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Old 11-24-2011, 12:36 PM   #11
vicky_molokh
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Default Re: Connoisseur (Wine) and Connoisseur (Whiskey)

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Originally Posted by Perfect Organism View Post
Personally, I wouldn't have thought to use anything much narrower than connoisseur (food and drink) or connoisseur (intoxicants), but several posters make a good case for more limited specialities. I especially like Mgellis' approach of treating it much like area knowledge.
I once offered Connoisseur (Drugs) as part of the Chemist! Wildcard skill, and it wasn't immediately shot down . . . It kinda makes sense for the NPC concept anyway . . .
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Old 11-24-2011, 12:56 PM   #12
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Default Re: Connoisseur (Wine) and Connoisseur (Whiskey)

I like Connoisseur skills mostly because they're great background color that can also have uses on adventures: impressing NPCs, making a little extra money, and identifying obscure clues ("He wouldn't have noticed the cyanide easily, as this vintage has almond-cherry overtones."). Still, as I see them as background color, I think it's important to let players choose the specialties they see as key distinctions for their PCs. In my current campaign, players have bought Connoisseur (Fashion), Connoisseur (Fast Food & Street Food), Connoisseur (Music), and Connoisseur (Vehicles), but I'd have no issues with, say, Connoisseur (Hats), Connoisseur (Food), Connoisseur (Rock n' Roll), or Connoisseur (Sports Cars). To make the narrower specialties equally valuable, the more specialized character gets +2 in Contests if his specialty is specifically applicable.
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Old 11-24-2011, 01:47 PM   #13
Phaelen Bleux
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Default Re: Connoisseur (Wine) and Connoisseur (Whiskey)

Connoisseur (Cheese) would also be a good one.
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Old 11-24-2011, 04:57 PM   #14
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Default Re: Connoisseur (Wine) and Connoisseur (Whiskey)

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Originally Posted by Phaelen Bleux View Post
Connoisseur (Cheese) would also be a good one.
I'd be afraid any game with such a character would devolve into a reenactment of the cheese shop sketch. I know my players' tendencies.
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Old 11-24-2011, 05:39 PM   #15
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Default Re: Connoisseur (Wine) and Connoisseur (Whiskey)

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I'd be afraid any game with such a character would devolve into a reenactment of the cheese shop sketch. I know my players' tendencies.
There goes my idea for Connoisseur (Canned Meat Products)…
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Old 11-24-2011, 06:50 PM   #16
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Default Re: Connoisseur (Wine) and Connoisseur (Whiskey)

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Originally Posted by Mgellis View Post
When in doubt, I assume that if one specialty is arguably a sub-type of another (e.g., Visual Arts and Pottery), they default to each other at -2, the way the Area Knowledge specialties do. This is also roughly how optional specialties for skills like Literature gets treated, so I figured it's balanced.
I like this. Simple, accords with already existing RAW, and allows for expansion or compression as necessary. If GM and players are so inclined, this allows super specialization into fields like Connoisseur (Bordeaux) or Connoisseur (Bourbon).
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Old 11-24-2011, 11:14 PM   #17
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Default Re: Connoisseur (Wine) and Connoisseur (Whiskey)

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Originally Posted by Mgellis View Post
I assume a Connoisseur specialty will be fairly specific (wine, dogs, pottery, comic books, etc.) but can be broader (books, visual arts, pets, food and drink, etc.). It depends on the character concept.

When in doubt, I assume that if one specialty is arguably a sub-type of another (e.g., Visual Arts and Pottery), they default to each other at -2, the way the Area Knowledge specialties do. This is also roughly how optional specialties for skills like Literature gets treated, so I figured it's balanced.
I let you take whatever specialization you want. It's not usually difficult to tell if a particular specialization has the right coverage to be of any use in a particular situation. Occasionally you'll need a contest, or have a preset TDM, so you need a mechanic to convert between different specialties. I personally pick a TDM for some particular level (say Connoisseur (Wines) + 0 to identify this particular one) and then if you want to use some other level of specialization, estimate how much your particular specialty covers relative to the one the TDM is set for, applying a +/-3 per order of magnitude (or +/-1 per doubling, pretty much the same thing at the level of estimation). So Connoisseur (Food and Drink) seems like it covers between 100 (-3) and 1000 (-6) times as much stuff as (Wine), roll at -5 to identify the same vintage. If it happens to be one, you could roll against your Connoisseur (California Wines) at somewhere around +3, since they are probably somewhere around 1/10 of all vintages, to do the same.

This works fine for levels of Theology too, or anything else where you can make reasonable looking guesses about how many similar smaller units there are in a broader specialty.
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Old 11-24-2011, 11:59 PM   #18
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Default Re: Connoisseur (Wine) and Connoisseur (Whiskey)

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There goes my idea for Connoisseur (Canned Meat Products)…
Insert obligatory Monty Python joke here.

But comparing, say, Spam to Vienna Sausages? That could derail a session for two hours in the one (Planescape) game I'm in.
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Old 11-25-2011, 06:35 AM   #19
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Default Re: Connoisseur (Wine) and Connoisseur (Whiskey)

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But comparing, say, Spam to Vienna Sausages? That could derail a session for two hours in the one (Planescape) game I'm in.
Being Bavarian, I've got Connoisseur(Sausages) as part of my racial template, so the mere fact that you'd consider them part of the "canned" family could make me rant a couple of hours…
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Old 11-25-2011, 07:54 AM   #20
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Default Re: Connoisseur (Wine) and Connoisseur (Whiskey)

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Originally Posted by vicky_molokh View Post
I once offered Connoisseur (Drugs) as part of the Chemist! Wildcard skill, and it wasn't immediately shot down . . . It kinda makes sense for the NPC concept anyway . . .
Even if you're treating Connoisseur(Wine) and Connoisseur (Whisky) as separate, they'd both be included in Chemist!, IMO (although someone with Chemist! might talk more about cis-3-methyl-4-octanolide than oak flavor).
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