01-02-2012, 11:20 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Oct 2005
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Skill: General Education
GURPS is great in that almost every skill is useable in some sense. However there is no skill to reflect someone just "learning anything" other than an IQ check. I think there should be such a skill as there are people, to a degree I am one, who will read and learn anything. Now a General Education skill should be limited so as not to replace other skills but should allow more information than a flat IQ check to reflect the willingness of the character to do general research. If the skill level is high enough it might even allow a roll on a skill with no default to reflect the time and effort needed to learn "a little bit of anyhting" implied in the nature of the skill.
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The World's Tallest Dwarf |
01-02-2012, 11:28 AM | #2 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
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Re: Skill: General Education
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01-02-2012, 11:31 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Montreal, Canada
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Re: Skill: General Education
A single CP in a skill is taken to represent a fair bit of dedicated study (about 200 hours). For an individual who has not put in this kind of work (or who did but has not used the skill in a long time, etc.) but has a noticeably above-average knowledge of or experience with the subject the suggestion is that the GM allow them to roll at default. Characters who have absolutely zero experience usually don't even get a default role.
Pyramid and/or some supplements have included perks for allowing more skills to roll at default. IIRC it was about 10 skills at default/1 pt perk... As an aside, the level of commitment where I think skill point is warranted is more at that of a college minor than a college course for more people (exceptions made for those who work hard to retain knowledge). Anything less and I'm thinking of defaults, rather than skill points. Cheers! |
01-02-2012, 11:32 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Montreal, Canada
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Re: Skill: General Education
Dabbler is the perk I was referring to- CrimsonDawn's post went up as I was typing my response.
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01-02-2012, 12:11 PM | #5 | |
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Spain —Europe
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Re: Skill: General Education
Quote:
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"Let's face it: for some people, roleplaying is a serious challenge, a life-or-death struggle." J. M. Caparula/Scott Haring "Physics is basic but inessential." Wolfgang Smith My G+ Last edited by demonsbane; 01-02-2012 at 12:22 PM. Reason: grammar |
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01-02-2012, 12:20 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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Re: Skill: General Education
Isn't this what defaults are supposed to represent?
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“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...” Marcus Aurelius |
01-02-2012, 12:33 PM | #7 |
Join Date: Jul 2005
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Re: Skill: General Education
Very true - but it is interesting that for most Mental-Avg skills a person EITHER has 0 pts and the default IQ-5 level OR they have 1pt and have it at IQ-1. Having some kind of general education BANG skill might allow for defaults in behigher defaults...
So if I put 1 point in 2011 Chicagoan! at IQ-3 any defaults that you could logically explain the average Chicagoan would have learned would be at IQ-3 instead of the default off of IQ.
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Villain's Round Table |
01-02-2012, 01:08 PM | #8 |
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: Skill: General Education
Expert Skills might be one way to go. A single point in a few of those can work for the broad but shallow knowledge that chronic curiosity leads to.
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RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
01-02-2012, 01:11 PM | #9 |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
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Re: Skill: General Education
That's what the Dabbler perk is for, LemmingLord. It basically gives you 8 eighths of a point to spend improving defaults to two or more skills.
Dabbler, high Intelligence, Research skill, and Talents let you represent someone who has some ability at a lot of IQ skills. There are also Expert skills for broad, academic knowledge covering some of the area of other "adventuring skills".
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"It is easier to banish a habit of thought than a piece of knowledge." H. Beam Piper This forum got less aggravating when I started using the ignore feature |
01-02-2012, 07:00 PM | #10 |
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Vermont
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Re: Skill: General Education
I agree heartily with those that suggest Dabbler, Research, and a high IQ or the Encyclopedist Talent as ways to represent someone who's has a broad base of knowledge.
However, a new skill may not be totally inappropriate in some cases. In addition to Expert skills, the Soldier and Seamanship skills are examples of skills representing types of "general knowledge". A "College Student" skill might substitute for Carousing, Research, and Writing, within the very limited venue of campus life, college libraries, and term papers, for example, without granting the ability to make a good impression at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally or write a passable screenplay.
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My ongoing thread of GURPS versions of DC Comics characters. |
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