I am working on a concept that I actually think dice will work well for (I usually don't care for dice in games -- for context). In it, characters have the ability to manipulate the multiverse, and I want there to be the right level of "should I perform this action?" kind of tension that doesn't discourage the action but also punishes them if it fails.

As an example, a character might have the ability to duck into an alternate timeline to see the outcome of a particular action. If it's a quick look, maybe it isn't all that risky; but if they stay too long or accidentally interact with the wrong person or thing, it could be very bad (even fatal).

I'm not great with math, so I am curious if there is a use of dice (pool, different dice sizes, etc.) that are better at creating the right kind of bell curve for such a system.

I know that a lot of it comes down to how the rules actually deal with "failure" or various levels of success, but I am wondering if a good system can do well to create a strong foundation. I am also looking for the system to not be a "pass/fail" style of game, so rolls will have varying outcomes, which means a truly catastrophic result would be a very bad roll.

Thanks (as always) in advance for the thoughts.