Skills question (general and combat)

[ubrgeek]

Hi folks - I'm just working through my first pass of the Sci-Fi rules (I didn't pick up the basic rules as I believe I read that the Sci-Fi rules can stand alone) and had two questions. The first may be answered later in the rules. If so, I apologize:

1) For combat, I don't see specific, weapon-related skills, like pistol, hand-to-hand, smg, etc. Is the assumption that anyone can use any sort of personal weapon? I see "gunner" listed but there's no description and I assume that only refers to vehicle-mounted weapons.

2) Under the example for skills (Page 27), it says the doctor has three assistants for a +3 dice bonus and has specialized. It goes on to say he gets a 10. Does that mean he rolled a 6 and with the +3 for the assistants and +1 for specializing that brought it to a 10? And then is the final number of 30 from the 10 being multiplied by 3 for the Mind 3? I think that would make sense because it says without the assistants he would only have gotten a 21 (roll of 6, +1 specialization, multiplied by 3 for his Mind stat).

I guess I'm having trouble getting my mind around what the example is trying to say. Any clarification would be really, really appreciated.

[BASHMAN]

1) For combat, I don't see specific, weapon-related skills, like pistol, hand-to-hand, smg, etc. Is the assumption that anyone can use any sort of personal weapon? I see "gunner" listed but there's no description and I assume that only refers to vehicle-mounted weapons.

You are correct on both accounts. I could see making a Disadvantage called "Noncombatant" that would give the character penalties in attacks.

However, a person can be trained to be better with certain weapons. That is what the Weapon Technique power is for. (It is a Mundane Power in BASH! Sci-Fi Edition).

So you could have a character with Agility 3 with Pistol Technique 2 (+1 Hit +1 DM) that has x4 to hit and +1DM to damage with all pistols.

2) Under the example for skills (Page 27), it says the doctor has three assistants for a +3 dice bonus and has specialized. It goes on to say he gets a 10. Does that mean he rolled a 6 and with the +3 for the assistants and +1 for specializing that brought it to a 10? And then is the final number of 30 from the 10 being multiplied by 3 for the Mind 3? I think that would make sense because it says without the assistants he would only have gotten a 21 (roll of 6, +1 specialization, multiplied by 3 for his Mind stat).

Specialization gives you the chance to roll twice, keep the higher result; it does not give a bonus to the roll itself.

So his original roll on the 2d6 was 7. His 3 Assistants gives +3, to make the roll 10. His Multiplier is 3 (his Mind). He gets 30 because of the Assistants. Without them, he would have had 7x3 = 21.

[ubrgeek]

Ahh, OK. Thanks for the clarification. (And I like the combat weapon technique idea. I'll play around with how to apply that.)