My players and I have come up with a house rule for combat to reduce some of the frustration at how the dice rolls are going. Players (and NPC's) are allowed to swap successes for advantages at a 1-1 basis, but only for the purpose of activating weapon qualities (such as autofire, blast, etc). My players were very frustrated at rolling 4-6 successes, but no advantages, and not being able to use the special effect of the weapons they were using. So far I don't see any problems, but does anyone else see anything problematic? I put the restriction for weapon qualities to prevent excessive criticals.

If it works for your group then that's all that matters. I've been having the opposite problem, constant failures with gobs of advantages.

So, you would trigger more hits, but less damage per hit?

I can’t say that I can see any problems per se, but I do have to wonder how this kind of rule would change combats that we have had.

If it works for your group then that's all that matters. I've been having the opposite problem, constant failures with gobs of advantages.

That’s easy — lots of boost dice to pass around for the next check, which is then more likely to succeed.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the house rule, but I can empathize with the plight of high-success-zero-advantage rolls. I think Success and Advantage should be distinct; otherwise you end up cheapening one of them (Advantage, by my estimation).

But if it works and is fun for your group, that's what matters.

If I needed a house rule to mitigate stubborn dice, I might do a 2-1 swap ratio (2 success for 1 Advantage). That way it's a tactical decision instead of "hey I rolled a bunch of good stuff, it's all good!" And that way certain Force talents and powers are also worth something (allowing you to use a Force Point to generate a Success or Advantage, user's choice).

Edit: even so, I would generally keep the rules as is, and if a given roll is hugely successful (like a grenade attack on a minion group) I might fudge it a bit, situationally, and give the player the benefit of a given weapon quality.

It's a good option, but I suggest that you only let exchange based on that skill Ranks. Ratio will allways be 1:1 but...

you can only exchange so many Success for Advantage as Ranks you have on that skill. Could be good, coherent and great mod

So, if do you have 2 Ranks on Ranged (Light), you can only exchange up to 2 Succes to Advantage.

By the way, try to show to your players that Advantage have a really high value and don't understimate them. So be cautious.

The danger of this is that it allows for a lot more damage output from autofire over the high damage from a single, good hit.

For example, you have players using a Light Repeating Blaster Rifle (dmg: 11, auto-fire, pierce 1, cumbersome 4) and the player rolls 5 successes. Normally that would be 16 damage in one hit. Against a minion group of soak 5, that's 12 damage into the group (pierce 1 reduces the soak to 4 for the hit). If the player changed 4 of those successes to advantages, then they can do 3 hits of 12 damage each. Against that same minion group, that is now 3 hits doing 8, 8 and 8 damage into the group, or 24 damage. So, you've just let the player DOUBLE his final damage output.

I understand the frustration of combat at low skill levels. It's nearly the same as in D&D/Pathfinder at low levels. Instead of this house rule, the players might need to adjust their expectations. Poorly skilled people don't tend to hit a lot with shots and instead tend to get other effects, like getting the target to duck (advantages with no successes), or let them shoot lots (in the narrative) and get a good hit (successes, but no advantages).

If it works for your group then that's all that matters. I've been having the opposite problem, constant failures with gobs of advantages.

That’s easy — lots of boost dice to pass around for the next check, which is then more likely to succeed.

My group refers to this as the "boost train", especially if it happens several times in a row.

Aim can be a good choice of course

If it works for your group then that's all that matters. I've been having the opposite problem, constant failures with gobs of advantages.

That’s easy — lots of boost dice to pass around for the next check, which is then more likely to succeed.

My group refers to this as the "boost train", especially if it happens several times in a row.

Heh...at some point, that Boost die is going to turn into a Success and be awesome!!

Or it could just turn up blank. And that would not be awesome. It would be sad.

Sad little caboose on the boost train, getting disconnected and watching the rest of the train fade away into the distance...all alone...

Seems a bit pointless using the dice system at all if you do this....

Here is my link that has a Bunch of House Rules...

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/106434-house-rules/?hl=%2Bhouse+%2Brules

Enjoy