darklordforhire's Journal

Dragon's Gate - Revised Aiding Rules
Originally aiding was an action you could take in combat to give a character a +2 bonus on all actions of a specific type for a round. We decided, given the scaling, that this was insufficient. The first change was to make aiding give a +5. That seemed to work well, but opened up some other problems, not the least of which was the question of aiding outside of combat. To answer those questions I've worked out the following:

Aiding is any action (i.e. skill use) that is meant to assist a character on another action (you may assist yourself). The relationship of the assist to the bonus must be explained, and may use any skill that logically could affect the final action. Aiding adds a +5 assist bonus, which stacks with other assist bonuses, if the aiding character beats a DC equal to the current bonus on that action, including assist bonuses, but not bonuses from magic skills. If the skill being assisted is a magic skill, then a point of potency must be expended in the aiding action, even if the aiding skill is not a magic skill.

(Of special note, in combat the assist bonuses now apply to one action, not for the rest of the round. This was needed to streamline the mechanic for out of combat use.)

For example, if a character has an attack bonus of +13, not counting a +6 ferocity bonus, then if a character wishes aid the eventual attack they must beat a 13 DC to add +5, if another assist is attempted, that will be versus a 18 DC, and then a 23 DC and so on. The aiding characters need not use a combat skill, they could, for example, use Wit, Distract, or even a minor magical effect from a magic skill like Deceive (which would cost no potency). After being aided three times the total bonus on the attack would be a +34 (28 + 6 from Ferocity).

Remember aiding must always have a reason to make a substantial effect on the final action. Thus additional attempts to aid must have a reasonable effect in addition to the previous attempts. This is especially important outside of combat. Also, it is entirely viable to aid an an attempt to aid. Indeed, an entire session could be constructed around a single vital action in this way (such as convincing the king or cracking a code).

Also, aiding largely replaces a direct attempt at an action. Hence, aiding with Distract wouldn't prevent people from noticing you or aiding with a magic skill wouldn't enable you to convert potency to a magical effect. While there is some effect, it is in influencing the situation to enhance the outcome of the final action.

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