Nature/Beginner's Luck clarification

For some reason I can’t seem to get my head wrapped around Beginner’s Luck and using Nature for tests (especially going against Nature/going with Nature). If anyone has the patience, could you explain the different possibilities with regards to Nature/Beginner’s Luck? A freeform explanation would be best, but I’ve provided numbered questions below that may be easier to answer, whichever you prefer.

  1. Page 233, Acting Against Your Nature states “This is not Beginner’s Luck. The player may roll his full current Nature, not half”. Don’t you use half Will or Health with BL, what’s the deal with half Nature?

  2. Essentially, you can use Nature for ANY test, against your Nature or not, even if you have a skill which you could use?

  3. You can tap into Nature for ANY test, against your Nature or not (although with different ramifications with regards to failure)?

  4. You can even go against your Nature and tap into your Nature (so a character with Nature 6 and a Persona point could roll 12 dice on any test, but probably be Taxed)?

  5. In Beginner’s Luck, the number of tests required to go from 0 to 1 and from 1 to 2 is listed (one successful test). Is it just for when you are Injured, fail the Healer roll and have 1 point deducted from an ability (the real question being, is there any other way to have an ability of 0 or 1 for advancement purposes)?

Again, if someone had the patience to do a full write-up of the different possibilities of BL/Nature use and the consequences of their use I’d be grateful. Or, if I manage to get my head wrapped around the issue, I can do the write-up myself and maybe put it into the wiki.

Thanks guys!

Beginner’s Luck is used to learn new skills. Nature cannot be used to learn new skills, hence the full value (pg 95).

Incorrect. If you are following your Nature, then you may use Nature in place of a skill at no cost (pg 232). If you are in a situation against your Nature and and don’t have the proper skill you may use Nature at the risk of taxing it (pg 233).

Incorrect, tapping within your Nature is no tax, tapping against your Nature is automatic tax of 1, or MoF (pg 234).

Yes, though when doing this you add Nature to your skill or ability rating for the test and risk taxing. You don’t just double Nature (pg 234).

If you wish to double your Nature, then the action must be within your nature (pg 234).

Incorrect, to learn a new Skill using Beginner’s Luck you must attempt the skill a number of times equal to your Nature, at which point you gain the skill at a rating of 2 (pg 230).

This is how I read the text in these instances. I may be wrong, but I don’t believe so.

Thanks for the response!

Yes, I agree with this part, but somewhere (don’t have my book with me) it reads that you have to get one successful test to advance a rating 0 or 1. Is this only for Resources and Circles and such? So minimum skill is 2?

Yes, you are seeing it in the book, in the beginning of the advancement chapter. Starting skills can be rated at 1, and Resources and Circles can be rated at 0 or 1, hence the rule.

All new skills learned through Beginner’s Luck begin at 2.

It’s possible, through injury, to have skills reduced, so it’s possible for skills to be at 1 or even 0.

Indeed, missed that bit, and makes the rule make even more sense.

I had a character botch an injury heal on first mission, and the doc failed even with 8d thrown… 0s.

So I took the skill he had been working on (he needed one more fail to make level 3) and zapped it to level 1. His next action raised it back to 2… a sting, not a slam, but definitely shaped the groups approach to injuries.

I had a character botch an injury heal on first mission, and the doc failed even with 8d thrown… 0s.

So I took the skill he had been working on (he needed one more fail to make level 3) and zapped it to level 1. His next action raised it back to 2… a sting, not a slam, but definitely shaped the groups approach to injuries.