I remember reading something in the book (or the Under a Black Sun adventure) that said teamwork with skills took into account each person's characteristics and proficiency to create the die pool (though I can't find the reference for it again). For example:

Han and Chewbacca are fixing the communications array of the Millennium Falcon after someone (who shall be nameless) knocked it off while they were piloting the vehicle. For sake of argument let's say the numbers involved are as follows:

Han: Int 3, Mech 2

Chewbacca: Int 2, Mech 4

If Han was working alone, he'd get 3 dice (GYY) and if Chewbacca was working alone he'd get 4 dice (GGYY), now if they were working together you'd take the higher of the acting characters' characteristic and skill as your starting die pool (in this case, Chewbacca's Mech of 4 would provide four ability dice), then take the lower of their characteristic and skill to convert to proficiency dice (Han's Int of 3 would provide three proficiency dice) giving a total dice pool of GYYY for the work.

I believe this is meant to be different than the combat maneuver Assist (which provided a boost die).

Let me know I'm not crazy...

I don't feel comfortable making that judgment after reading just one post.

You're not wrong though.

Take the best stat characteristic of the two involved (ignore the other), take the best skill rank (ignore the other).

The larger of these two values (skill or stat characteristic) is the number of dice yer rolling.

The smaller value is the number of those dice that are yellow.

What the OP lists up is the Skilled Assist action, I think its called that anyway. And yes, that's how it works.

Unskilled (i.e. no skill ranks) assists grants 1 boost die. I'd also allow equally skilled and endowed (i.e. skill ranks and characteristics) characters use this solution when assisting, even if its technically not "unskilled".

Anybody have a reference? It seems like there would be limits.

Eg: PC1 has Int2, Rank1; PC2 has Int3, Rank4. PC1 can't offer anything, only a boost die?

Eg2: PC1 has Int2, Rank3; PC2 has Int2, Rank4. If the number of dice starts with 4 (from PC2's ranks), are the number of upgrades equal to PC1s ranks? IOW, does one have to be a characteristic, and the other a rank? Or can they both be ranks, or both be characteristics?

E.g.2 = Boost only (PC2 has same characteristic, better rank)

The characteristic used is the characteristic of the best member of the team.

The skill rank used is that of the member of the team with the highest rank.

The team's pool is still a combination of characteristic and skill.

Anybody have a reference? It seems like there would be limits.

Eg: PC1 has Int2, Rank1; PC2 has Int3, Rank4. PC1 can't offer anything, only a boost die?

Eg2: PC1 has Int2, Rank3; PC2 has Int2, Rank4. If the number of dice starts with 4 (from PC2's ranks), are the number of upgrades equal to PC1s ranks? IOW, does one have to be a characteristic, and the other a rank? Or can they both be ranks, or both be characteristics?

Pg 25, Column 2.

But yeah everyone's about right on this. When you've got different Abilities and Skill Ranks you make the best combo, if you've got the same or worse, you get a boost die.

I think the general stat balancing is the ultimate limiter on this. In my games the players only occasionally have the right combo of skills and abilities to get the big bonus, so usually they have to decide if it makes more sense to waste their action to give someone else a boost die, or to do something else that might have larger solo impact.

So when this is done in combat, say with a two-man crew on a heavy repeating blaster, which initative do the two use to fire the weapon? Do they have to use two slots or can they both act on one and just 'skip/drop' another slot?

Never thought of using it in combat. (Things have always been scary enough that we need to take as many shots as we can.)

Given that you're giving up a Character's initiative slot to gain a boost (often only a minor one), I'd hope that it only loses that side their last slot. If it's possible during combat at all.

How'd that compare with Minioning?

So when this is done in combat, say with a two-man crew on a heavy repeating blaster, which initative do the two use to fire the weapon? Do they have to use two slots or can they both act on one and just 'skip/drop' another slot?

Good question.. off hand I'd probably say that the "loader" is essentially burning an action to assist. So the loader still gets a slot of his own, but just can't take an action. This would allow both "I run up and assist" if the loader goes before the shooter, and "I assist and then run away" if the loader goes after.

It also makes me wonder if talents like Barrage could be used by either of the crew or only by one? Could one of crew use Barrage while another uses Deadly Accuracy (Gunnery)? So many talent combinations...

It also makes me wonder if talents like Barrage could be used by either of the crew or only by one? Could one of crew use Barrage while another uses Deadly Accuracy (Gunnery)? So many talent combinations...

Ouch.

It also makes me wonder if talents like Barrage could be used by either of the crew or only by one? Could one of crew use Barrage while another uses Deadly Accuracy (Gunnery)? So many talent combinations...

