One-Hit Kills

[HorusZA]

We've tweaked the rules a bit to avoid these kind of complications:
- If the outcome is irrelevant with no interesting consequences for either success or failure, there's no roll. Period. No matter if you have an applicable trait or not. This pretty much applies to all skill-based games we play.
- If the outcome is in doubt and interesting, you roll.
The above two are summarized by the principle of "Say Yes or roll the dice."
- If you roll and have an applicable trait, you may choose to re-roll the fate die and pick the best result. Very useful, but nowhere near as reliable as an auto-success. We've experimented with other methods (roll extra die, get set bonus, re-roll all the dice, etc. ) but we've settled on this as it feels right for our group: Traits are still useful but with a much reduced chance of abuse and cause for argument.

EDIT: While on the subject... Another useful principle (also from Burning Wheel) is "Let it ride." which basically states that once you have made a roll the outcome is determined. So, if the intent was to sneak into an Orc encampment and into the chieftain's tent, one roll (at a suitable difficulty) is made, not a roll to get past the sentry, another to avoid the tent-guard and another not to wake the dozing Warg.
Similarly, unless the intended outcome changes, if you fail that's it, deal with it and move on. This really speeds up play and makes it very clear to everyone what the stakes are.