Another idea for the old skill VS Attribute conundrum

[Randyman]

Originally Posted by Kromm

I somewhat agree. The playtesters and writers had quite the argument when GURPS Special Ops was in the development . . . One side would say, "Giving these guys crazy-high DX and IQ isn't how it works. They train at specific tasks." Then the other faction would say, "They train constantly at things that rely on judgment and reflexes. Those are best seen as general goals complemented with some specific trained applications." Nobody won, but I was in the second group.

That said, there might be merit in a system that divorces skills from attributes more. If all skills for everybody were priced a little cheaper than they are now (say, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, . . .) but based on 10 + Talent, and high DX, IQ, or HT gave a small bonus to specific tasks for skills (say, ±1 per two full levels different from 10), things would be less attribute-dependent. That isn't necessarily a good system, just an example of something you could do to change the balance a little. You could just as easily go with skills that cost 1 point per +1 to a base of 10, but once the level exceeds the controlling attribute, the price of each +1 doubles: 2 points to go from DX to DX+1, 4 points to go from DX+1 to DX+2, 8 points to go from DX+2 to DX+3, 16 points to go from DX+3 to DX+4. There are lots of possibilities, most of them bad but some of them worth exploring.

Sounds like an article for Alternate GURPS IV... :)