[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by KDLadage

I would, personally, break skill levels into brackets...

05 and below -- You do not so much as have this skill, as you have a rating to measure your inevitable failure.

I'd note that a skill level of 3-5 represents a "real" skill of 7-9 in "routine circumstances," for which you get a +4 bonus. So, taking extra time and in a casual environment, you might expect a 50% success rate. This is perfectly acceptable for stuff you don't care much about, but in any difficulty, and certainly in a time crunch, you're hopeless. "Casual use only" might be more informative than "will inevitably fail."

06 - 08 -- Raw Beginning levels. This is the skill of a person that has no real aptitude for the skill, or has limited training in the skill. Might be able to handle the most basic tasks if given regular supervision and feedback. Many times, this will represent the default use of a skill.

With 6-8, you can expect 50-75% success rates in casual use, which is enough to impress the untrained, but not enough to hold say in a crisis. "Routine success in casual use" or "armchair but thorough academic knowledge"

09 - 11 -- Apprentice/Journeyman levels. This is the skill of a person that is not quite up to the task of using this skill on a professional basis, but has some basic or fundamental knowledge of the skill and can handle routine tasks with minor supervision.

In fact, I would say that in most cases, this is the appropriate skill level for someone who does things that are routine but not critical. THIS PROBABLY INCLUDES COMBAT SKILLS. Meaning you go to the range, add +4 for routine circumstances and little life-threatening stress in a static environment, and you qualify scoring 90% on the paper target.

12 - 14 -- Professional levels. This is the skill of a person that can handle most tasks with the skill, and could use this skill as the basis of a carreer. The knowledge of the skill goes well beyond the fundamentals and reaches into the theories and practical applications of the skill. This is someone that could teach the skill's fundamentals.

I would stress that at this level, you've got enough skill to handle (if badly) what one might refer to as "routine practical applications," meaning rolling against time critical or hard-ish tasks, but not both.

15 - 17 -- Seasoned Professional levels. This is the skill of a person that can not only handle the general, common tasks of the skill, but can easilly apply the knowledge of this skill to perfom tasks that are only tangentially related to the core theories. This is someone that can teach the skill's practical applications.

For this skill level, the user will seem like a sage in casual use, hardly ever fail in routine practical use, and be capable of tacking with aplomb time critical and unusual situations. Really, this person will be considered an expert by everybody other than other experts.



18 - 20 -- Expert levels. This is the skill of a person that can not only apply the skill to tangentially related areas of knowledge, but is quite capable of expanding the body of knowledge in the field into areas that others may not see as related until after this individual has completed their work and can demonstrate this new application. This is someone that can teach experts, and invent new (related) knowledge bases.

At levels of 20+, you're talking people who can apply their skill in novel ways under extreme duress and have a very high chance of success. A combatant with this skill level will likely develop a reputation from everyone who sees him fight. A service provider will command huge salaries and likely be a pathfinder for new ways of doing things.