I'm not sure if anyone else has had this come up at their table, but a player of mine will frequently attempt superfluous stunts that require an athletics check (he's highly skilled and rolls significant advantages usually) in an attempt to recover strain in the middle of a combat encounter. I don't really have a problem with this, since failure usually means him going face first into the dirt, but I am worried that I may be breaking some game mechanic, and that I shouldn't have been letting them do this the entire time. Any thoughts?

Each check (typically) is an Action (notable exceptions are Knowledge checks); if the PC is performing superfluous antics for possible strain recovery during his combat turn he's not helping deal with adversaries. Would be better to just shoot/strike an opponent (or otherwise be actually useful) and get (possibly) two benefits for the cost of one action.

You're not breaking any mechanics, but you are facilitating a breach in the player/GM contract, namely the player's tomfuckery.

If he's doing Athletics-based stunts every turn then he isn't doing anything else of consequence. Sure, he'll recover Strain, but he's round about useless to the rest of the group in the meantime, and it's not like Strain is all that hard to recover in other ways.

You're the GM and if you think he is just doing checks to game the numbers then simply tell him no.

When an action does make the PC recover strain, it is, ipso facto, not superflous anymore. To keep it superflous you must refuse them the recovery.

On the other hand, some people still believe stretching your muscles before physical exertion is beneficial. Perhaps it's just that what they're trying to emulate.

If the action has no risk associated with it, and is just being done to facilitate strain recovery; just tell them they succeed with no need to roll.

The dice should be rolled only when the outcome is in question, dramatic or matters. Rolling dice just to game the system should be discouraged.

If he is rolling a fistful of Yellow dice on a (easy) athletics check, I would follow the advice of GM-Dave and GM-Phil and not even make him roll. Just phrase it as "Your character is so in tune with the movement of his body that this simple act os not even worth a check"

If he is happy with that, you then know that he was just roleplaying a very athletic and agile character (Parkour! Parkour!)

If he kicks up a stink and demands a roll, then they are being beardy and gaming the system, and you need to deal with that.

Each check (typically) is an Action (notable exceptions are Knowledge checks); if the PC is performing superfluous antics for possible strain recovery during his combat turn he's not helping deal with adversaries. Would be better to just shoot/strike an opponent (or otherwise be actually useful) and get (possibly) two benefits for the cost of one action.

You're not breaking any mechanics, but you are facilitating a breach in the player/GM contract, namely the player's tomfuckery.

I knew I was missing something. I'd completely forgotten that most checks count as an action. I've been letting him recover strain with athletic checks and attacking in the same turn. I knew the whole thing felt wrong.

You're not breaking any mechanics, but you are facilitating a breach in the player/GM contract, namely the player's tomfuckery.

Please try to keep this Star Wars Language. Doesn't bother me to much but it does bother others.

Each check (typically) is an Action (notable exceptions are Knowledge checks); if the PC is performing superfluous antics for possible strain recovery during his combat turn he's not helping deal with adversaries. Would be better to just shoot/strike an opponent (or otherwise be actually useful) and get (possibly) two benefits for the cost of one action.

You're not breaking any mechanics, but you are facilitating a breach in the player/GM contract, namely the player's tomfuckery.

I knew I was missing something. I'd completely forgotten that most checks count as an action. I've been letting him recover strain with athletic checks and attacking in the same turn. I knew the whole thing felt wrong.

Yep that's your problem.

Wow, players will try anything, won't they?

If you don't tell a player no, they will find a way

A couple things go on here. First, make sure the things which they're doing require a check in the first place. Second, as has been said, if you're rolling dice in structured time then it's almost always your only Action (especially for Athletics). A character can't climb a wall and shoot in the same turn. One can't jump the gorge as a maneuver. Third, since it's his action make sure you have him describe what he's doing and how it's helping to make the character more relaxed/under less stress. If it doesn't make narrative sense, don't allow the strain recovery.

To explore RAW a bit, recovering strain on a non-attack skill check is always something which the GM allows rather than something which is hard coded in. It's pretty gamey (but also is what the PC seems to be doing), but the table which says you can spend an advantage to recover a strain is only referenced on EotE p. 205 in the context of resolving an attack roll. It is not stated under Athletics (or any other skill), nor anywhere else I can see in the book, that a non-attack skill check's advantages can be used to recover strain. It seems it is not a general rule a PC can -always- use advantage to recover strain and is instead up to the GM to allow.

Each check (typically) is an Action (notable exceptions are Knowledge checks); if the PC is performing superfluous antics for possible strain recovery during his combat turn he's not helping deal with adversaries. Would be better to just shoot/strike an opponent (or otherwise be actually useful) and get (possibly) two benefits for the cost of one action.

You're not breaking any mechanics, but you are facilitating a breach in the player/GM contract, namely the player's tomfuckery.

I knew I was missing something. I'd completely forgotten that most checks count as an action. I've been letting him recover strain with athletic checks and attacking in the same turn. I knew the whole thing felt wrong.

Another option that occurs to me is simply tell him he is so graceful he executes his move no problem and dice aren't necessary.....and then welcome him to narrative system and thank him for embracing it with his Athletic descriptions of his movements...

