Searching, picking up, and passing items

I’m hoping someone can help me with some questions that have regularly come up in our games.

So am i right in thinking that anyone/anything can look at a searchable marker regardless of the icons they have on their unit card (lockpick, magnifying glass, computer), but they can only use an action to interact if they do have the relevant icon (lockpick icon needs Lockpick skill etc).

If the marker has a spanner on it, the model can pickup the item without any kind of skill check.

A dog cannot perform a Search skill test unless they are controlled by a ‘dog handler’, as per the dog handler rule on page 51.

Any model can pass a Limited Use Item (single use) they have picked up to another model, as long as they are within yellow of them (pg 32, and updated range in the faq).

Anything other than a Limited User Item cannot be passed to another model. So you can’t pickup a laser rifle you found, move towards other models, and hand it off to them. (pg 31).

So we were playing the 4th training game last night, and a Settler carrying the key he found got killed causing the key to drop. The only survivor model close was Dogmeat. Does this mean Dogmeat couldn’t pickup the key, run across the board to the Settler near the safe, and pass it to them?

Can a model choose to drop an item they are carrying, allowing another model to pick it up? I have seen on pg 31 examples that if you search a marker and don’t want to pick it up, you can leave it for another model to pick it up, but obviously they haven’t actually picked it up in the first place.

If you start the game with a Limited Use Item on a unit card, then anyone in that unit has access to it regardless of the distance between them. They can also share it with anyone within yellow of any one of the models in the unit. If a model in a unit picks up a Limited Use Item from a Searchable Marker, can that also be used by any model in the unit regardless of distance between them?

Sorry for the wall of questions, but these seem to come up often when i’m playing. The main crux seems to be passing items between models, and dogs picking up items.

Any help is as always greatfully received :slight_smile:

Hi,

Models can carry items even if they can not use them themselves, so Dogmeat could pick-up an Item (assuming it doesn’t require a Lockpick test, etc. to access it). Dogmeat can share it if it’s a Limited Use Item.

Items a model starts a battle with can not be dropped (and their Limited Use Items can be Shared as normal). Items gained during a battle can be dropped and then picked-up by another model. This need adding to the Errata/FAQ as I realise it’s not stated in the rules.

So, dropping an Item you’ve found is okay, and another model can pick-it up. It doesn’t require an action to drop or pick-up an Item, but this must be done before or after an action (not during). If a model drops an Item, place a token touching their base to represent it. Opposing models could pick it up so either activate both models (the one dropping it and the one picking it up) in the same turn to be sure no-one else can grab it, or do this where opposing models can not interfere.

It probably sounds a bit odd that a model can not pass an Item directly to another, but the reason for this is to keep things simple, it prevents players gaming the system to provide models with equipment they would not normally have access to, and prevents all models sharing one Laser Rifle between them by just passing it around.

That’s right. Limited Use Items a Unit starts with are carried by that Unit as a whole so, like you say, any of them could have them and share them. This helps players as it means you don’t need to decide exactly which model has what (so items are more useful/flexible).

No. Items that are picked-up once the battle has started are with that specific model that picked it up. This is on page 31 of Rules of Play. “Found Items kept during a battle are held by, and can be used by, the specific model that kept the Item. If the model that takes an Item is part of a unit containing multiple-models, the Item is only held by the specific model that found it. Limited Use Items found during battle can be shared with nearby models as usual (see page 32).

Hope that helps.

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Thats great, and clears up the issues we had.
Many thanks for the reply.

No problem.