In my group’s last session, we realized that we weren’t sure how to handle PCs aiding PCs in downtime actions, since it had never come up before. We see that the aided PC gets +1d to their roll, but does the aiding PC have to also spend a downtime action? Or does he spend 2 stress, as per the regular aiding rules?
I might have missed this in the text, but I didn’t see a clear explanation during my last re-read.
Yeah, that was something lost when downtime actions became their own thing instead of regular action rolls.
I ruled as helping characters could “set up” or “assist” other characters by spending a downtime action on their own.
The rules are not clear on that reguard, but here’s my opinion:
An ASSIST (which costs 1 stress) could be done in another PC downtime action (since it’s just a side-action to support another character and it already has the stress cost).
A SETUP requires definitely a downtime action, since it’s much broader and defined than a simple ASSIST.
In any case, I think that is something you should decide based on the situation. If the action has its own “completeness”, then it should cost a downtime action; if not, then it shouldn’t.
Slightly off topic – reading this topic makes me think of all the minor con jobs that the crew in the TV series Hustle do (by themselves, but often in pairs helping each other) to get the initial seed money for the big con/long con that is the main plot of the episode.
Yes! I loved hustle and often think on how could you represent that sort of thing in blades…
I let the assist run as written, but positioning sometimes doesn’t really apply to downtime, right? So the benefit of a setup action isn’t really applicable?
MisterTia86 The target choice would be a main difference – it’s your gang vs a noble with not many contacts, rather than against another faction. You could do Hustle style in between the faction shenanigans to raise capital for the ongoing faction positioning.
Well compare it to the rules for helping someone on their Healing Project downtime action, the game says:
“If another PC rolls for your healing, it counts as only one
downtime action, either yours or theirs.”
This is clearly a potential “investment” of physical time for the “helping” character to essentially /treat/ your wounds or administer magical aid, but it is a choice of your Downtime action or theirs. I think the situation would thus be very similar, depending.
Hopefully by this time you’re not playing the game with people who are at all interested in finding rules to abuse or loop holes, so the way I look at it, how involved is the other character? I mean, if someone’s Downtime action is to find a rare item, and the other character “assist” by introducing them to a new contact, maybe it isn’t their downtime. But if they are both working together to infiltrate a museum to steal this relic or something, maybe allowing both players to “use their downtime” just means ticking the “project clock” worth two player’s investment of time.
It’s really just a question of how you want to run it out, or how involved their Assisting is, right?
Adam Schwaninger there could be action rolls during downtime (a risky healing treatment and the undefined actions mentioned in the rules) so improving positioning might be worth; otherwise, you could use a setup to improve effect (which does apply to the fortune rolls normally used for downtime).
Peter Cobcroft I honestly can’t think of non-faction nobles targets without connections (the powerful nobles always have connections, it’s part of their power)… I wonder if there’s some way to use an Acquire Asset action to gain temporary capitals without breaking the downtime action cycle (gain capital to get more downtime action)… Maybe the Hustle “collect money” is just a Setup action to improve the effect of some assets used in the con, or maybe it’s just fictional explanation of their status rolls.
Spend 1 stress and give 1d, as normal.
Should I clarify this in the text? It currently says “When you assist another player who’s rolling,” which seems to cover every case where someone is rolling, but maybe that’s not clear?
John Harper, I think adding a clarification wouldn’t hurt. It wasn’t clear to me if the aiding PC had to spend a downtime action in addition to spending the stress (to give the +1d).
Can you assist someone with a resistance roll? There may be times when I want to spend 1 of my stress to help a teammate avoid risking 5 of their own stress.
You can take the hit for someone (see Protect). I suppose given John’s answer above though, that you could assist someone who would still be risking the incoming stress themselves.
Will Scott You can assist any roll, if your character can do something to assist. Like any other action, your character has to do a thing that can accomplish what you’re attempting.
Vasco Brown Cool. I’ll see if I can fit that in somewhere.