Just been looking at the FEAT Table and I have a couple of questions.
1. A newly created character needs a 20 on 2d10 to achieve a (full) Success (Difficulty 20 )and a hefty +9 modifier to start from a baseline Standard difficulty.
The reason I bring this up is that I'm used to the baseline Standard difficulty being around the 50% chance mark for ordinary folk. Yet that requires the +9 I mentioned above.
2. It feels strange that a "Failure" result sits alongside a "Standard" difficulty. Is this intentional?
Yes, that is intentional, but I think perhaps you may have a missed a couple of elements of things....
A result of 16-19 gives Partial Success OR Failure, depending on what the action is...... Partial Success just means you did not get it all done in a single roll, but you at least got some of it done.. For jumping across a pit, this may not be so good, but for picking a lock? just take another round or two and you will get it done...
says "
on page 115, the fourth paragraph under
Skill Rolls says "If there is no opposition, no pressure, and nothing interesting is at stake, there is no need to roll the dice. The heroes simply take enough time to succeed in their task, unless they are attempting something that is clearly impossible."
Then in the second column on the same page, under
Taking the Time, it says "A character Taking the Time to accomplish a task gets a special +4 bonus to his Skill Roll, but employs at least twice the amount of time normally associated with the action."
Thus, by taking just a little extra time, they get a +4, so the need for that +9 drops to +5.
Additionally, characters can also Help one another, as explained on page 116, where successful rolls from friends can apply the Success Levels as a bonus to the main roll being attempted.
And let us not forget Drive points. We recommend giving players at least 1 per session (up to the 5 that they are allowed), as this will also encourage them to spend them more freely as well). Each point of Drive spent gives a +2 to all rolls for a given scene! (i.e. not just a single roll, but all of their rolls for that scene...). For 3 Drive points, they can treat ANY one roll as if they rolled a natural 20 (i.e. making the roll open-ended, so that they get to roll again).
Now, lets take a look a what a starting bonus could look like......
At first level, a character may have 2 purchased ranks, up to 2 ranks from Culture, and up to 4 ranks (max) from Vocation. That is a potential 8 ranks before adding in stat bonuses., say an average of 2 for the stat, and that gives them a starting bonus of 10
Of course only one or two skills may be this high, and usually only if they double up on a Vocation, or take complementary Vocations
Looking at a few of our 16 pre-gens that are in the quickstart module
For Argorn, 7 and 8 are the average for most skills, but he has some with bonuses as high as 12.
Beskar has one skill at 12, and most of his range from 7 to 9
Chzor has one skill with a max of 11, his primary weapon is at 9 andso forth.
Gylor - his spells have total bonuses ranging from 9 to 11, and he has several other at 8.
and so on through them all....
