NEWS

[SR6] Analytical Mind & Extended Tests

  • 6 Replies
  • 1839 Views

ZeroSum

  • *
  • Omae
  • ***
  • Posts: 401
« on: <10-15-19/1928:23> »
Pretty simple question, really.

Can you earn Edge from Analytical Mind when taking Extended Tests based on Logic?
If yes, do you earn one Edge per roll, or one for the entire test?

The weird part is, it seems like if earning and spending Edge on extended tests was intended to be prohibited. The Gearhead quality specifically states:
Quote
You gain an Edge on Repair tests for any vehicle and can spend Edge during downtime to make Extended Repair tests.

But the Extended Tests section, the Edge section, and the Engineering skill section all fail to mention any kind of restriction on earning and spending Edge, at least as far as I can tell.

Stainless Steel Devil Rat

  • *
  • Errata Coordinator
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 4572
« Reply #1 on: <10-15-19/1934:09> »
My knee-jerk answer would be that an extended test is still only one test, no matter how many intervals it might have.
RPG mechanics exist to give structure and consistency to the game world, true, but at the end of the day, you’re fighting dragons with algebra and random number generators.

ZeroSum

  • *
  • Omae
  • ***
  • Posts: 401
« Reply #2 on: <10-16-19/0727:41> »
I tend to agree with you; the CRB doesn't refer to Extended Tests as "a series of tests" or some such verbiage. Instead, it specifies that
Quote
Extended tests have a dice pool and a threshold like Simple tests, but the threshold does not have to be met on a single roll (and often can’t be). The player can make multiple rolls of the dice pool, progressively making the dice pool 1 die smaller each time they roll, until they have accumulated enough hits (totaling the hits from all their rolls) to meet or beat the threshold.

So yeah, I definitely think consecutive rolls should still be treated as a single test for the purposes of Analytical Mind.

I'm still not sure about the Gearhead quality though; there is no mention that I can find of a limitation on Edge being spent on Extended Tests or during Downtime, but if that is not the case then the Gearhead quality is somewhat superfluous. You'd still get the Edge for Repair tests, obviously.

Banshee

  • *
  • Catalyst Demo Team
  • Ace Runner
  • ***
  • Posts: 1095
« Reply #3 on: <10-16-19/0751:57> »
Yeah, I don't know ... that's over my pay grade, but I would lean towards the same things you guys are saying
Robert "Banshee" Volbrecht
Freelancer & FAQ Committee member
Former RPG Lead Agent
Catalyst Demo Team

Finstersang

  • *
  • Omae
  • ***
  • Posts: 751
« Reply #4 on: <10-16-19/0954:49> »
Pretty simple question, really.

Can you earn Edge from Analytical Mind when taking Extended Tests based on Logic?
If yes, do you earn one Edge per roll, or one for the entire test?

The weird part is, it seems like if earning and spending Edge on extended tests was intended to be prohibited. The Gearhead quality specifically states:
Quote
You gain an Edge on Repair tests for any vehicle and can spend Edge during downtime to make Extended Repair tests.

But the Extended Tests section, the Edge section, and the Engineering skill section all fail to mention any kind of restriction on earning and spending Edge, at least as far as I can tell.

You surely cannot do so @ my table, because without further errata, this broken-ass no-brainer Quality is deseverdly banned, as it is the case with most tables where the GM has a moderate amount of common sense.

That being said:
  • If there´s ever some kind of reasonable errata on this, it will likely restrict the scope of the quality back to Sherlock-style pattern analysis (excluding most hacking tests, build&rapair , hermetic drain resistance, Gunnery... OK who thought this is an adequate quality for 3 Karma?), in addition to putting a more sensible price tag on it...
  • Without further clarificationTM, it makes sense to assume that the Edge can be earned only once for the whole extended test and not for the different subtests. Else, you basically square the brokenness of this Quality. Same for similar Qualities like Catlike etc.
  • The Gearhead description is a really good catch. Seems likely that this is due to yet another editing fail  ::)
« Last Edit: <10-16-19/0956:59> by Finstersang »

Xenon

  • *
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 6468
« Reply #5 on: <10-16-19/1330:48> »
Analytical Mind as written is kinda broken (I can't think of anything else worth only 3 edge to be this powerful). Expect it to get changed =)


The weird part is, it seems like if earning and spending Edge on extended tests was intended to be prohibited. The Gearhead quality specifically states:
Quote
You gain an Edge on Repair tests for any vehicle and can spend Edge during downtime to make Extended Repair tests.

But the Extended Tests section, the Edge section, and the Engineering skill section all fail to mention any kind of restriction on earning and spending Edge, at least as far as I can tell.
I think the intention of what you just quoted is that you are not supposed to spend edge on tests (including but not limited to extended tests) if the test is taken specifically during down-time.

Michael Chandra

  • *
  • Catalyst Demo Team
  • Prime Runner
  • ***
  • Posts: 9922
  • Question-slicing ninja
« Reply #6 on: <10-16-19/1636:12> »
Yeah, someone mentioned it was the downtime-part that was special.
How am I not part of the forum?? O_O I am both active and angry!