The Psy. skill’s Root is Perception.
However in a Psychic duel it is stated that an unskilled shumck rolls Will at a doubled Obstacle. Is this right? The Psychologist is rolling his Psy skill, and the unskilled version would be Perception with Double Ob. (and you might one day learn it if the Psychologists have a real hankering to rewire you over and over again.
Thoughts?
Hm. Interesting.
I don’t quite know what to do about that.
Completely off the cuff: perception makes sense on offense (trying to read someone’s intentions), while will makes sense on defense (protecting agaisnt a psychic attack).
-chris
Yeah, it makes sense to me too! thats the problem.
I certainly understand the game design perspective of making psychologists need both Stats so they do not become lop sided, but have to consider trade offs… and I understand the logic behind requiring a Will Roll for defense… (certainly a will roll is better for my PC!).
But I thought it was an interesting kink in the game.
I would suppose that the Psychological Duel does at least count for a test for learning Psychology (the skill)?
Jason
It should, Jason, but remember that you can also do Beginner’s Luck on any of the tests listed under the Psychology skill (NOT the stuff in the Psych chapter, unless you have the Bright Mark). So Ob 4 Perception to detect a worm or whatever (don’t have my book here, so don’t quote me on the Obs) and several tests down the road you have the skill.
The Psychic Duel mechanics make sense to me by analogy to the DoW rules, where you use Will to determine Body of Argument even if your debating skill is rooted in Perception, or even by analogy to BW’s Fight! where an armed combatant can roll Weapon Skill for a block, or an unarmed one can roll Speed for an avoid, even though Sword (for instance) isn’t rooted in Speed. A Psychologist defending in a Psychic Duel is performing a fundamentally different function than a non-Psychologist, so they use a skill that’s rooted in a different stat, and that’s fine to my eyes.
Just change the root to Perception/Will - for Beginner’s Luck you have to roll Perception when it’s a “skill roll” and Will when it’s a psychic duel.
Makes perfect sense.