Skill Checks and Automatic Success

[udat]

Hi everyone. I used to play SWD6 when I was a teenager some 30 years ago, and picked up the anniversary reprints a couple of weeks ago. My board game group have started playing Tatooine Manhunt and everyone is having a great time. I'm mostly using 1e rules with the Rules Upgrade (combat dodge and haste).

My first post here is about something I'm thinking about introducing into my game:

Automatic Success

One thing I noticed about the skill/difficulty system is that for even relatively easy tasks, normal humans, or even skilled humans, have a surprisingly high chance of failure.

e.g. an "Easy Task" has a difficulty of 10, and an average human has 2D, so will fail 11 times in 12. A skilled character with 4D in a skill only has about a 50% shot at succeeding in a moderately difficult task. That doesn't seem intuitively right, even if you employ the difficulty ranges from the Rules Upgrade and choose the lower end of the scale, "easy" tasks are often failed.

So I came up with the idea of automatic success. If a task is not happening in a stressful situation (e.g. combat, starship crashing, etc.) then characters with a certain level of skill automatically succeed.

1D Very Easy
2D Easy
3D Moderate
4D Difficult
5D Very difficult

So the skilled NPC with 4D in droid repair, and a droid repair shop, can succeed at difficult repairs automatically, if he's doing it in normal circumstances. It's his job, after all.

Have any of you done something similar? How did it work out?

[Mamatried]

I find things to be strangely easy for some and harder for others.
All depending on attributes.

Automatic: 0
Very Easy: 1-5
Easy: 6-10
Moderate: 11-15
Difficult: 16-20

Etc Etc.

Now lets take a guy with 2D+2 in a skill compared to a guy with 3D in the skill (or attributes if rolled on defaults)

What see here is that with a roll of 1 on each die the 2d+2 guy will actually be able to succeed and even "auto succeed" on things the 3d can not.
2+2= 4 vs 3+0=3

an easy task is here 6-10

again using the 3d and the 2d+2

the 3d here will reach a higher makinum, more or less equal on average and the 2d+2 wil have an advantage on the lower rolls.

it is imo easier to roll 4 on 2D+2 needing a roll of 4 than the 3D wich need a roll of 6.

What I have noticed however is that I think most difficulties are used wrong, and that many of the book difficulties are there for mechanics and mechanics only, as in they really don't make much sense.

lets look at lightaber, you need a minimum of 10 to not injure yourself

this requires rolling above 10 every time, we never even see younglings "injure themselves" at a fairly high rate.

given that the default DEX of a human is 2D wee seee how this is close to impossible. Now add 2D to lightsaber skill to 4D

he now have to roll 2,5 (3) on his rolls as a minimum always, again very hard to pull off.

So I think the issue is with how the difficulties are used.


I have houseruled that a lightsaber has difficulty of only 5and this applies not to merely ignite the blade, after all we saw Finn fight fairly well with it, despite his non skill in the weapon, using thus his default (4D?) dexterity.

Han solo usues a lightsaber to cut open the animal in ESB

From clone wars I think we saw Jar Jar use a lightsaber for a moment...

All this and more indicate to me that a lightsaber is not difficult at all to "use" and to egnite.

But that the powerhandle will vibrate somewhat making this difficulty applay in combat.

so to me the difficulties is more about the how than the scale.


My computer tech has 4D+2 in computer programming, he needs not roll for anything less than a difficulty 6 unless he has some situational penalty, stress , under fire etc.

I also do not think that difficulty checks are approriate in many cases.

The jedi fighting with the weapon he has trained with since being a todler, meaning at least a decade......he doen't risk injuring him self 1/3-1/2 the time, he more or never does unless he really really goofs up.

So with a jedi fighting with his lightsaber I would not have a difficulty of 10 (oe was it 15?) on every attack, every time.

I would make one difficulty chack if need be and this lasts for the duration of that combat.

I also feel that the best person is not the one capable of the highest result but may fail on the easiest ones, but the one that always succeeds on the easy tasks, and that while not capable of greatness in the moment is stable and reliable and capable of high results, though much more rare and usually not as high as the so called expert.

[Whill]

[udat]

[MrNexx]

[ThrorII]

[shootingwomprats]

[udat]

[udat]