Resources -- Combat, Skill and Talent Checks

[Vardaen]

I'm going to use this thread to work out questions and rules for the system itself. You can find the quick play rules in the download section, but we can work stuff out here that needs answers. Just to get things rolling...

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Avoiding Death and Fate Points
There are all sorts of opportunities for characters to die in Dark Heresy. One way to avoid nearly certain death is through the expenditure of Fate Points. Normally, a player can spend a Fate Point to gain a re-roll and at the end of the day, all spent Fate Points return to their normal total.

However, in dire circumstances - such as a botched fall into a pit of spikes - a character can permanently spend a Fate Point to avoid death. Fate, in this case, intervenes, and spares the character. In the case of the fall, the character may have caught himself halfway down, or landed just right to survive the experience with a few cuts and scrapes. Part of your job as GM is to decide how the character escaped his doom in an apt and exciting way.

[Vardaen]

Dice Rolls 101

The most common dice roll is called a test. A test is a special roll that produces a result from 1 to 100. To get this result, pick one ten-sider to serve as the 'œtens place' and another to serve as the 'œones place'. Then, roll them together. The tens die gives you 00, 10, 20, 30, and so on, while the ones die gives you 0, 1, 2, 3, etc. Put the two dice together and you have your result. If you rolled 'œ00' then you rolled a 100, which is not good at all. When rolling for a test, you want to roll low.

Dark Heresy uses another dice convention for such things like weapon damage or in some specific situations where a successful test has a variable result. When called to do so, you roll one ten-sided die and add any 'œmodifiers' to the roll to arrive at the total. Unlike tests, here, you want to roll high. This sort of die roll is often abbreviated as 1d10, where the first number (1 in this case) signifies how many dice you roll, d stands for die or dice, and the last number (10) the type of die rolled. Variations on this can include 1d5, where you roll a tensider, halve the result (round up), or 1d100, which operates just like a test. Finally, if the abbreviation includes a number after it, such as 1d10+2, it means roll a ten-sided die and add two to the die roll. So in this case, if the die came up as a 4, you'd add 2 for a total of 6. Easy!

[Vardaen]

CHARACTERITICS

All characters have nine Characteristics. They are: Weapon Skill (WS), Ballistic Skill (BS), Strength (S), Toughness (T), Agility (Ag), Intelligence (Int), Perception (Per), Will Power (WP), and Fellowship (Fel). Characteristics tell you something about the character, giving you an idea about his or her capabilities, personality, smarts, and even what they might look like'€"in a broad and general sense of course. Now we've mentioned that when it comes to tests, you want to roll low, right? The reason is pretty simple. Whenever you need to take a test in the game, you compare the dice roll to the Characteristic most likely to be involved in the test. Say you're trying to shoot a Mutant, you'd roll against Ballistic Skill. Likewise, if you're trying to avoid a falling column, you'd roll against Agility.

Make sense? Since you want to roll under the number associated with the Characteristics, the higher the Characteristic the better.

EXAMPLE
Kate tries to break down a door. Strength is the most likely Characteristic to test in this case, so she rolls the dice and compares them to her Strength Characteristic. If her roll comes up equal to or lower than her Characteristic, she succeeds. If she rolls over her Characteristic, she fails.

Characteristic Bonuses
Except for Weapon Skill and Ballistic Skill, all Characteristics have an associated bonus. This bonus is represented by the 'œtens' digit of the Characteristic. When looking at a Characteristic Stat Block, the 'œtens' are denoted by a shaded area for easier reference.

[Vardaen]

SKILLS

Skills are a lot like Characteristics, but offer special things you can do during play. Every skill is associated with a Characteristic so when you want to use a skill, just test the Characteristic that's tied to the skill. For example, take Awareness. This skill is keyed to Perception, so whenever you would use Awareness, you make a Perception Test.

Opposed Skill Tests
Sometimes you have to test your skill against that of an opponent which is known as an Opposed Skill Test. This works by both parties making Skill Tests as normal, whoever succeeds wins. If both participants succeed, then the one with the higher Characteristic bonus wins out. If both parties fail, then new Tests are again attempted to find a clear winner.

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TALENTS

Talents offer slight advantages, reflecting special training and expanding on your options in the game for using skills and so on. Talents can also grant access to different parts of the game, such as psychic powers, Tech-Priest augmentations, and so on. Most talents featured in this scenario include descriptions about how they can be used.

EXAMPLE
John attempts to quietly sneak behind a sentry. He rolls the dice to make
his Silent Move Skill Test, compares them to his Agility Characteristic and succeeds. The GM makes a test against the guards Perception Characteristic and also succeeds. Comparing Characteristic bonuses, John has a 3, whilst the guard has only a 2. With a higher Characteristic bonus, John manages to silently slip past the guard, without attracting his attention.

[Vardaen]

HOUSE RULE

Las-Weapon Jam

If an energy weapon jams, such as a Laspitol or Lascarbine, the energy pack that is currently in the weapon discharges in such a way as to melt the clip into the gun. This means not only must the jam be cleared at normal and the gun reloaded (page 196) but that clip is discharged and will need to recharged at some other point.

[Vardaen]

HOUSE RULE

(Using the new wording for Dodge found in the Black Crusade Book)

DODGE (AGILITY)
Dodge is the ability to avoid blows in melee, duck incoming
fire or leap out of the way of falling debris. It combines
nimbleness of movement with trained reflexes and an
awareness of all kinds of danger. A character can use his
Dodge Skill to dodge either melee attacks or ranged attacks.
Dodging attacks is a made in response to a foe's successful
attack. A success indicates that the attack has been avoided
and it does not hit the character. In the case of attacks which
cause multiple hits (such as automatic fi re) each Degree of
Success a character achieves on his Dodge Test discounts
one hit from the attack. Any excess hits not discounted by
dodging are then applied to the character as normal.
The GM may call on a player to use the Dodge Skill when:
• They are attacked in melee.
• They are attacked with a ranged weapon.
• They need to avoid hazards such as falling wreckage or leap from a collapsing bridge.

EXAMPLE MODIFIERS
+30 Character can easily detect the attack and has at least a round to avoid it.
+20 Character has full cover between him and an attack.
+10 Character has half cover between him and an attack.
+0 Character is avoiding an attack in the open. This is the default modifi er for Dodge in combat.
–10 Character is on loose ground, mud, or knee-deep water.
–20 Character is in waist-deep water.
–30 Character is unable to see the source of the attack.

Skill Use: Reaction.