|
01-30-2016, 08:56 PM | #1 | |
Join Date: Jan 2016
|
Success rolls: effective skill below 3
Hello,
I am in the process of learning the basic rules and have just stumbled on the following (B345): Quote:
But perhaps I am missing something here. Let me know if you think this is a rule that can be ignored without any impact. Last edited by Flinx; 01-30-2016 at 09:02 PM. Reason: Typo in title; also added tag to title |
|
01-30-2016, 09:47 PM | #2 | |
Join Date: Sep 2011
|
Re: Success roles: effective skill below 3
Quote:
That said, it doesn't seem likely to break the game if you ignore the rule but you do need to determine whether success that often, under conditions that adverse, is going to break your suspension of disbelief. The other thing to consider is that you've essentially opened the door for rolls when effective skill is reduced to 0 or a negative number. The argument can be made (and has a certain mathematical validity),that if you allow a roll for impossible results like a 1 or 2, you should also permit them for the equally impossible values of 0 and -1, for example. |
|
01-30-2016, 10:46 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
|
Re: Success roles: effective skill below 3
Yeah, mostly it's so you can't succeed 1-in-50 with effective skill -2714.
Other than that, feel free to ignore it. GURPS is a tool box. |
01-30-2016, 11:42 PM | #4 | ||||
Join Date: Jan 2016
|
Re: Success rolls: effective skill below 3
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
I guess this quickly becomes more a discussion about game design than about application of rules. I am inclined to leave out the rule when explaining the mechanics in favor of simplicity and consistency. Should a player ever want to try their luck I will hand out hard consequences for a critical failure and warn them about it. Thank you for your thoughts on the topic. |
||||
01-30-2016, 11:50 PM | #5 |
Dog of Lysdexics
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Melbourne FL, Formerly Wellington NZ
|
Re: Success rolls: effective skill below 3
Which is why Skill level 16 opens the option of "No Nuisance rolls" perk for the skill.
|
01-31-2016, 01:56 AM | #6 | |
Join Date: Jan 2016
|
Re: Success rolls: effective skill below 3
Quote:
As a matter of principle I think that if a roll is appropriate at all, it’s interpretation should be true to the normal distribution it approximates, which includes only asymptotically approaching zero in both directions and so always leaving a slight chance of both success and failure under all circumstances. And on a more practical note it just makes for a better gaming experience. If a character who has never used a bow wants to pick one up and shoot an opponent’s eye out, I don’t want to say „you can’t do that“, I want to say „you can certainly try but there is a high chance you will hit one of your companions instead”. |
|
01-31-2016, 03:00 AM | #7 |
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Ellicott City, MD
|
Re: Success roles: effective skill below 3
If somebody using Bow at default wants yo shoot somebody in the eye, they should end up with at least an effective skill of 3 by using a full Aim.
|
01-31-2016, 10:40 PM | #8 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Dobbstown Sane Asylum
|
Re: Success rolls: effective skill below 3
Quote:
Imagine a group of PCs with unimpressive Guns skills (say, 10 to 12) who need to snipe a quickly moving target through the eye from a little under a mile away. Even with a decent sniper rifle, the shooter's effective skill would be at +6 (Acc) +2 (full Aim) -18 (range) -9 (eye) = -19 to skill. There are expanded rules to get a slightly better bonus, but the point is he's definitely in the negatives. Now let's say your house rule would let him succeed on a 3-4 even if he's negative. Why bother with the nice sniper rifle, if he's probably going to critically fail anyway? Instead, he takes a box full of cheap pistols up onto the roof and starts having his friends hand him one, he shoots it, it explodes or jams (good thing he's wearing armor), and so he shoots another one. At this rate, he can fire once every two seconds, so he'll put a bullet through his target's eye in (on average) just under a minute. The target is moving at supersonic speeds? No problem, because his chance to hit is the same. The target is actually a tiny transmitter (SM -10)? Same chance to hit. The shooter is operating in pitch black darkness? Just another -10, same chance to hit. That's the problem with establishing an "auto-win" situation. No matter how likely it makes a critical failure, it also means that (A) past a certain point, penalties mean nothing, and that (B) because literally anything can succeed, there's no reason not to keep trying again and again.
__________________
Reverend Pee Kitty of the Order Malkavian-Dobbsian (Twitter) (LJ) MyGURPS: My house rules and GURPS resources.
#SJGamesLive: I answered questions about GURPS After the End and more! {Watch Video} - {Read Transcript} |
|
Tags |
rules |
|
|