1/2 Stat Obs, Double Ob in Fight! ... And Charge!

Burning Wheel Subsystem Advice and Guidance
#1

Hey, folks! I was hoping you could vet some of my understanding of Fight!

1/2 Stat Obstacles are Standard Obstacles, so testing Power against them for Push, Lock, and Charge doubles the Obstacle back up to the full Stat (+1 if the Stat’s Exponent is an odd number because you round up!). You can use Brawling instead of Power to keep it 1/2 Stat for Push and Lock, but not for Charge.

So Charge is gonna be tough in the first Exchange (Artha not withstanding) assuming equivalent Exponents on each side. Unless you can Ambush the poor fella and he runs (Screaming), especially if he was gonna Engage with a Long+ weapon, since Run Screaming isn’t a Defensive action.

The Double Ob rule in Fight! is probably an extension of Beginner’s Luck and doesn’t “stack” to double the Ob again (if you’re looking to open Brawling, so you’re Testing Power, for instance).

But, the fact that Charge is “naturally” a Power Test doesn’t mean that it’s exempt from the Double Ob rule.

Is all that right?

#2

Standard Test Actions (p. 440) says that the Ob is 1/2 opponent’s skill/stat and you test the indicated Ability (not Skill). It does not mention doubling or Beginner’s Luck.

Versus Tests for stat vs. skill (p441) says that the person rolling stat doubles their opponent’s successes to calculate their Ob.

The Ob chart for Charge/Tackle (p.446) lists some Obs as 1/2 stat and some as vs. Skill/stat.

So, my interpretation is that 1/2 ability is Power against a fixed Ob not a stat vs. skill or Beginners’ Luck test so doesn’t double just because the relevant aggressive ability is a stat not a skill; and it similarly doesn’t double when testing vs. stat; but when testing against Throw it does double because that is stat vs. skill.

5 Likes
#3

Hey, thanks, Dave! The crux of the issue for me was whether the Unskilled in Fight applied to anytime you were using a Stat, rather than just Beginner’s Luck or Vs Skills.

This helps a lot.

And thanks to all the folks supporting Dave’s comment!

1 Like
#4

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.