As I have discussed in a previous post on Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay combat one of the most important aspects is the gaining of points of Advantage. Each point of Advantage confers +10 on the Opposed Roll in combat and can directly lead to causing more damage. But in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay combat Advantage isn’t gained by just winning opposed combat roles with melee skill, you can also gain it by other skills that might seem to have nothing to do with combat. I think Cubicle 7 have done this to encourage players to think about more than just combat skills – to have more well-rounded characters, and also to make combat more interesting. However, it can be difficult sometimes to remember which skills can be used to gain Advantage in combat. I thought it might be a good idea to summarize them in this post.
Non-Combat Skills that gain combat Advantage
This is not meant to provide a comprehensive coverage of all the rules related to these skills, but just to give an idea of what can be used in Combat instead of standard melee, ranged and dodge skills.
Most involve opposed tests which also grand +1 Advantage if successful.
Animal Training – can intimidate an enemy animal causing fear through an Opposed test vs Willpower and from then on can use that as a combat skill – a successful attack causes the animal to flee! Also if win the opposed test can +1 Advantage.
Charm – opposed Charm/Cool Test – causes enemies not to attack and gains +1 Advantage.
Charm Animal – like Charm but used against Animals!
Intimidate – opposed Intimidate/Cool test – causes Fear and can be used to defend or attack.
Intuition – not an opposed test, but used to build up Advantage during combat if not attacked to a maximum of your Intelligence Bonus.
Leadership – a successful test can be used to provide a bonus of +10 on Psychology tests to subordinates in combat. Also can be used to transfer Advantage to allies.
Lore – if appropriate a successful test can confer +1 Advantage if appropriate – for example Lore (Geology) would help if the fight is in a rocky cavern.
Outdoor Survival – if the combat is in the wilderness then a successful test can give a +1 Advantage in a similar way to Intuition.
Perform – a bit of a stretch perhaps, but perform skill could be used in combat to distract an opponent and therefore gain +1 Advantage – or even a weapon if you have Perform (Firebreathing).
Pray – can be used to gain +1 Advantage by meditating and focusing your mind. Not clear but I would assume you’re not attacking during this time? Perhaps up the GM to determine?
Sleight of Hand – up to the GM on whether they allow a possible gain of Advantage for this skill – maybe if the character makes a dagger appear from a hidden place they can get +1 Advantage?
A Note on Talents
It’s worth mentioning as well that a number of Talents are combat related and that they may be used in relation to advantage – however they’re not about making specific tests to gain Advantage in combat in the same way as Skills. As characters have few Talents it’s usually easier to keep track of what they have and what can help them in combat.
If you’re interested in getting into Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay then you can buy the current edition from Cubicle 7 or the PDF from DriveThruRPG.
