As a GM, I would find it counter productive, but I wouldn't disallow players using the assist maneuver on a player trying to shoot a baddy : much like a sniper's partner calling range and wind speed and the likes, or just doing suppression fire to pin the target down so it's easier to hit. So if a player asked to assist someone shooting, I'd allow it.

So with the new Advocate tree, and the F&D Togruta race, it could make one mean assisting machine
Since I don't have the book yet, I was just wondering if the Talents descriptions disallowed the use in combat of these talents during combat ?

Encouraging Words : After an engaged ally fails a check, may suffer 1 strain to assist that ally's next check this encounter as an out of turn incidental.

Pack Hunters : When performing the assist maneuver, Togrutas grant 2 boost instead of 1 boost.

Same idea with Supporting Evidence (When assisting an Ally with a Charm, Deception, Leadership or Negotiation check, add automatic Advantage per rank of Supporting Evidence), you'd give your ally 2 Boost and 2 automatic Advantages as a Togruta. That would make one mean Support character.

What do you guys think ?

Drall could also make great Advocate...

When doing skilled assistance, they upgrade the ally dice pool and also provide a boost die.
So a Drall Gun Fighter with many ranks of Agility or Ranged(??) could give an upgrade and a boost die when doing the Assist maneuver on a gun firing ally.

Drall could also make great Advocate...

When doing skilled assistance, they upgrade the ally dice pool and also provide a boost die.

So a Drall Gun Fighter with many ranks of Agility or Ranged(??) could give an upgrade and a boost die when doing the Assist maneuver on a gun firing ally.

The Drall's species bonus is limited to when making skilled assistance rather than when using the Assist maneuver (which is specifically where the Togruta shines). There is some debate as to whether skilled assistance can be used in combat/structured time.

Drall could also make great Advocate...

When doing skilled assistance, they upgrade the ally dice pool and also provide a boost die.

So a Drall Gun Fighter with many ranks of Agility or Ranged(??) could give an upgrade and a boost die when doing the Assist maneuver on a gun firing ally.

The Drall's species bonus is limited to when making skilled assistance rather than when using the Assist maneuver (which is specifically where the Togruta shines). There is some debate as to whether skilled assistance can be used in combat/structured time.

Huh, I never knew there was a debate. But reading Chapter I, I can see how there is a small lack of clarity that I just sort of glossed over.

Are you including the advantage that is rolled being used to boost the next PC?

Are you including the advantage that is rolled being used to boost the next PC?

That is a separate affair...the "Assist" maneuver, and Assisted Checks in general, are not incumbent on dice pool results. Assisted Checks are detailed on page 25 of EotE Core Rulebook.

Encouraging Words : After an engaged ally fails a check, may suffer 1 strain to assist that ally's next check this encounter as an out of turn incidental.

Pack Hunters : When performing the assist maneuver, Togrutas grant 2 boost instead of 1 boost.

Don't have the book handy, but if that's a direct quote it looks like a viable 1 strain to add 2 boost next turn while still being free to do other stuff...

Same idea with Supporting Evidence (When assisting an Ally with a Charm, Deception, Leadership or Negotiation check, add automatic Advantage per rank of Supporting Evidence), you'd give your ally 2 Boost and 2 automatic Advantages as a Togruta. That would make one mean Support character.

This one... I think you give 2 boost but only one advantage/rank. The Togruta grants 2 boost instead of 1 on assists, he doesn't double the effects of the assistance....

Still something to write home about though...

This one... I think you give 2 boost but only one advantage/rank. The Togruta grants 2 boost instead of 1 on assists, he doesn't double the effects of the assistance....

Yeah I was thinking if the character has both ranks in Supporting Evidence, then the Togruta gives 2 boost (Assist + pack hunters) and 2 advantges (both ranks).

Huh, I never knew there was a debate. But reading Chapter I, I can see how there is a small lack of clarity that I just sort of glossed over.

Assist is listed in Structured Gameplay overview as a Type of Maneuvers you can do in combat (Edge p.201).

The only real limitation is being engaged with the character you wish to assist. It is still up to the GM.

And therein, I suppose, lies the debate, because it seems as clear as day to me: performing the assist maneuver allows an engaged ally to add a Boost die to his next check, with more characters potentially adding more Boost dice to the check.

There seems to be absolutely no room in the Assist maneuver to interpret that a target could benefit from Skilled Assistance, and it is therefore to be inferred that Skilled Assistance belongs fairly strictly to narrative play. This looks to be clearly implied when reading the last paragraph of Assisted Checks section on page 33 EotE (Assistance and Timing) together with the Assist maneuver rules on page 214.

Am I missing something?

One of my players just told me that when you spend a maneuver to aim, you add a Boost die.

So when you assist a player in a fight, you're doing the aiming for him, trading a maneuver for a boost die... so it's basically the same thing.

I can compare it to using stimpacks ; you can spend a maneuver to use a stimpack and heal yourself.... or your partner (who's the medic with the stimpack specialization) can spend his maneuver to heal you for more

Unlike awayputurwpn, I'm not sure if I would disallow Skilled Assistance in combat... the skilled player is giving out advice out to shoot, spending his maneuver to concentrate on his friend and telling him where/when/how to shoot so he's shooting better. Being a more skilled gunman isn't necessarily being more precise, but maybe it's seeing things others don't... like patterns or tactics used by the enemies ; he shoots twice then ducks behind cover, waits 4 seconds then shoots twice again... or that the target shoots 3 random shots before coming out of cover to make sure it's clear... being able to see those patterns would increase the odds of getting a hit and winning the encounter. So maybe that's what the player doing skilled assistance is saying to his buddy.

The more I think about it, the more both would be allowed in fights.

Forget boosts. What groups really need is someone who can cook.

We had a set of hot twins hanging around on board - their betrayal really hurt. But when they got pissed off and ended up slaughtering the leering ex-pirate cook we had picked up, that hurt.