of the idea as presented may need some work, 40k desperately needs to allow players to have an effect on outcomes in some way. The current "roll on a chart to see what chart to roll on" game design turns players into passive observers, which is an unambiguously bad thing.

I had completely forgotten about Bloodbowls thing.