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Old 01-18-2017, 05:53 AM   #4
Icelander
 
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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Default Re: Lady Sybil Vimes

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
I'd not object to raising some of her skills a bit - I tend to the conservative while trying to avoid stat/skill bloat - but I'd interpret at least some of her accomplishments as using Housekeeping and money to get good staff, and then giving them more money to do their jobs well.
Isn't this a textbook description of good Administration by the head of an organisation? Knowing how to find good people and delegate?

Note that Lady Sybil doesn't have the Administration skill in your write-up. Which doesn't seem right, in that she has been established as perhaps the most effective character in the Discworld when it comes to getting what she wants by knowing the levers of power, managing hired staff and organising stuff.

She knows how to bypass bureaucracies when needed, use them to her advantage at other times and run them if necessary. Several books show her solving bureaucratic problems or winning a bureaucratic turf war in one scene, when the entire Watch had been powerless for years.

Sure, that's one possible benefit of high Status, but men like Lord Rust have none of her ability to get things done quickly and without upsetting any apple carts by knowing who to talk to, how and when. And high Status and Wealth on its own, without Administration or other skills that can help you find competent underlings, just allows you to be a figurehead at the mercy of whoever you hire. If you want competent hirelings who work for your interests, you have to have the skills to recognise them and manage them.
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Last edited by Icelander; 01-18-2017 at 06:00 AM.
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