.....I'm betting only the active character gets to use his talents, but that's a darn good question...

Personally I don't think the combination is intended for use in combat. ... Well not with "attack" checks in any event. perhaps on checks to interact with the environment, but I wouldn't let the PCs pool a "best case" dice roll for shooting off an EWeb or such.

As for the impacts on Initiative, I would say that the 2 PC slots would need to be adjacent. If their arent any I'd allow the group to "delay" to get them together.

In regards to the use of Talents, well as long as they are not directly attack related, I'd be fine with it.

It also makes me wonder if talents like Barrage could be used by either of the crew or only by one? Could one of crew use Barrage while another uses Deadly Accuracy (Gunnery)? So many talent combinations...

.....I'm betting only the active character gets to use his talents, but that's a darn good question...

Technically, they're both active since they're both contributing to the same action. This is not like the basic Assist maneuver where one character is taking the action and the other is just giving him a reach around for support.

Personally I don't think the combination is intended for use in combat. ... Well not with "attack" checks in any event. perhaps on checks to interact with the environment, but I wouldn't let the PCs pool a "best case" dice roll for shooting off an EWeb or such.

As for the impacts on Initiative, I would say that the 2 PC slots would need to be adjacent. If their arent any I'd allow the group to "delay" to get them together.

In regards to the use of Talents, well as long as they are not directly attack related, I'd be fine with it.

Balance-wise, I hope you can't.

Simulation-wise... don't military snipers work more effectively in pairs? (Not advocating, don't think it's in the spirit of the game.)

I don't see why combat checks couldn't benefit the same as any other type of check. The problem comes in what talents the composite action can benefit from. This applies beyond just combat too.

Personally I don't think the combination is intended for use in combat. ... Well not with "attack" checks in any event. perhaps on checks to interact with the environment, but I wouldn't let the PCs pool a "best case" dice roll for shooting off an EWeb or such.

As for the impacts on Initiative, I would say that the 2 PC slots would need to be adjacent. If their arent any I'd allow the group to "delay" to get them together.

In regards to the use of Talents, well as long as they are not directly attack related, I'd be fine with it.

I think you've got the right of it. Building the best pool for combat attacks seems wrong. A loader isn't contributing to the actual aiming and firing of the Eweb. He is just keeping it loaded. I'd call it similar to a Despair causing you to run out of ammo for a pistol. You have to reload. That guy loading is just doing it for the shooter allowing him to continuously fire.

Initiative slots: I think I'd have them go in tandem, but base the initial slot off of the gunner's roll.

For the example of a spotter with a sniper: a Perception or Intellegence check from the spotter adding boost dice for the sniper. Traditionally that spotter's job is to aid the sniper by giving them another pair of eyes on targets and conditions. Not to mention a bit of fairly complex math on the spot related to those constantly changing conditions. So maybe he perceives a slight movement from a flag indicating a mild breeze that may affect the shot. Maybe his calculations for the Coriolis Effect are spot on and the shooter doesn't have to guess on his adjustments. Either way, those are boost dice because he isn't directly doing the action.

In a Mechanics check to repair the ship the assist can be more hands on. Maybe PC1(Mechanic) can't quite reach that circuit board, but PC2 (Scholar) has small hands so she can reach it. And she's sharp enough to understand PC1's instructions on replacing it. To me that's cause for a combined pool. That's how I would distinguish, but can only speak for myself.

It also makes me wonder if talents like Barrage could be used by either of the crew or only by one? Could one of crew use Barrage while another uses Deadly Accuracy (Gunnery)? So many talent combinations...

.....I'm betting only the active character gets to use his talents, but that's a darn good question...

Technically, they're both active since they're both contributing to the same action. This is not like the basic Assist maneuver where one character is taking the action and the other is just giving him a reach around for support.

That's the catch isn't it. Is the guy with the higher skill in the lead, or the guy with the higher base?

In the case of a blaster I'm guessing it's always going to be the dude with his finger on the trigger, but in a case where you've got something like an AA gun with one player on the cannon and the other on the radar, or a sniper and spotter (soft spot?) there's certainly an argument to be made that they both could apply their talents.

This is a really good one... I'm actually starting to lean toward yes on this one... So far I can't come up with anything that isn't specific enough that the players could use it all the time, so balance is still there....

I really appreciate the responses! It's good to know I'm not crazy (my GM thought it only gave a boost die as per the Assit manuever).

I really appreciate the responses! It's good to know I'm not crazy (my GM thought it only gave a boost die as per the Assit manuever).

Despite our responses, only a qualified mental health profession can really weigh in on whether or not you're cray-cray.