Assisting another character?

[HalifaxDM]

A situation came up that made me wonder if there is there any rule that allows for one character to assist another at a Common skill roll?

For example, two characters have healing skill and want to work together to save a dying companion. Is there a rule that allows this. I searched but could not find anything.

The closest thing I could were the rules for cooperating on a prolonged action but it is not quite the same thing.

In this case I simply said that the assist from the second character reduced the TN by 2 and it worked but it did make me wonder of there was an official rule and/or what other people may have done in their games (as I cannot imagine it being that unique of a request).

[zedturtle]

There's no official rule per se, but I think adjusting the TN based on the situation (heroes assisting each other) is appropriate, and in the spirit of the rules. One thing you might want to do, if you want it to be a little tricky to help (and give everyone a chance for an AP) is to have the assisting characters make their own roll. On a Great or Extraordinary success, they can lower the TN by one step.

[Rich H]

There are a number of ways you could go on this, all depends on what you prefer. These all assume the assisting PC has at least a rating of 1 in the given Common Skill and are in no particular order of preference:

1) The Hound of Mirkwood provides an 'assist' bonus to the player-hero it accompanies by letting them roll the Feat die twice and keep the best result for Common Skills it has been trained in. With just one additional PC aiding the other you could go with this, although if you're thinking of allowing more than one character to assist another this may not be the best option for you.

2) Let the assisting player roll at TN14. For each success they get they reduce the TN by 1 for the character attempting the actual test. A failure results in no TN reduction but failing and rolling an EYE means the TN is increased. This provides a slight benefit through TN reduction and allows the assisting player some active (ie, dice rolling) involvement.

3) Let the assisting player roll at TN14. For each success they get they add 1 success die to the total dice rolled for the character attempting the actual test. but failing and rolling an EYE means the TN is increased. This provides a big benefit through additional success dice and allows the assisting player some active (ie, dice rolling) involvement.

4) Reduce TN of test by one level if assisting character's skill rating is 1 or 2, two levels if skill rating is 3 or 4, or three levels if 5 or 6. Less active (ie, no dice rolling) involvement for assisting character.

5) Reduce TN of test by one if assisting character's skill rating is 1 or 2, two if skill rating is 3 or 4, or three if 5 or 6. Less active (ie, no dice rolling) involvement for assisting character.

I'm sure there are other ways but those are the main options I can think of off-hand.

[Glorelendil]

Alternately you could use a Prolonged test, requiring multiple successes, if it's a task that can be described as "You'll get it eventually, it's just a matter of how well."

Then have the players (whoever is participating) roll at the same time. Each additional group attempt comes with some sort of cost. I.e., it takes longer, increasing the risk of some other complication. Or it makes more noise, or something.

So the one player with the highest score could do it by himself, but it would take more attempts. If other players "help" it will (or could) reduce the number of attempts required.

[Indur Dawndeath]

Alternately you could use a Prolonged test, requiring multiple successes, if it's a task that can be described as "You'll get it eventually, it's just a matter of how well."

Then have the players (whoever is participating) roll at the same time. Each additional group attempt comes with some sort of cost. I.e., it takes longer, increasing the risk of some other complication. Or it makes more noise, or something.

So the one player with the highest score could do it by himself, but it would take more attempts. If other players "help" it will (or could) reduce the number of attempts required.

I totally agree with this approach, because this is RAW.
And since normally only one attempt at healing is permitted if the subject is dying, then any failure kills the subject. That will make the players consider if 3 tests at TN12 is better than one at TN14.
And it takes much longer!!

EDIT* It only takes longer if only one player is making all the tests. A benefit could be that you complete the Healing task in "normal" time IF 3 different players roll at the same time. They all roll at the reduced TN.

Cheers

[Majestic]

Glorelendil's post reminds me of one of the neat features of using the Eye Awareness rules. The more the players roll, the greater the chance of triggering a Revelation Episode. So it's nice to help out your companions, but there's a significant cost if you fail.

As regards the OP, I think I've done exactly as you've suggested, lowering the TN by 2.

Keep in mind that players can share bonus dice earned by Preliminary Rolls, too, which is sort of a way of using teamwork to accomplish things.

[Indur Dawndeath]

There are a number of ways you could go on this, all depends on what you prefer. These all assume the assisting PC has at least a rating of 1 in the given Common Skill and are in no particular order of preference:

1) The Hound of Mirkwood provides an 'assist' bonus to the player-hero it accompanies by letting them roll the Feat die twice and keep the best result for Common Skills it has been trained in. With just one additional PC aiding the other you could go with this, although if you're thinking of allowing more than one character to assist another this may not be the best option for you.

I think this is much too powerful and the Lake-men have the this benfit already from a Valour purchase "Physician"...

[Rich H]

I think this is much too powerful and the Lake-men have the this benfit already from a Valour purchase "Physician"...

True. I was brainstorming and offered up 5 different options though so there were bound to be a couple of turkeys in there.

[HalifaxDM]

Wow. Thanks a lot for all the great suggestions. They will be a great help.