Another Type of Task Roll

[ovka]

My recent foray refereeing a T5 game and trying to get the players comfortable using the T5 task system showed me another type of task roll that could be useful.

Enabling Tasks - An enabling task allows a character to use his or her skill level as a DM on another roll (task or otherwise).

In the first two examples below, it is important to note that I have characters roll 2D+Dex for initiative.

Example 1
To share your Tactics skill with your allies
Average (2D) < Soc + Leader
Success allows your group to add your Tactics skill level as a DM on their initiative rolls, and also allows you to grant your Tactics skill level as a DM to an attack once per combat round to one of your allies.

Aside from the initiative DM (which isn't standard rules), this task is designed to replace the existing Tactics rule for granting a DM.

Example 2
To use your Tactics skill level as an initiative modifier if you do not have the Leader skill or failed the check above
Average (2D) < Int + Tactics
Success allows you add your Tactics skill level as a DM to your initiative roll.

Example 3
To share your skill level at any skill in a cooperative task
Average (2D) < C+S (where C is the characteristic the person performing the task you are cooperating with will use, and S is the skill they are using that you wish to share)
Success allows you to grant your skill level as a DM to the other person's task roll.

Example 4
To use your Liaison skill level as a DM for a task involving Streetwise
Average (2D) < Soc + Liaison
Success allows you to add your Liaison skill level to a subsequent (must follow immediately) task roll involving the Streetwise skill.

Example 5
To share your Medic skill level as a DM for low passengers to revive.
Average (2D) < Edu + Medic
Success allows the passenger to use your Medic skill as a DM to survive the trip.


These are examples that I just thought of off the top of my head. I'm sure they could be improved. The idea is that having a rule that says "use skill x as a DM" feels like it bypasses the primary game mechanic which is the task system. Having a task roll which grants the ability to do that gives more of the flavor of the game mechanic and less of an arbitrary feeling. Making the task Average provides for a reasonable chance of success. It has been my experience over 30+ years of gaming that players like to roll dice, and they like to see that a successful die roll grants them something positive.

Thoughts?

Cheers,

Baron Ovka

 

[JFGarber]

Does success add Character's B's characteristic to Character A's, or substitute? If addition, do you impose a cap?

 

[ovka]

Success adds them together. T5 already has a rule for cooperative tasks and that's how they work (except that I have added the new supplementary roll). IMHO, the number of people who can assist in a cooperative task should be limited. I have not found where T5 places such a limit, but I might have missed it. *I* would suggest a limit equal to the skill level of the person being assisted.

Cheers,

Baron Ovka

 

[Selandia]

As usual when RP a task, common sense should prevail, and the cooperative task in T5 provide guideline

An operation is a cooperative task, the nurse (say med 3) and anesthesist (say med 6) add their skill level to the skill of the general surgeon (say med 6) for the purpose of "does the patient dies?" but it does not make the surgeon a med 15 nobel prize for the purpose of making possible an impossible roll like "brain transplant".

PC: " we have a dying friend and a brain dead Varg, what is the roll to transplant our friend's brain into the Varg?"
Ref: Impossible
PC: " We are in a nursing school, if we add an average Skill 1 for 100 student and average skill 4 of 10 faculty, can't we make it at skill level 140?"

Mind you, you could add all those skill for a vaccination campaign as each faculty may supervise the inoculation by a team, making it possible to "Task: inocculate 1000 persons in an hour"

The Chief (level 5) must change a coil in the J drive of the Lucky Lucy. He dever did it on that model of drive, so the second (level 3) that did it on his previous ship, could tip off the chief and the result is that the Chief can now perform as routine something that would be otherwise complicated and dangerous. Effectively, unlike the surgeon and the OpeRo staff, the skills add up to make the task : change coil J drive, easier.

have fun

Selandia