trystero Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 I'm rolling up my first RQ:G adventurer (a Sartarite Humakti, why do you ask?), and hit my first rules question: if I have a Communication category modifier of –5, and no bonuses to Act skill (base 05%), is my Act skill 0%, or is there a rule somewhere that I can't find that says it can't go below 1%? I see that situational penalties, such as the one for darkness (p. 224), never lower the chance of success below 5%, but I'm not sure whether that applies to permanent skill levels. Quote — “Self-discipline isn’t everything; look at Pol Pot.”—Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furry Fella Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 Yes they can, without training or a change in the communications modifier Acting is at Zero and cannot be used. Unfortunately I'm not able to access my PDF of the rules so can't immediately give you the reference. This is / has been consistent across all Chaosium editions of RQ. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanataka Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 p.142 SuccessA result of equal to or less than the ability’s rating indicates a success. A roll of 1–5 on D100 is always a success, even if the ability rating is lower. All skills are guaranteed 5% success, even if it is zero or negative. Only the exception to this rule is skills with base chance (00). You have not acquired those skills until you improve it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prinz Slasar Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 (edited) "The lowest value a skill can have is 00%, which represents zero chance of success. A skill never has a minus value; if a bonus would make a skill start below 00%, write in 00%." (p 57) Edited June 5, 2018 by prinz.slasar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonh Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 I think both the quotes by Hanataka and prinz.slasar are correct and consistent. If your skill is modified to 00 or less, write it down as 00%. However when rolling for success, if your skill is less than 05%, then a roll of 05 or less is still successful. Skills with a base of 00 are a special case. Simon Hibbs 1 Quote Check out the Runequest Glorantha Wiki for RQ links and resources. Any updates or contributions welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilHibbs Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 There's always been a difference between a skill that has a zero base (like read/write) and a skill that has a base that is wiped out by a category modifier. The latter is just like any other skill number, you always still a 01-05 chance of success. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajagappa Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 12 hours ago, simonh said: If your skill is modified to 00 or less, write it down as 00%. However when rolling for success, if your skill is less than 05%, then a roll of 05 or less is still successful. Skills with a base of 00 are a special case. This is a reason I keep my skill level and my category bonus separate. The skill level is still 5%. Your ability bonus just doesn't help. However, you might have magic to overcome that, or be inspired, and either would modify the chance of success. That is not the case for skill level of 00%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trystero Posted June 6, 2018 Author Share Posted June 6, 2018 Thanks to everyone who replied. I'd completely missed the rule on p. 57. So I have a 0% Act skill, but can still benefit from the 01–05 rule (p. 142), since it's not an untrained base-00% skill. Quote — “Self-discipline isn’t everything; look at Pol Pot.”—Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prinz Slasar Posted June 7, 2018 Share Posted June 7, 2018 (edited) On 6/6/2018 at 4:15 AM, trystero said: Thanks to everyone who replied. I'd completely missed the rule on p. 57. So I have a 0% Act skill, but can still benefit from the 01–05 rule (p. 142), since it's not an untrained base-00% skill. The Quickstart is a bit clearer regarding this topic and complement your reading. "Abilities with a rating of '00' have zero chance of a success" (p 2) So a skill with a rating of 0% has a 5%-chance of success and a skill with a rating of "00" a zero chance. Page 57 seems wrong and mingle two separate facts. The lowest possible skill rating of 0% and that abilities with a rating of '00' have zero chance of a success. Edited June 7, 2018 by prinz.slasar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atgxtg Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 On 6/5/2018 at 10:15 PM, trystero said: Thanks to everyone who replied. I'd completely missed the rule on p. 57. So I have a 0% Act skill, but can still benefit from the 01–05 rule (p. 142), since it's not an untrained base-00% skill. Yeah the idea is that something that starts off at 00% is something that you have no knowledge of (in fact it is usually a Knowledge skill) and so have no chance of success. Something like speaking a foreign language that you've never hear before. On the other hand, a skill that starts off with a higher base, but gets reduced down to a 0% success chance is something that you do have some knowledge of, you're just really bad at it. So your character can act, he's just a very very bad actor. 1 Quote Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soltakss Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 On 6/5/2018 at 11:54 PM, jajagappa said: This is a reason I keep my skill level and my category bonus separate. I know people who do this. It makes my skin crawl. I have to do addition every time I roll a skill, not a problem skillwise for me, but it just adds complicaton every time and makes me have to remember to do it. Quote Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. www.soltakss.com/index.html Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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