Pro (General) #
Once per turn, a Pro is allowed to re-roll any one dice roll he has made other than Armour, Injury or Casualty, even if he is Prone or Stunned. However, before the re-roll may be made, his coach must roll a D6. On a roll of 4, 5 or 6 the re-roll may be made. On a roll of 1, 2 or 3 the original result stands and may not be re-rolled with a skill or team re-roll; however you can re-roll the Pro roll with a Team re-roll.
Overview: #
Pro is a skill useful for players who make many rolls throughout the game. It can be used to maximize the use of other skills without having to resort to a team-reroll. Unfortunately, pro only works 50% of the time, so you should only use it when you’re out of team re-rolls or on events that won’t lead to turnovers.
For example, a favorite use of pro is to put it on a blitzing player. This player is already equipped with Block, Mighty Blow, Tackle, (maybe Piling On and Claw). To squeeze the most effectiveness out of such a player you must knockdown your opponents! This is where Pro helps out tremendously.
Let’s look at the Blocking Tables. A Block player blitzing a non-Block / non-Dodge player with a 2D roll will knock him down 75% of the time. A Block player blitzing a Block / non-Dodge player with a 2D roll will knock him down 55.6% of the time. With Pro, these values go up to 84.4% and 67.9% respectively.
Let’s say you use your blitzer over the entire course of the game… so 16 blocks. 16 * (67.9 %- 55.6%) = 1.968 extra players knocked down! Is your Mighty Blow, Piling On, Tackle, Claw player licking his lips now? Over the span of a season, this adds up, leading to even more casualties and hopefully, more victories. On top of that, if in dire straits, you can use the Pro reroll for Dodging or Go For Its (things must be pretty bleak for this, though).
Benefits: #
- Increases odds of Big Guy success from 83% to 90%. In other words, instead of failing 1/6 times, he’ll only fail 1/10 times.
- Can be used for a blitzer to reroll pushes into defender downs without sacrificing team rerolls.
- When successful, Pro can be used just like a team-reroll for that player.
Disadvantages: #
- Only a 5o% chance of succeeding
- If using Pro to reroll a push, you can actually reroll into a double-skull! (1/36 chance)
Useful to: #
Big Guys, Vampires, and Blitzer / Blocker units. As we discussed before, Pro is a good skill for players who are re-roll intensive. This includes Big Guys, killer-type players, and of course, vampires! Pro can be used to reroll bloodlust, hypnotic gaze, and blocks. This is important because you want to save your team rerolls for especially important moments (such as when you’re getting ready to hit a ball carrier). Just remember, however, that Pro should be a late addition to your roster as you’ll need other key skills (Block, Dodge) first.
Big Guys #
Big Guys are a different story. Since all big guys have the loner skill a team reroll only works for them 50% of the time. This is where Pro is very beneficial to Big Guys. It gives you the opportunity to reroll “for free” without having to worry about wasting a team re-roll. Unfortunately for Big Guys, they can only access the Pro skill if they roll doubles. This causes a dilemma because there is another General skill available that every Big Guy wants…. Block! This is where it’s up to you as a coach to figure out what you want to do. Block can be considered a safer skill selection, especially since -a 2d block against the Big Guy becomes less effective. However, if your Big Guy isn’t being utilized because he failed 3 Bonehead rolls in a row, that Block doesn’t mean much. Regardless, Pro for a Big Guy could be helpful because it decreases failure from 1/6 to 1/10. In a course of a game that’s one less failure. The Pro roll can also be used for blocks which can aid in knockdown and SPP accumulation (if you already have block / juggernaut). The biggest thing that comes with Pro, however, is peace of mind. As a coach you’ll know you don’t have to waste a team re-roll on the Big Guy anymore!
Summary: #
Although not dependable, pro does a good job of saving team re-rolls from Big Guy failure or from rerolling actions that don’t necessarily mean failure (hypnotic gaze, push result, bloodlust, etc.). It’s valuable because it maximizes the effectiveness of your key players and it can also come in handy in situations where all of your team re-rolls are used.
Pro is just one of those skills that has to be experienced. When you start seeing pushes converted to defender downs that then become Badly Hurts (all while not using a team reroll), you quickly become a fan. When you’re down to 0 team rerolls and your pro player successfully catches the game winning TD because of a pro-RR, you quickly become a fan. There will be many times Pro will fail you (50%), but learning realistic expectations from Pro comes with practice.
