I feel like this is somewhere in the core rulebook but I cannot recall where it is. Let's say a group is trying to sneak, maintain a cover identity, or otherwise try to pull something off where any one of them screwing it up could screw it up for all of them. I think the core rules would say I do an opposed roll against the most skilled person in the group (say, Perception of the NPCs vs their stealthiest character's stealth) with potentially a boost die from an 'assist' from any other PC present. This doesn't feel right in this situation, though. It feels like trying to pull something off as a group when one member is crap at it should prove to make that thing harder. How do you all handle this, or have I forgotten a rule? Just getting back into GMing this after a long break. Thanks!

Have the PC group all make the roll against a set difficulty, usually that of the most observant NPC. Collectively they need one success per PC - one character failing it doesn't automatically blow it for the group since a good result from someone else can offset it.

On 11/18/2017 at 5:01 PM, Ian2400 said:

I feel like this is somewhere in the core rulebook but I cannot recall where it is. Let's say a group is trying to sneak, maintain a cover identity, or otherwise try to pull something off where any one of them screwing it up could screw it up for all of them. I think the core rules would say I do an opposed roll against the most skilled person in the group (say, Perception of the NPCs vs their stealthiest character's stealth) with potentially a boost die from an 'assist' from any other PC present. This doesn't feel right in this situation, though. It feels like trying to pull something off as a group when one member is crap at it should prove to make that thing harder. How do you all handle this, or have I forgotten a rule? Just getting back into GMing this after a long break. Thanks!

Check the skills chapter and the entry on Stealth. There's a method of allowing all the group to make individual checks against a common challenge but have extra successes roll over to represent more skilled Characters helping carry less skilled ones.

So you can get a narrative that's still a net success, but generating a scene where one guy fails and another's quick thinking pulls it off anyway.

There's a thread somewhere in which many interesting ideas for group checks were proposed by forum members.

I simply have expanded the RAW regarding assisted checks to include Hindered Assistance. Hindered Assistance is similar to Unskilled Assistance, except you add setback instead of bonus dice. Thus, you can have the RAW Skilled Assistance, RAW Unskilled Assistance, and my house Hindered Assistance. I allow them to all be mixed together so you could have one person making the roll (not the entire table) while others contribute varying dice depending on their abilities.

Here's a copy & pasted example:

Two Scouts are leading a band of 6 Scientists through the wilderness. They come upon an enemy patrol and want to Stealth past them. The lead Scout is very skilled (Agility 3, Stealth 2) while the second Scout is skilled but less so (Agility 3, Stealth 1). The referee determines the second Scout will provide a Bonus since he is not skilled enough to provide skilled assistance (neither his skill nor attribute is better then the roller's) , but he is not a bumbling fool. The Scientists have no such skills and the referee thinks they are a hindrance to the Stealth attempt offering a Setback each (to a maximum of 3). The final check will include GYYBSSS.

Dice Checks Expanded

I use the stealth technique (mentioned above) for a number of situations: Survival checks for finding food in the wilderness, Resilience checks for long term physical endurance (helping someone on a long march), Athletics checks for group endeavors (climbing a mountain), etc. Anything where someone with higher skill and ability could help others, but where doing so also makes it harder on them. Finding enough food for himself is easy with a high survival, but if he's also carrying 3 people with no skill he has to share his successes and might not get enough.

It also rewards party members for taking a rank or two in oft used skills (like Stealth) where they don't have to master it, but those few ranks really help when the party is acting together.

Oh, and it also rewards party members for taking a rank or two in oft used group skills (like Stealth or Athletics) even if they're non-career skills, because if everyone has a rank or two those group skill checks suddenly succeed a lot more often.

I am absolutely going with @Garran 's group check roll. It makes more thematic sense, my group will like the ruling, and as @FinarinPanjoro said it'll highly incentivize some characters to pick out-of-career skills, which is fun!