If your skill roll is a failure... Can you try it again?

[gautxoriak]

hi!

I have been reading the rules, and I haven´t found what happens If you fail a skill roll. Can you try it again and again until you have a success???

For example, If you want to use Mechanics in order to open a lock. How many attempts do you have?

And in First Aid... You can read: "A location that has had any variation of First Aid administered to it cannot benefit from First Aid again until it has fully healed"

If you fail the skill roll.. Does it count as "First Aid administered"? Can you try it again until your get a roll success?

Thanks

 

[Loz]

Its not specifically defined because the circumstances will always be different.

Take your Mechanics example: if you have all the time in the world to pick the lock, then a failed roll probably indicates that your attempt failed in the normal time it would take you and you need to take a different approach. A failed retry could mean you don't have the right tools or the lock is simply too complicated. Go away and come back tomorrow with the right equipment.

If you're under the clock - because the guards are approaching - then you may not have the time for a retry, or a retry's possible but at a penalty because you're rushing.

GMs need to use their judgement based on the circumstances.

 

[soltakss]

In terms of First Aid, imagine what the character has done.

An arm is cut, so it is bleeding. You try First Aid to stop the bleeding, but you fail. The wound is still bleeding, so you try again. In this case, I'd say that you can retry.

An arm is broken, so you use First Aid to reset it. You fail, so you don't succeed. The arm is still broken and the person is in pain, but they would be, wouldn't they. You leave the arm bound up and don't rety the skill. The arm mends but has lost some functionality because it hasn't been reset properly. In this case, a retry wouldn't be applicable.

You jump across a chasm and fail your Athletics skill. A retry in that situation wouldn't really be possible ...

 

[mallard_rq]

In old RQ (1980 edition) if you failed your pick lock skill you couldn't try to pick that lock again until your skill increased. The same was true for most other skills.

 

[superc0ntra]

My house rules is to unless common sense says otherwise, to allow rerolls at a cumulative penalty. Usually -20%.
Of course the second (and third etc.) attempts take at least the same time as the first so if the guards are approaching it might not be a good idea.

 

[duncan_disorderly]

In old RQ (1980 edition) if you failed your pick lock skill you couldn't try to pick that lock again until your skill increased. The same was true for most other skills.

There was a strong driver for this in (Chaosium) RQ though - if you successfully used a skill, you got to make an improvement roll, so without this rule, there was a definite incentive to keep re-rolling until you succeeded. with MRQ your improvement rolls are divorced from your prior successes, so, where it makes sense to do so, there is no problem in allowing multiple attempts. (Conversly, if the PC's retrieve a locked chest in the course of an adventure, but don't immediately open it "in situ", there is no issue in MRQ with the GM saying "Don't bother to roll, given time, you will be able to open it before the start of the next scenario", wheras previously this would be robbing the characters of the chance to earn an improvement roll)

 

[kintire]

Personally I usually assume that a skill roll consists of the person trying everything they know to succeed and it not working, so no retries. I make exceptions if they were under unusual disadavantages, so for example a character who fails to decipher a scroll in the flickering light of a candle while a screaming horror is trying to flense his mind into gerbil bedding might get a retry in the peace and quiet of his bright sunlit garden.

 

[superc0ntra]

Personally I usually assume that a skill roll consists of the person trying everything they know to succeed and it not working, so no retries. I make exceptions if they were under unusual disadavantages, so for example a character who fails to decipher a scroll in the flickering light of a candle while a screaming horror is trying to flense his mind into gerbil bedding might get a retry in the peace and quiet of his bright sunlit garden.

That makes good sense

 

[Deleriad]

The way I think about it is that I tell the PC the consequence of failure. So, if someone needs to pick a lock before something happens then if they fail, they fail to pick the lock in time.

Or if charging an enemy they might ask if they can charge them this round and I'll say if you make an Athletics roll then you charge them this round otherwise next round.

An old house rule is that if you try a task and fail then you won't succeed until something changes. E.g. someone tries a Read roll to read an old scroll and fails. They need to change situation before they try again. A good thing to do in this case is to either tell the player why the character failed or let the player come up with an explanation. E.g. "I must have failed because it was in an unusual dialect. I'll take some time looking at scrolls in a different dialect first then come back to it."

On the other hand, if you try and cast a spell and fail, there's nothing to stop you trying again straight away.

On the gripping hand, if you perform First Aid against a major injury you can't tell if you succeeded or not so I only allow one test per minor injury, whether success or failure. However, if using First Aid to remove an impaled weapon it's obvious when you have failed.

So the answer for me is to take it on a case by case basis.