Reaction Skills Clarification

[Orpheus]

It's been a while since I've actually ran a face-to-face game myself, and since I'm going to be doing so in a few weeks I thought that I would seek some answers regarding this oft-discussed (so I've noticed) topic.

My actual question regards the process for a charcter who has not acted nor declared yet (bad dudes got to go first this round) and then is attacked. This character can then decide to use a full dodge (making that his only action for the round) or a normal dodge. If he simply uses the normal dodge then what happens? Must he then decide, "Hey, I plan on attacking this guy with my blaster during my turn, so I'll do a dodge at -1D," or does he get that dodge at his full die code, only to take his remaing actions (when it's his turn and he gets to declare his actions) with a MAP?
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"He is a very shallow critic who cannot see an eternal rebel in the heart of a conservative."-G.K. Chesterton

[Delkarnu]

Full dodge is doing nothing in a round but getting out of the way, diving for cover, etc. Adds to the range difficulty.

partial dodge is doing another action while trying to avoid being shot. replaces the range difficulty

Think about a shootout, when the bullets start flying, the hero does nothing but dive for cover, a full dodge. After that, he pops up to take a shot and then ducks down to avoid incoming fire. by doing the second action of popping up and shooting at a target, he puts himself in the line of fire, so is easier to hit than the guy doing nothing but getting out of the way.
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This new hand, it's a fightin' hand!

[Ankhanu]

I think the question related only to the MAPs, Del.

It kind of depends on how you do declaring and resolving:
-- If you declare+act one character at a time in high->low initiative order, you'd probably roll the reaction at full and apply the MAP to subsequent actions.
-- If you declare number of actions (or straight to the actions themselves) in init order, then act on them, someone who hadn't declared a dodge when they declared can add one in as a reaction when they discover they're being attacked; MAPs apply to all rolls.
etc.

Basically, if the character knows they're doing something other than dodging in the round, apply the MAPs. If it's unknown, it's hard to apply MAPs that may not come up.
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[Delkarnu]

yup, answered the wrong question. oops.

But this is one reason I never liked reaction dodges, in all games I've played, you either take the MAP to dodge if needed, or don't get to dodge.
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[Ankhanu]

[Lostboy]

Characters can perform only reaction skill's when it is not their initiative, but when there initiative comes they count the reactions ast actions taken that round and take the MAPs for the round. e.g. the enemy gets the first action and opens fire, the character dodges as a reaction and then gets his turn, as he has already taken an action to dodge this would be his second action.

Full defense reaction cannot be used with any other action that round as it counts as if the character is spending the entire time between this initiative and there next initiative actively defending, but a full reaction can still be used as a reaction skill(and so before your initiative).

[Orion]

[Gry Sarth]

If the character only declared one action and dodged, he can't decide to fire after that, he's already used his one action. There is no such thing as "reaction shot". If all he wanted to do is dodge, he should have Full Dodged, if he wanted to dodge and fire, he should have declared two actions. If he didn't, too bad for him, wait for next round.
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"He's Gry Sarth, of course he has the stats for them."

[Orion]

[Orpheus]

Orion, I don't think that it's poorly written, and character is used to mean both player character and non-player character; that doesn't really seem confusing to me.

It's just that all of the examples given for reaction skill usage make the assumption that the player characters are reacting after they've already performed their declared action.

Example: Grondak fires his blaster twice at -1D, then on the GM's turn he dodges at -2D when fired upon.

The example that I want is something for this: Grondak is fired upon by a GM character but has not yet declared nor acted in this round. Should Grondak, assuming that he doesn't just perform a full dodge as a reaction skill, say, "I'm planning on firing my blaster twice at this guy and another guy so let me just dodge at -2D now, and then fire my blaster at -2D when it's my turn"?

I always used the "declared dodge" rule from vanilla 2nd Edition back in the 90's; the use of reaction skills is something I've only seen in the past year since I've picked up a copy of R&E. Part of me always disliked having to declare a dodge that you didn't know whether or not you'd have to perform, but I can see where the use of reaction skills would be abused. I also get the philosophy behind the "delcared dodge" from 2nd Edition ("Keep an eye out for trouble, kid."), but I like the revised method.

Eh, I'll probably just decide what I like once I start GM'ing again.
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"He is a very shallow critic who cannot see an eternal rebel in the heart of a conservative."-G.K. Chesterton

[Orion]

Orpheus, I say it's poorly written because if you interpret it one way it can provide an answer to your question, but if you interpret it the way it seems to be intended, it does not, nor do any of the following rules.

In the end your answer is the one that describes what, I think, we all do. You asked here in the official rules section and so I tried to interpret what the official rules actually have to say on the matter. My own combat system differs greatly from the official rules so I could not give you examples from it.

Looking back I think my musing in response to Gry seems to be the simplest way to solve the dilemma, as it would just mean having any character that wants to dodge before declaration, simply declare before they dodge so you can calculate MAP's.

[Orpheus]

[garhkal]

[Orion]

[Orion]