Kasatka said:

How so? Rite of Duplessence does not grant any unnatural attribute. It simply reduces the difficulty of skill tests relying on intelligence or willpower by one step, meaning in effect they gain a +10 bonus to the test. That's a far cry from granting the trait unnatural intelligence (which doubles their intelligence bonus). And even unnatural intelligence wouldn't make it easier for them to perform a medicae test for example, it'd simply mean more wounds healed IF they succeed. For a forbidden lore test it doesn't help at all even.

As far as classes with unnatural attributes go, i find that in RT it's fairly balanced since you honestly can't get that many. Those with a serious advantage are those that specialise in melee as good Q synthetic muscle grafts'll give unnatural strength to do more damage. The only other unnatural attribute you can buy is unnatural intelligence, which honestly does very little for skill tests. It helps with medicae, but that's about it. And unless i'm forgetting something that's it for unnatural attributes in RT (that is if you don't get a mutation to provide you with one or if you play a xenos ... both of which have their own serious drawbacks). Compare that to ascensiondeathwatchit's a cakewalk.

Badlapje said:

Incorrect. In many cases, research/knowledge skills like that will also have tiered outcomes, with the more Degrees of Success you get, the more knowledge you get. Since Unnatural Attributes can add DoS to your rolls (if you pass, you pass REALLY WELL), then yea, having Unnatural Intelligence would be great for someone who is incredibly knowledgeable.

The extra degress of success only apply to opposed tests don't they? Although some entries for unnatural characteristic state that the test difficulty is reduced by one step for each 'level' of unnatural. (IH for DH, DW core book I think, the RT core book trait description doesn't have that bit.)

Well, if it's reducing the difficulty modifier by one step (or, effectively, giving +10 to the roll) for each level of Unnatural Intelligence, you are effectively getting an extra degree of success compared to if you didn't have that extra +10.

didn't know that but doesn't change the big picture imo.

Sorry, i meant to mention best crafstmanship cortex implants, which combined with the Rite of Duplescence and a good starting Intelligence score can make an Explorator ridiculously good at those Tech and Lore skills. The one in our party can really only fail tests by botching or if he's slapped with -40 difficulty or worse. Then again, it's the same for my Rogue Trader and his Fellowship based skill tests, and on him he hasn't even got Unnatural Fellowship.