What to do when you need to call on everyone in the party to make a skill check, but not one that will have mechanical effects immediately after. So, for example everyone in the party makes a perception check to notice a clue - so long as one person succeeds then they get the info. Or a knowledge check - can everyone have a go? They all have a base skill level after all.

Normally I try to avoid these situations as they can derail the plot if the party all fail (I just assume somebody succeeds). However occasionally you need to call for the check to be made. The difficulty comes when you have 7 players (as just happened) all of whom roll a unique combination of success/fail, advantage /threat and so on. What do you do? Interpreting all those rolls could take ages and it just does not merit that much attention.

Do you:

1) Ignore advantage / threat / triumph / despair and just look at success and fail? But this seems dull

2) limit the number of players who can make the roll, say to those who have ranks in the skill? But this seems a bit harsh

3) designate one player to roll (with the best skill) and allow the others to provide unskilled assistance (p22 of Beta). But how many players can help?

I recently ruled with method (3). One player rolled perceptiion and since everyone could help (they all had eyes) the roll had 6 boost dice. This seems to be the logical way to do it, but I guess I felt a bit daft giving the player 6 boost dice.

What do you think?

It's an awkward situation to be sure. I mostly avoid the "everybody roll perception" checks wherever possible. Due to the much more cinematic nature of the action in this system I find I've got a pretty good idea whether they'll see something or not.

If a situation does come up, I approach it in a couple of ways.

1) I just assume that they see it. I know there's something to be said for having characters need to actively notice something, but often it's just a lot easier and smoother to assume that someone in the party notices the particular detail. This also helps keep the pace of the adventure flowing. If you're telling them to stop and make a perception check, then it stalls the current action and by the time you resume, you've lost some of the forward momentum. Ultimately, if everyone in the party has a reasonably equal chance to notice the detail, this is what I'll do. It'll often take the form of, I'll say that the PC with highest perception notices the detail.

2) I only ask one, or a few characters to make the roll. With the cinematic nature of the system, I've got a decent idea of where everybody is looking at a particular time, and how likely they'd be to notice something I've hidden away. If they're in a firefight, it's probably only going to be the guy sitting at the back, in cover, trying to find another way out of the warehouse on his datapad who is going to notice the shipping container being lifted into a position over the party's head. Everyone else is going to be focused on firing at the bad guys in front. If they're trying to hide in a room, then they dont follow each other around in a pack, they'll split up and look around, and only 1 or 2 PCs will go near the spot where the hidden safe is . If they're just walking down a corridor, only the PCs in front will have a chance to notice the hidden laser that will trip the complex's security alarm. There is an element of trust that needs to exist here to stop players using table knowledge and having a cascade of perception checks, but as GM you are able to just straight out tell them no. Or if they're pushy, you can always let them just make a bogus roll. "2 Success and 3 Advantage? You don't notice anything…"

If you're going to have everyone in the party make a roll, then just count Success and maybe Triumph/Despair. It could get very messy including Threat/Advantage.

Alternatively, get them to be more active in it. Don't have them roll for perception the moment they walk in the room. Wait until a PC actively starts to search for the clue (or something) and then have them be specific as to where they're looking. This way you can tailor the roll and results to each PCs individual search. It helps remove the awkwardness of 7 rolls for general perceptiveness.

Host of Angels said:

These are situations (Perception, Vigilance & Knowledge checks) where I prefer to make hidden rolls. You can see a discussion about the the merits & flaws of the GM making hidden rolls here . I keep a list of the party member's skills and attribs for such rolls handy, so I don't have to ask for the values for specific skills to prevent giving something away.

I base the die pool using the best available ability and skill rank value available among the players, and upgrade once for each other character in the group with appropriate skill ranks, and add a single boost die if there are one or more characters without appropriate skill ranks in the group (characters counted towards either have to be able to participate in the skill check). This is a slight variation on assisted checks as described (Beta Text p 22). As GM, I decide how to apply the Adv/Thr/Tri/Des generated, because the GM can come in at any time decided how the symbols are spent to "move the story along".

As for exactly who notices the whatever-they're-not-really-looking-for, I typically just assign it randomly, or to whoever would be most appropriate (e.g. the Mon Cal notices something in the water, the Trandoshan notices the predator in the trees, etc). Overall, the method above works well for me for several reasons:

• I have a small group (I cap at 5 players at my table)
• I have the nice quiet EotE dice rolling app
• I'm often fiddling with the phone for notes anyway
• I'm behind a screen.

I also really like Leechman's response, specifically:

Leechman said:

You just really, REALLY have to be sure you gave them a clue that active searching was appropriate.

Anyway, do what feels right, and, as always, YMMV.

-WJL

First, never ever have the plot dependent on a skill roll. Players will always fail this one. Have a backup in case they all fail.

Second, you can get 7 players to look in the same direction at the same time?!? I have trouble getting 3 to look in the same direction. Of course this is just a variant of having only the players looking making the roll. If they always have the entire party look/search, ambush them a couple times. They will take the hint and start divving up tasks. That also gives a really good chance to make the combat monster happy when he gets to stomp an ambusher while everyone else is searching.

I much prefer using skills in an active fashion. If there's something they may or may not notice, just give them a clue of some sort, maybe several with some that are red herrings, and call for rolls after they describe what they do. You'll be surprised how much stuff players may ignore, or conversely how much detail they may ask for.

Last game, I had a player dropping down from an airspeeder on a line into a jungle canopy above where their tracking beacon said what they were looking for was. Of course, the 'villain' had dropped it right into a nest of butcherbugs, so the player was about to drop right into their razorwebs. I told him that as he dropped down through layers of the canopy, it was getting darker and darker. He told me he was going to slow down and pull out his fusion lantern and shine it down below him, so I gave him a Perception check to notice the superfine razorweb below him.

Just describe what is easily visible. Think of it like a movie. How many times have you seen a scene that makes sense for a "passive Perception check"? If the scene is an ambush, Vigilance check for initiative represents that just fine. I can think of one passive Perception check: traps. Indiana Jones might notice the tripwire right before he steps through it. In that case, though, only the guy walking in the lead can spot it, unless someone else states that they're actively keeping an eye out ahead. That's the case where you get the last minute, "Stop, stop! Don't move!"

Another way to handle this, if the thing that you're checking to see if they spotted is an NPC, or something an NPC is doing, just give the NPC the roll aganst the highest player Perception as difficulty/challenge. Or against their Vigilance, whatever's appropriate. I think that's a better 'secret roll' than making checks for the player, since you're then just rolling an NPCs check, which is perfectly normal and according the the RAW. Heck, even if the NPC isn't there, maybe its a skullduggery check for when they hid the thing/set the trap in the first place.

That way you get a cinematic description that fits the dice, like, for instance: The Gran sabaac dealer rolls a skullduggery check to sleight of hand some cards to your opponent under the table. However, he rolls a threat along with his success, so you narrate, "The Gran's normally dextrous hand accidentally knock your drink bulb off the table, and as you duck down to catch it, you notice some movement under the table." There's a good hint that the player might want to look more closely while he pretends to just pick up the drink, calling for a Perception to see which cards he passed and maybe a Deceit to pretend like he didn't notice.

Or a failure with advantage: "The mercenary is trying to act casual, but he's obviously reaching for a hidden weapon with his other hand while trying to distract you by gesticulating with the other. Unfortunately, the Hutt who's been listening to your argument hasn't noticed, and shooing first in this case might make you look real bad in front of your mutual boss."