Task resolution and stat bonuses

[Fritz_Brown]

(There is that Stat/4 thing which gives a decent bonus.)

OK, now that I have figured out skill buying, how about task resolution? Specifically, how do stat bonuses come into play when resolving tasks?

To do a task resolution, you look at the difficulty (raising it if the character doesn't have the requisite skill), roll and add the noted modifiers, then compare to the required difficulty threshold. Most of the tasks (such as firing a weapon) list a skill as a modifier, but no associated statistic bonus. Do they only come into play if there's no relevant skill? It seems silly that someone with a relevant +4 stat bonus for an unskilled task loses that edge when suddenly performing a skilled task where they have a low skill level.

What say you all?

 

[McPerth]

I didn't find anything about it in the official errata, but I guess it must be an errata, else, as you say, good stats are of no use. I'd guess dexterity should be added to the task.

 

[McPerth]

By reviewing the tasks involved in combat in Traveller 2300 (I have no access to the newer 2300 AD) I see nearly none of them has a stat listed on in. IDK if that means no stats are involved (ulikely, IMHO) or that they leave to the referee to assign a stat to each task.

 

[aramis]

By reviewing the tasks involved in combat in Traveller 2300 (I have no access to the newer 2300 AD) I see nearly none of them has a stat listed on in. IDK if that means no stats are involved (ulikely, IMHO) or that they leave to the referee to assign a stat to each task.

I suspect skills were supposed to be hard-linked to atts, but it got deleted in editing.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

In some ways that's an advantage - not every use of a skill will use the same stat in the same way (not as broad as the 2300 skills are, anyway).

We're discussing the idea of using the full stat bonus for times when there is no applicable skill, but either halving or subtracting 2 from the normal stat bonuses when there is an applicable skill.

 

[BytePro]

Not sure this is at all applicable to new 2300AD - MgT uses both stat DM (-3 to +3 normally) and skill level bonus (0 on), but unskilled gets -3 DM.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

2300AD (not any new edition) uses a STAT/4 to get a bonus (on a 1-20 stat), for a bonus of 0-5. That's really the source of some of the consternation: an exceptional stat is the equivalent of a professional skill level (4-5, out of 0-10), causing a professional with an exceptional stat to have, say a 70% chance of accomplishing a Formidable task, and 100% for everything below that.

 

[BytePro]

Ok, yeah that seems a pretty poor mechanic...

Would think the STAT/4 should only apply unaltered to a characteristic check - i.e. one to which no skill would apply - such as a STR test for moving a rock.

Assuming that the average STAT/4 modifier was not taken into account in general - it would seem prudent to do so by simply applying a -2(or -3) modifier to all skill checks that have a STAT/4 modifier. (MgT essentially does this upfront by having stat DMs range from -3 to +3 with +0 for the average stat DM. You would have to change your target values for something like this to work with STAT checks, so instead simply adjust the skill+stat/4 instead.)

Further, if a character has no skill needed for a given check, then apply a further modifier, like MgT's -3 DM (or increase difficulty).

 

[epicenter00]

Would think the STAT/4 should only apply unaltered to a characteristic check - i.e. one to which no skill would apply - such as a STR test for moving a rock.

iirc, I remember that's how it was explained to me.

It's how I've always used it. It's for contests where you have no applicable skill. Defaulting (ie; using a handgun when you have no handgun skill) is handled differently. This is completely for situations where you're trying to avoid "the 2300 footrace" where everyone runs at the same speed so you can't ever determine who would win a race.