A Definitive Vs Tests Thread

The idea of this thread is to put all of the fiddly Vs Tests questions that have come up (and keep coming up) to bed by compiling the information around them neatly in one place. (And to test my own understanding of this stuff.) As far as I can tell, there are still some open questions; hopefully the BWHQ folks can settle those – or explain that they are left open deliberately. Some of my understanding is probably wrong (and maybe stylistic), so hopefully I’ll get corrections where they’re needed. I expect this thread to grow over time; I’m sure I won’t catch everything.

1) Ob Penalties in Vs Tests:

  • a) When you suffer an Ob penalty in a Vs Test, you lose successes necessary to overcome that penalty before comparing your result to your opponent’s or negating their successes.

  • b) If you and your opponent lose all of your respective successes from penalties, you tie at 0 net successes.

  • c) Your final Obstacle in a Vs Test is your opponent’s successes less their Ob penalty, plus your Ob penalty. This means you can end up with an Ob 0 test for advancement, which is not logged.

2) Unskilled Vs Tests

  • a) If you’re testing a stat against a skill, halve your successes before comparing your results to your opponent’s (round down) – But after applying any Ob penalties. This is how the Double Obstacle penalty applies to Vs Tests.

  • b) If you’re testing a stat against a skill as Beginner’s Luck, your Obstacle for advancement is the amount of net successes your opponent generated plus any Ob penalty you were suffering. Your opponent’s Obstacle is half your net successes rounded down plus any penalty.

  • c) If you’re testing a stat against a skill not as Beginner’s Luck (as in a Maintain vs a Sneak Out, or a Charge vs a Throw Person), your Obstacle for advancement is the amount of net successes your opponent generated doubled plus any Ob penalties you were suffering. Your opponent’s Obstacle is half your net successes rounded down plus any penalty.

  • d) In cases where extra successes matter – as in a Strike vs a Block – and you are testing unskilled (regardless of whether your opponent is skilled), you halve any extra successes you generate before applying them. (Going from an Incidental hit to a Mark with an Unskilled Sword test requires 4 extra successes, not 2.)

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Good idea, @Gnosego; nothing looks off-beam about those.

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Hey, thanks!

Any additions to suggest? Any questions about Vs Tests you frequently see that haven’t been addressed by what’s in the original post?

If you had time, editing in page references after each point would be satisfyingly complete; that’s definitely only a nice to have though.

Can’t see anything missing.

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