So we've got to an interesting point in our rogue trader game where depending on certain skill checks, the player characters sometimes have almost a 90 or below on the d100 of hitting the target or on certain skills. Soon they might even be able to get higher on said checks to even 100 and hit everything. So the question is are there any stat caps or something that says it cannot get that high. I'm all for cool high stats, but automatically passing challanges or always hitting something with a gun seems redundant from a playing stand point. Thanks for any help in advance.

-Space Butler

For all rolls, the maximum total modifier allowed is +/- 60.

For guns, a result of 96-00 is always a miss and some guns will jam. If you want to have some BQ guns jamming, this house rule is an option .

The errata states that a result of 91 or higher on a psychic power roll is always a fail, though it can still trigger phenomena.

However when making an acquisition roll, if the modifiers mean you can pass on a 100 or higher, that means it is an automatic success.

Personally I don't like automatic failure rolls in RT for two reasons:

- A 1% chance to fail something you are really good at seems too high a chance and there is nothing you can do to change it. It's fine for guns since guns do have problems if they aren't cared for properly and, unless you are regularly using sacred unguents, PCs aren't even oiling their guns.

- Fate points mean that auto-fail rules will hurt NPCs a lot more than it will hurt PCs, because the PCs stand a good chance of the reroll not landing a second time in the auto-fail region. Most NPCs don't have that option. I have played a game where the gm decided that every roll of 100 was a botch. What this actually means that for PCs a roll of 100 meant the PC would spend a fate point, while NPCs would be screwed*.

*Worst case was an enemy cultist who attacked us in an alley. PC rolled to hit him, cultist rolled to dodge. Cultist rolled a 100 then knocked himself out on the alley wall.

Our Explorator has Intelligence 66, Tech-Use +20, and Talented (Tech-Use). He also has Electro Graft Use and a Good Craftsmanship Mind Impulse Unit and a Good Craftsmanship Utility Mechadendrite. This makes his base Tech-Use Test against a 126! Unless there is at least a -30 to the Test, he cannot fail.

HappyDaze said:

I fail to see a problem here. He is good, no doubt about it, and can easily fix most problems, and usually even the thoughest technological challanges will just be a minor inconvenience for him. He is the perfect mechanic, just the person I would expect to see on a vessel owned by someone who's wealth might well rival that of several noble houses.

Keep in mind that the MIU and the Electro Graph can only be used with stuff that has a data port of some kind to connect to. Shouldn't be something that the GM throws at the explorator often, but combining a difficult task with one involving something lacking a data port can be a good way to actually challenge the character.

And as Nightsorrow said, sounds like just the kind of person you'd expect to be the master engineer and close confidant of the head of a dynasty that uses planets like we use small change. And also remember that the character has focused quite a bit in this one area, and so will be amazing when you need something fixed, but likely not so impressive if you need to talk your way past a guard or shoot said guard.

Karoline said:

MIU-compatible equipment might be uncommon or even rare, but I'm pretty sure that almost all Imperial tech can be accessed via Electro Graft, since this is how the Tech-Priests commune with the machine spirits.

The character is not a talker, that much is true, but he's just fine for shooting (or power axing) someone. It's not like he really spent all that much on his Tech-Use considering that he's Rank 4 with 14,000 xp. The Intelligence increases have helped with much more than just Tech-Use too.

That's true, but from what I understand a rank 4 explorer should be quite powerful. Heck, even at rank 1 an explorer should be heads and shoulders above most people in many things. And as the description for post rank 8 goes something like 'can do virtually anything blah blah blah all powerful etc etc' I don't see much problem with a rank 4 being uncomprimisingly good at their specialty.

As an example, my Void-Master pilot has:

60 Agi, +20 pilot (spacecraft), Good MIU (+10), and our frigate (with components and stuff) has a Maneuverability of +35, with a +5 vs stellar objects. That's 125/130. I also just hit rank 4, so can pick up Hotshot Pilot (+10 for all pilot skills) as well as the option for Talented-pilot if I desire.

The point is, at this point for me it is not often a question of whether I succeed, but how well. The majority, if not all, of the piloting maneuvers have effects based on the number of degrees of success. So, every additional bonus is still important because that is one more VU I can speed up/slow down, or one less VU the ship needs to move before it can turn, etc. That can be exceedingly important when, for instance, trying to stay in the rear arc of a Chaos cruiser so we don't get blown out of space by its guns.