When to Check.....

[AnotherSkip]

Im not quite sure this is the best place for this. move it if ya need to.

 

When do you need to use a skill/atribute check?

 

more appropriately how do you force someone to make a skill check?

 

Would Change environment be the best way for a play to force others to make skill checks (admittedly at a penalty in most cases)?

 

part of the concern is concerning setting off berzerkrolls and whether it would be better to mentally illusion things, or you could use a Change environment or something else entirely (Images w/ enough senses?) or if all three of these are appropo.

[Steve Long]

This sounds like a topic best suited to group discussion, so I've moved it. Enjoy!

[Alcamtar]

That's a pretty vague question, but here goes...

 

Conventional wisdom is "only ask for a check if you (as GM) think that failure would be interesting and acceptable". In other words, if failure will screw up your plot, will be dull or tedious, or unheroic and annoying, or unrealistic, then just don't ask for a check. OTOH if failure will spice things up and improve the adventure, or if it plays into your plot, then definitely demand a check. Also, if there are no consequences for failure, there's no reason to bother with a roll. (Of course you may ask for a roll anyway for appearances sake, for example checking for traps when no traps exist...)

 

Attributes: These use the same rules as skills, except are used as "defaults" when a character doesn't have a particular skill, or when it is something that is not covered by any specific skill.

 

In terms of attribute vs. skill, a good rule of thumb I've heard is: skill always trumps attribute. In a contest between two characters, if neither has a skill, let them make an attribute roll to see who wins. If one has skill and the other doesn't, the skilled character wins by default. If both have skill, use an opposed skill check.

 

Also, if any player or NPC has a particular skill, then don't let any other player or NPC who lacks the skill to make an attribute check, since that makes the points spent on the skill worthless and steps on that character's specialty. Also if it is a task that requires training to have any chance of success ("brain surgery"), then an attribute roll won't work.

 

So in terms of how to FORCE a check, I'd say there's no guaranteed method. To force a check you want to make sure that there are consequences for failure, and that the failure is interesting in some way and thus worth checking for. If a power requires a check to see if any character suddenly gets the munchies, no one's going to bother to roll unless maybe they have a psych lim or something. But if the power will cause them to fall down in slick mud and get covered from head to toe UNLESS they make a check, it's both meaningful and amusing, so likely to "force" a check (unless they want to fall down, in which case they probably won't roll...)

 

You could also write the skill check into the power as part of the effect; if the GM approves it, then you've guaranteed the check. That's the easy way.

 

Why is it important to force a skill check?

 

Mike