Saves

When a character fails a check (so long as it was not a critical failure), they will often have some form of recourse. This is because, for most skills and abilities in the game, there is some form of saving roll, wherein a player may succeed at a failed attempt by rolling a different skill successfully. For example, if a character fails on Observation, given that the saving roll for WIS is Focus, they may roll against Focus in order to salvage their attempt. However, crucially, they must roll that save at one difficulty threshold higher than the original roll in order to succeed. Thus, in order to save on a failed Observation check, the character must roll a Difficult Focus check. If they succeed, they then succeeded on the original Observation check! But if they failed, they will have to find another save. For example, on a failed Focus check, a further appropriate save might be Luck. In this case they would have to roll an Impossible Luck check in order to salvage their original Observation check. If, at any point, a character has some save on an Impossible check, the only further escalation is a Critical check. There is no save on a failed Critical check. In general, such an escalation will be rare, however. At most, one or two saving rolls are generally used per chain of attempts. Just note, once again, if, at any point, a critical failure is rolled, no more saves can be used. 

There are also saves when other characters are being targeted by abilities. For example, many spells and CHA will have Focus or Willpower as saves against their effects. Generally, if one is attempting to impose their will upon another, there is some form of resistance to that activity.

To learn more about skills, see Skills