Quote:
Originally Posted by acrosome
IRL Physiology does not equal Anatomy. (Thought it was worth noting.) Physiology is almost more like biochemistry mixed with a bit of physics. Sort of.
And then there's pathophysiology...
But anatomy is even taught totally separately.
Mind you, I'm talking modern practical scientific definitions. I'm pretty sure that classically "physiology" is something like "the study of living systems," which could be interpreted pretty damned broadly.
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Right, but I'm discussing the Physiology Modifiers sidebar on page 181. The idea there is that you suffer a penalty to certain rolls (Body Language, Diagnosis, Pressure Points, etc)
unless you succeed at a physiology roll with the relevant racial specialty. Thus, if you want read a Xenomorph's body language, you need to pass Physiology (Xenomorph), or if you want to patch up your buddy Xenomorph, you need to pass Physiology (Xenomorph), and so on. I haven't found the rules for it, but most people also apply this to making targeted attacks at vitals.
This rule, specifically, I think should be covered by a perk, rather than requiring players to purchase the relevant physiology per species: they'll never spend more than 1 point anyway, as they guy who dumps 8 points in a couple of Physiology skills is almost certainly going to be eclipsed by everyone else.
What else physiology should do, I don't know. Perhaps it's a perfectly relevant skill, but I'm not sure what it covers that Physician or Biology does not cover, and it's a Hard skill.