The default for a human with a Jump ability is 6. That means that I'd rule that a 1.5 foot wall was less than that level, and an automatic success*. Since the stool, as pointed out from the text, is considered automatic, that seems to me to be less than a 6 Resistance. It seems to me that if you decide that a chair a few inches higher than the stool is a 13, then that means that it goes from automatic to pretty hard to accomplish for the default person. Which seems odd to me. Basically the rules are saying that if it's not difficult for a default roll to make something then it shouldn't me rolled?
I like to deal with these vagaries, so I'd call the stool a 4 resistance, just for argument's sake. So, between a 3 foot high stool, and a 6 foot tall man, we go from 4 to 10w2. So, I'd estimate that my wall from the previous thread, with a resistance of 10, would be about 4 feet tall. Which is what I was envisioning, actually, a stone garden wall.
So, as my PC chases a villain using his Fast 13, the Villain with default fast, who is going to lose, changes tactics and uses his Jump 17 to easily hurdle the wall. The PC then has to use his default 6 augmented by one for his Fast (good running start), to continue following at a run. This is what I was thinking of in the previous thread. (BTW, thinking about it, I would have magic have a minimum of 14 here, as I think of that as the base difficulty for getting the magic off. So, if it's easier to jump the wall w/o the spell, that's cool to me, saying that it's just much less hassle to use the mundane ability in this case. I don't know why I objected before. :-))
I like that the system *can* handle this sort of thing. I realize that the odds will not produce realistic results, but I'm not really concerned about that for these purposes. I use defaults constantly. I like having characters roll Default v Default for all sorts of mundane things. Not because I'm intent on dealing with every little silly aspect of the character's existence, but sometimes I think it's cool to add details based on things that are not the in the characters area of expertise in order to demonstrate their basic humanity.
For example, I love the idea of allowing players to roll against their default Grooming ability to augment their appearance before a party. They can take the auto +1, or gamble to try to increase it further. Which, as often as not, results in the character making themselves look worse. Which I think is realistic (this is why guys always take the auto +1, they rarely have better grooming ability, and know not to try harder than the basics).
Anyhow, this sort of play juxtaposes with the heroic stuff, highlighting it. I wouldn't do without it. This sort of stuff can provide all sorts of inspiration to frame the later action. Like when the character gambles and gets a +3 augment to their appearance, and I rule that it gets lost when they get into a fight. "Look what you did to my hair!" A perfect case of "low end" play giving context to the high end conflicts. Does this make sense?
Mike
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