Savage Worlds - Tests of Will

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PolarBlues

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I've only played Savage Worlds a little, never actually ran it, as such I only have rather limited experience with the system.

I was reading the Test of Will rules (Explorer Edition). Seems at least conceptually similar to Fate's Create Advantage: a character makes an non-combat action one turn to peovide a bonus on an attack the following turn.

I curious to hear how Test of Wills work out in practice.

Does it come up often or not at all?

Bread and butter tactics or purely circumstantial?

Is the sort of thing that require a firm hand to prevent abuse or does it sort take care of itself?

That sort of thing.
 
SW is a fine machine, and you can freely let people do those kinds of things without worry. In a game with bennies, you should not think about "abuse".

In practical experience? Yes, it does crop up, and makes a combat slog something more interesting. I have not thought of it as Create Advantage, but that is a way to look at it, I guess.

Oh, and you are a few editions after the leading edge. SWEX works just fine, but in the latest edition the concept has been refined and more generalized. That does kind of makes it like Create Advantage, I guess. Anyhow. It's a neat trick, and I find those kind of things works just fine and really spice up the game.
 
It is an very useful tactic. To be honest, though, most players never do it. They make their own puny attack right now, rather than set-up a better attack. The crowd I play with see SW as a side-line and none pursue system mastery, so maybe they just haven't played enough to see the math behind it. I've played maybe 20 sessions of SW and have only seen it used once, and that was me. My suggestion would be to not worry about it unless it does start to feel excessive or overpowered. Deal with it then. It will probably never be an issue.
 
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As above, it tends to get used only by a small minority of players who are down with the bells and whistles of SW; when it is used my experiences have been that it's added some nice colour as well as the mechanical benefit. I've never seen it abused in any way.
 
SW is a fine machine, and you can freely let people do those kinds of things without worry. In a game with bennies, you should not think about "abuse".

In practical experience? Yes, it does crop up, and makes a combat slog something more interesting. I have not thought of it as Create Advantage, but that is a way to look at it, I guess.

Oh, and you are a few editions after the leading edge. SWEX works just fine, but in the latest edition the concept has been refined and more generalized. That does kind of makes it like Create Advantage, I guess. Anyhow. It's a neat trick, and I find those kind of things works just fine and really spice up the game.

Thanks. How are the new Test of Will rules different?
 
Thanks. How are the new Test of Will rules different?

They have been made more generic. In SWEX it was just Taunt and Intimidate, but in SWADE it's all Tests, and can be any skill at all, and opposed by the attribute that skill is based on. I've found that makes them more usable, and more often used, as they became a more generic tool.

They also have their generic counterpart in Support, where you roll any skill (yes, any) and if successful grants +1 (+2 on Raise) to someone you want to help, rather than hinder.

What amaze me about the system is how smoothly it plays, compared to how it reads. I loved the Explorer edition and played it for years and just now bought the newest edition, but I think some of these changes has really elevated the system.
 
They have been made more generic. In SWEX it was just Taunt and Intimidate, but in SWADE it's all Tests, and can be any skill at all, and opposed by the attribute that skill is based on. I've found that makes them more usable, and more often used, as they became a more generic tool.

They also have their generic counterpart in Support, where you roll any skill (yes, any) and if successful grants +1 (+2 on Raise) to someone you want to help, rather than hinder.

What amaze me about the system is how smoothly it plays, compared to how it reads. I loved the Explorer edition and played it for years and just now bought the newest edition, but I think some of these changes has really elevated the system.
One change I'm not sold on is the change to experience/leveling. My gut reaction is to prefer the Explorer version so far. I do think the change/expansion to tests of will is a solid improvement.
 
One change I'm not sold on is the change to experience/leveling. My gut reaction is to prefer the Explorer version so far. I do think the change/expansion to tests of will is a solid improvement.

I felt the same way when reading it, so when I started my Savage Worlds Adventure Edition campaign, I stuck with the XP rules from Deluxe Explorer's Edition. I've been running that campaign for the better part of two years now, and I now feel that using the new XP system would have worked fine.
 
I felt the same way when reading it, so when I started my Savage Worlds Adventure Edition campaign, I stuck with the XP rules from Deluxe Explorer's Edition. I've been running that campaign for the better part of two years now, and I now feel that using the new XP system would have worked fine.
Were you worried about pacing with leveling? Or that you'd get more push back/frustration from the players? Specifically those who came from experience/leveling systems like DnD/Pathfinder.
 
I was worried about pacing. In practice, it's come out roughly the same using the old system as it would have using the new system.
 
Actually, the design goal of the new system was to have roughly the same experience as before (which the math and experience indicated) but with less hassle. Without trying to sound like a marketing drone, I think SWADE might be pretty damn tight.
 
My players use tests all the time. Partly because one of the PCs is a pacifist, so he won't do any direct violence, but he will do other things to improve the combat situation for his buddies.
Does this pacifists actions ever strain credibility or does it fit naturally in the general flow of combat?
 
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