New technique: Prochronistic Training

[Alonsua]

Prochronistic Training

(Hard)
Defaults: Special (see below).
Prerequisite: Any one TL skill; cannot exceed prerequisite skill.

This technique allows you to use the prerequisite skill without suffering a TL penalty for futuristic or anachronistic methods. Each level of this technique removes one level of TL penalty; a TL8 Engineer with Prochronistic Training (Engineer (Electronics))-6 would take no TL penalties for Engineer (Electronics)/TL9 rolls, and would make Engineer (Electronics)/TL10 rolls at the -5 penalty for skills one TL higher. The GM may still enforce a familiarity penalty for unfamiliar equipment. You must buy this technique for each skill separately.

What do you think?

Inspired by Infinite Worlds p. 183.

[Anaraxes]

RAW requires buying up your personal TL before you can learn a higher tech version of a skill.

I'd just treat higher TL skills as defaulting from another TL version at the usual TL penalty, and buying the second skill up from the default.

The IQ/TL skills in particular represent a lot of training and knowledge, so for those cases requiring actual study (CP investiture in that skill) seems like a better way to go than treating them as a single minor application of a lower-tech skill (a Technique).

[Donny Brook]

I like the idea going the other way, i.e. a technique allowing use of lower TL versions of a skill. Using a Technique to work at higher TLs seems overpowered and not in line with my understanding of the concept of Techniques.

[whswhs]

I don't think "prochronistic" would mean that, if it meant anything. If you're looking for an opposite to "anachronistic," the usual pairing is ana- and cata- (as in anabolism and catabolism). But I think that "anachronism" is actually used for displacement in time in both directions. In GURPS Low-Tech, for example, the perk Anachronistic Skill is used for having a skill a TL before it's standard in GURPS, as in having Pharmacology (Synthetic) at TL4.

[Daigoro]

Well, it follows the Off-Hand Training = 1pt/one skill//Ambidexterity = 5pts/all skills paradigm, but is slightly more generous and is levelled. It's also considerably more generous with negating penalties than Anachronistic Training. So balance-wise, maybe okay, more likely a bit munchkinny, but probably allowable in some styles of campaign.

[OldSam]

For characters in a time travelling organisation like in Infinite Worlds I think the basic idea is nice! :) ...anyway, as have been said, being able to operate at a higher tech level is very powerful, so most likely it should be a bit more expensive.

For instance you could create some kind of mental flexibility training advantage as a requirement for the technique(s). I could imagine it would be fair to use a leveled advantage which costs 1/lvl and the number of levels is the maximum number of skills you can buy that technique for. So in effect each technique/skill will cost 1 cp more due to the advantage to balance things. Just as an idea... ;)

[bert]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I don't think "prochronistic" would mean that, if it meant anything.

The word is defined here:
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/prochronistic

I have not seen the word before, however my native language is Swedish.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by bert

The word is defined here:
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/prochronistic

I have not seen the word before, however my native language is Swedish.

I have seen neither prochronistic nor parachronistic before. However, anachronistic is long established in English.

It appears that a lot of people are coining words from classical roots, and doing so ineptly, because they don't know the actual classical languages, or even the history of the usage of those roots in English. That someone has done so, or that one of those inept coinages has gotten into some online reference work, doesn't oblige me to approve of the usage, or to adopt it for myself.

Research note: Wiktionary offers prolepsis, as The assignment of something to a period of time that precedes it, and also as a synonym meaning "representation of something that has occurred before its time" anachronism, flashforward, and foreshadowing. However, it also defines anachronism as meaning a person or thing that belongs to a different time, which could be either before or after.

[OldSam]

At least, the term can be found at different other sources, too, e.g. yourdictionary.com or definitiondb.com ...
https://www.yourdictionary.com/prochronistic
http://dictionary.definitiondb.com/define/prochronistic

I am no native speaker, but for me that would be totally fine...

[Alonsua]

Originally Posted by OldSam

At least, the term can be found at different other sources, too, e.g. yourdictionary.com or definitiondb.com ...
https://www.yourdictionary.com/prochronistic
http://dictionary.definitiondb.com/define/prochronistic

I am no native speaker, but for me that would be totally fine...

Thank you. It is fine for me too.