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<blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 7124898" data-attributes="member: 63">Maybe 'follow orders' is an option, and the character who has no useful skills just rolls as a surrogate for the crew, to see how well the ship operates this round.To turn the question back, it matters less whether the character is useful than it matters that he's engaged. If we're in a Warhammer 40K setting and the useless character is drafted to grab a rope and manually drag a 5 ton autocannon shell into the barrel, maybe he witnesses two rival gangs among the crew about to break into a brawl and he has a chance to forestall that so the petty grievance doesn't get them all killed. Or maybe he just has to roll to see if, when they load the huge bullet into the barrel, he's able to get out of the way and isn't crushed or fired out into space.In a more Trek-style sci-fi, maybe there's a minor hull breach and he has to save himself from decompression. Perhaps the power goes out in whatever room he's in and he's got to fix the power (which he's no good at) before the enemy vessel detects a chink in the ship's defensive systems. He could witness a single enemy beam aboard and start planting a bomb.In a small-crew vessel a la Star Wars, maybe he's got to batten the hatches to keep cargo from flying around the ship and losing value - or possibly even tumbling into the cockpit and messing up their piloting. The droids might need to be held in place as the ship's gravity compensators struggle to keep up with the erratic maneuvers. It even be as simple as, &quot;Bob, go look out the aft window and tell me what you see,&quot; and then you describe the enemy TIE pilot noticing him through the window and cocking his head in confusion. Just create some narrative beats that involve the character, even if they're not integral to the resolution of the conflict.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="RangerWickett, post: 7124898, member: 63"] Maybe 'follow orders' is an option, and the character who has no useful skills just rolls as a surrogate for the crew, to see how well the ship operates this round. To turn the question back, it matters less whether the character is useful than it matters that he's [i]engaged[/i]. If we're in a Warhammer 40K setting and the useless character is drafted to grab a rope and manually drag a 5 ton autocannon shell into the barrel, maybe he witnesses two rival gangs among the crew about to break into a brawl and he has a chance to forestall that so the petty grievance doesn't get them all killed. Or maybe he just has to roll to see if, when they load the huge bullet into the barrel, he's able to get out of the way and isn't crushed or fired out into space. In a more Trek-style sci-fi, maybe there's a minor hull breach and he has to save himself from decompression. Perhaps the power goes out in whatever room he's in and he's got to fix the power (which he's no good at) before the enemy vessel detects a chink in the ship's defensive systems. He could witness a single enemy beam aboard and start planting a bomb. In a small-crew vessel a la Star Wars, maybe he's got to batten the hatches to keep cargo from flying around the ship and losing value - or possibly even tumbling into the cockpit and messing up their piloting. The droids might need to be held in place as the ship's gravity compensators struggle to keep up with the erratic maneuvers. It even be as simple as, "Bob, go look out the aft window and tell me what you see," and then you describe the enemy TIE pilot noticing him through the window and cocking his head in confusion. Just create some narrative beats that involve the character, even if they're not integral to the resolution of the conflict. [/QUOTE]

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