Hey everyone, could something clarify this talent for me:

1) The difficulty of the check gets easier with each rank. Does it include the first rank as well? So, with one rank of the talent the difficulty is 4 or 3?

2) Does the Improved version counts as a rank of the talent to lower the difficulty?

3) Is the action to shake off staggered/disoriented an incidental or normal action? If the latter - am I correct in understanding that sometimes (for example most crits that bring said effects) this talent is useless, since I lose the action anyway?

Ad3) I'm not complaining, just want to be sure I know how it works.

1) Under the description of Hard Headed (p. 136) "the difficulty of this check decreases by one per additional rank of Hard Headed, to a minimum of Easy.

2) Yes and no. The Improved version is not a ranked talent and has a different name, so it does not count as a rank per se. However, the description says the difficulty "decreases by one per rank of Hard Headed, to a minimum of Easy." Since the first rank is now counted in lowering the difficulty, it counts in a way. (is that convaluted enough?)

3) Both talents activate as "Active (Action)." The descriptions for both allow that "this action can be specifically be performed even though he is normally barred from performing actions."

It depends on the duration of the effect on whether or not the talent is "useless." For example, the PC suffers the Stunned critical and "is staggered until the end of his next turn"...not too useful since the condition will end one way or another. Get hit with a Stun Grenade (Disorient 3) or take a few hits from a Concussive weapon (each additional activation of the quality extends the duration), and it may be worth it. The talent gets more useful when you use the Improved version to recover from being incapacitated due to exceeding your strain threshold, basically staying in the fight so you can get out of the fight.

Domingo covered things well, but I thought I'd expand with some examples for 1 and 2.

1. If you have one (1) rank of Hard Headed then the difficulty is 4 purple.

If you have two (2) ranks of Hard Headed then the difficulty is 3 purple.

If you have three (3) ranks of Hard Headed then the difficulty is 2 purple.

And so on to a minimum difficulty of 1 purple.

2. If you are using Improved Hard Headed and have one (1) rank of Hard Headed then the difficulty is 4 purple (starts at 5 purple but is reduced by the one rank you have to buy to get to Improved).

If you are using Improved Hard Headed and have two (2) ranks of Hard Headed then the difficulty is 3 purple.

If you are using Improved Hard Headed and have three (3) ranks of Hard Headed then the difficulty is 2 purple.

And so on to a minimum difficulty of 1 purple.

Thing to note, Hard Headed and Improved Hard Headed will have the same difficulty, which makes it a bit easier to keep track of.

Thing to note, Hard Headed and Improved Hard Headed will have the same difficulty, which makes it a bit easier to keep track of.

It would have been best if Improved Hard Headed just told you to make a Hard Headed check as described in that talent.