Most game systems that I like have something like that - precisely because unlikely accomplishments against more powerful enemies are such a standard feature of most hero tales, so there has to be some way to reflect that.
World of Darkness games have Willpower points, where you can get one automatic success on any roll (which, given the game mechanics, doesn't necessarily guarantee the roll will succeed, but does at least improve the odds). The idea is to reflect exactly what you said about Westley - "throw-everything-at-it", all-out effort of will. And what I like about how that's handled is that when you run out, it's not like you're just out of miracles but can otherwise still perform normally -- you're basically so mentally exhausted from stress that you pretty much can't do anything. And the way you regain them is determined by your character's Nature, so it's kind of keyed to good roleplaying to an extent. (This is based on the old WoD, BTW - don't know if it's the same in the new one or not.)
Deliria has Fortune points, which are not so much reflective of an effort of will as the sort of bizarre strokes of luck that can happen in fairy tales, which the game is based on. By spending a Fortune point, you get an automatic Triumph (outstanding success - basically like rolling five successes in WoD) on any challenge. So they're a lot more powerful than WP. But they're also a lot scarcer - you start with fewer of them, and you have to do something really oustanding to get them back.
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Date: 2009-04-09 04:54 pm (UTC)World of Darkness games have Willpower points, where you can get one automatic success on any roll (which, given the game mechanics, doesn't necessarily guarantee the roll will succeed, but does at least improve the odds). The idea is to reflect exactly what you said about Westley - "throw-everything-at-it", all-out effort of will. And what I like about how that's handled is that when you run out, it's not like you're just out of miracles but can otherwise still perform normally -- you're basically so mentally exhausted from stress that you pretty much can't do anything. And the way you regain them is determined by your character's Nature, so it's kind of keyed to good roleplaying to an extent. (This is based on the old WoD, BTW - don't know if it's the same in the new one or not.)
Deliria has Fortune points, which are not so much reflective of an effort of will as the sort of bizarre strokes of luck that can happen in fairy tales, which the game is based on. By spending a Fortune point, you get an automatic Triumph (outstanding success - basically like rolling five successes in WoD) on any challenge. So they're a lot more powerful than WP. But they're also a lot scarcer - you start with fewer of them, and you have to do something really oustanding to get them back.