You can also resolve out the advantages in another way....Instead of healing strain you can tell him "the next PC gets a boost die because you distracted the enemies with your graceful acrobatic display."

I use this thread for a question about the rule : one check = one action. Thanks

I had a game where a Noc force user used his "move" power to make the roof falls on one if the player character. He succeeded so I made a description to the player stating the roof was shaking, and about to fall on him. Then when his turn arrived, I asked him an Athletic check to dodge the rubbles fallung on his head. I said it was a maneuver... Then he was allowed to fire his gun in the same turn... I think now I was wrong, what do you think?

Should I make the force user rolling a Discipline check against Athletic in the first place and resolve the roof falling on him or not in the same turn?

Thanks

Sounds like you wanted a contested check, in which case the Force user would be rolling their Discipline (the positive dice) against the target's Athletics (the negative dice).

I use this thread for a question about the rule : one check = one action. Thanks

I had a game where a Noc force user used his "move" power to make the roof falls on one if the player character. He succeeded so I made a description to the player stating the roof was shaking, and about to fall on him. Then when his turn arrived, I asked him an Athletic check to dodge the rubbles fallung on his head. I said it was a maneuver... Then he was allowed to fire his gun in the same turn... I think now I was wrong, what do you think?

Should I make the force user rolling a Discipline check against Athletic in the first place and resolve the roof falling on him or not in the same turn?

Thanks

Sounds like you wanted a contested check, in which case the Force user would be rolling their Discipline (the positive dice) against the target's Athletics (the negative dice).

I wouldn't use a saving throw roll, I agree a contested roll is an option. If you wanted the PC to be able to escape another option would be to have the collapsing roof act as an environmental issue and add Setback dice to the PCs skill checks in the area of effect and perhaps an upgrade as well to represent that errant ceiling tile or whatever hitting them.

I agree the contested check between Discipline and Athletic would have been the best option, with the failure leading to damages for the player. Thanks for the confirmation guyz, and sorry for my intrusion into this thread

Rosco74: While your situation probably would have worked best as an attack roll of some sort, there's nothing wrong with the GM calling for a "roll to avoid falling rubble." And that shouldn't count as the character's action (in fact, everyone should be rolling during the rubble's "turn"). His action is something the player chooses, so in some cases he might make more than one roll in a turn. This is fine.

The GM is also well within his rights to allow more than one action roll in a turn, he just needs to be careful. If one of my players wants to jump from one airspeeder to another, then shove his vibrosword through the windshield to try to kill the enemy pilot, that's pretty awesome, and I'm going to let him try. He'll need to pass a nasty Athletics check, with a significant risk of falling to his death, or maybe just dropping his sword and dangling from the edge of the speeder. But if he succeeds, sure, he can use his momentum to jam that sword in. If he gets a bunch of advantage, he can even spend it on boost dice.

Notice, though, that even in a high-action game like Star Wars, that jump is going to be pretty uncommon. There is also a steep price for failure, and if he blows it, he sure as heck ain't getting that second action. If my player says, "My Coordination is crazy high. I want to do a sick flip over the bad guy, and slice at him with my sword as I fly over," I'm not going to have him roll. I'll say, "Okay, yeah, we'll call that flip a maneuver, here's a boost die. If you want to spend 2 strain, you can make it extra sick and get another one. Make your attack roll. Dang, you failed with threat? Sorry, your flip was lame, and you landed on your face. Take some extra Strain, and the Sith Lord calls you a dork."

For game smoothness I think I will stick to the one roll per turn rule. But how could I resolve your exemple above, I mean one guy jumping from a speeder to another before slamming his vibrosword?

That's my opinion, but I would require a maneuver for the jump itself, then I would upgrade the combat check one time, maybe adding another setback die with it. Any despair on the roll would make the player fall from the speeder.

I am not sure if there is better way to resolve all those exemples, finally you just need to agree with the players, keep it fair and that's it.

The action economy in this game seems more based on effort than anything else.

Even though it's simple movement, jumping from speeder to speeder requires more effort that simply changing position on an empty plane. So I would still require it to be an action.

I wouldn't let PCs just do the movement and attack or you lessen things like Hawk Bat Swoop and the Control upgrade on Enhance imo.

For game smoothness I think I will stick to the one roll per turn rule. But how could I resolve your exemple above, I mean one guy jumping from a speeder to another before slamming his vibrosword?

That's my opinion, but I would require a maneuver for the jump itself, then I would upgrade the combat check one time, maybe adding another setback die with it. Any despair on the roll would make the player fall from the speeder.

I am not sure if there is better way to resolve all those exemples, finally you just need to agree with the players, keep it fair and that's it.

You could alway replace a characteristic with a skill for a combined check. Or just adjust the difficulty by adding in this case upgrades (you could miss the jump on despair).

Or do both.

I would not be too concerned about lessening talents like hawk bat swoop, you spend here a a movement maneuver, gain upgrades on your skill check and do not get extra advantages from your force dice either. More than enough advantages for talents, force powers and equipment to kick in.