Taking Four
From Nighthawks Shadowrun Wiki
Taking 4
There will come a time when characters have enough time to complete a task successfully without having to roll tests again and again until they come up with the result they want. The Taking 4 rules are designed to reflect this.
Taking 4
When attempting a test, players may state they are going to Take 4. This means that they have enough time to effectively roll until every dice in a test scores a target number of 4. For players to take 4 they must be in a calm situation where they can spend 10 minutes uninterrupted on the activity. Characters may also take 6 (base 1 hour) and 8 (base 4 hours) but not above 8.
Limits to Taking 4
Characters may not take 4 if they are:
- In combat
- On a serious wound or greater either physical or mental
- Under any effect which gives them target numbers of +3 or greater
- There is a penalty for a critical failure (e.g. a Maglock has an anti tamper device, decking into a host)
- Where there is a cost for each attempt, or where materials are used in each attempt (e.g. Summoning an Elemental)
- Nature spirits also dislike be summoned and dismiss repeatedly, and will eventually not turn up if repeatedly summoned and dismissed
- For any spell with physical drain. For spells with stun drain then the character takes a longer base time depending on the drain of the spell (Lx 1, Mx 2, Sx 3 or Dx 4).
- For any activity with a longer base time than 1 minute. E.g. a character could not take 4 of a Car B/R skill test to install some new armour if the process had a base time of hours, or learning a new spell.
- For information gathering tests where the a wrong party test is appropriate
Examples of Situations to take 4
- Conducting a search of an area
- Casting a spell (and placing it into a spell lock or quickening)
- Researching in a database for information (as long as they have unrestricted access)
- Breaking the lock on a safe (as long as they have time and no distractions)
- Reading an aura
- For continuous tasks like searching an area, then after 10 minutes the character gets a take 4 result and 1 hour they get a take 6 result and after 4 hours they get a take 8 result.
