Taking a blow for someone else?

[garhkal]

In many games of SW i have ran and played, often i've seen it where the DM (or me) has allowed someone else to make a dodge roll to jump INTO THE path of a bolt meant for someone else, "taking the blow" for that other person (like a wookie jumping into the path of a blaster bolt targeted at a techie pc who has only 2d+2 str)..

Have YOu ever seen it done?
If so, what rules did you see used for whether the other pc was successful in taking the blow?
Do they have to just jump in to Take the blow, or can they dodge in to try and knock the other pc out of the way?
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[MrNexx]

While my first instinct is "You have to beat the attack roll with your Dodge roll", I think that's not a good way to go... Dodge works fine, for me, but the real trick is you need to dodge better than the person being attacked. So, I'd lean towards, instead, your Dodge roll needing to beat your friend's dodge roll, AND a certain flat difficulty, based on your range to them. If they're not dodging, then you only need to worry about the difficulty.
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[garhkal]

Is that just to TAKE the blow? What if they are instead trying to dodge into the person to knock him or her out of the way AND avoid the shot themselves? Could someone do it to a person further than a half move would allow them to get to?
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[Naaman]

For me, this is much less a question of how well a character can "dodge" and more about whether the character is fully aware of what is going on. I would rate this as more of a perception problem, and base it more on the character's initiative.

For example, if the character is still waiting for his first turn because his initiative has not come up yet in the turn order, then I'd say he cannot attempt such a thing: he still has not fully processed what is going on (hence the lower initiative).

If the character has a higher initiative than the one taking the shot, then I'd allow for it. If the character would reasonably be expected to take this action on behalf of his buddy, and the player asked if he could attempt it, I might call for a quick perception check (or search, depending), to determine if the character is able to process the battlefield quickly enough and thoroughly enough to attempt it (and is he close enough?).

If so, I might rule that there is no roll required on the part of the character taking the hit, but rather, he increases the difficulty of the attacker's roll by some amount. If the attack beats the new difficulty, the original target is hit as intended. If the attack misses, but would have hit, then the intervening character is hit. If the attack misses the original difficulty, then both characters (the original target and the one intervening) are unharmed, but probably prone on the ground.

Now, if this was a one-time deal, then I'd be fine just using dodge, but if this became a common tactic on the part of the PCs, I'd need to come up with a house rule, and the one above is where I would start.

[Bren]

[cheshire]

If it were in my game, I'd probably allow it if the person wanted to spend a Force point to bend the rules to such a degree. Granted, they'd probably get the Force point back at the end of the session... if they survive to the end of the session.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[Bren]

[garhkal]

Unless he's saying the FP spent, is NOT doubling stats. Much like to use the force power Reduce injury or transfer force, you need to "Spend/burn' a force point.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Bren]

[cheshire]

That is precisely what I meant. Spend the FP to act out of turn, and take what comes.

I'm not sure what I'd say about spending the character points on top of it to help soak the damage.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[Bren]

[garhkal]

Hence to me if they were to be allowed to do it, there wouldn't be using of CP (or fp) to save them from taking NO damage period.. There would have to be some damage they would take.. Not sure if 'they can spend CP to mitigate the damage taken down to at most a wound' or Stun..
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[Telsij]

With some feedback from folks in the g+ group and here, I came up with this specific "bodyguard" / martial arts technique for when I statted up Onar Koma from FFG's Imperial Assault game for the Obscure Characters Archive. If someone didn't possess / was untrained in this technique, I'd just have them use whatever DEX-based skill was appropriate, eg: running if they had distance to traverse, brawling parry if they were stepping in to take a close-quarters attack, etc.

"Stay Behind Me!"

Technique: Bodyguard Block | Difficulty: Moderate to Very Difficult + Attack roll

Effect: Onar Koma has been trained to put himself in harm's way for the safety of those he is tasked with protecting. On a successful skill check that also exceeds a ranged, brawling, or melee attack roll, Koma is able to shield the intended victim from harm. Any damage that the original target would have suffered from the attack is inflicted upon Koma instead.

Anyone that Koma attempts to shield must be either adjacent to him at the time of the attack, or close enough that he can traverse the distance with a move action before the attack takes place. The base difficulty of this technique is determined by the distance (if any) that Koma must traverse with his move action: Moderate = up to 1/2 Move, Difficult = Full Move, Very Difficult = Move x2 (High Speed). Koma may shield targets up to 1/2 Move away as a reaction skill. He may also attempt to protect multiple targets. Protecting against both ranged and close quarters attacks requires separate skill checks.

This technique may also be used passively. If kept "up" as an action, Koma may provide a target — within 1/2 Move distance — an amount of cover determined by the success of his technique roll: Moderate = 1/4 cover, Difficult = 1/2 cover, Very Difficult = 3/4 Cover.

Onar Koma's write-up: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-7Q2Dm1-OcIaS1vdUxoUGVhaEE/view

[garhkal]

Very nice.. I might adapt that..
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[CRMcNeill]

Related question: if a character knows he's going to take a hit, can he use the Preparation rule to add 1D to his Strength roll to resist damage?
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

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