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I'm trying to explain the rules for character creation and combat to a new generation of players (my daughter and her friends) and I'm having trouble finding hard copy evidence for the way I was taught to play.
What gets added to the d20 roll before any situational (blind fire, aimed shot, etc) modifiers for melee attacks and ranged attacks. Where to find where it corroborates that in the books would be great too so that I can show them to my daughter and her friends.
Thanks in advance for the help.

the player just adds up all their applicable bonuses. It is the GM that gets (has) to deal with the situational modifiers.

Look at the combat bonuses text (in the combat lexicon) for the first part. the GM decides if there are situational mods so that is a gm thing.
(was looking @ the RGMG for ref for this answer.)

that is my understanding as well.

the player adds up any bonuses and/or penalties from their skills, abilities, spells they are under, etc.
this would include things like target movement, size, and so on if those rules are in play.
the GM decides is any situational bonuses or penalties. some skills suggest these for specific situations, but it is the Gm that makes the call as to whether those would apply. other wise the GM can just declare a modifier.

then you roll your dice and apply those modifiers to the result