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Old 01-02-2012, 11:20 AM   #1
gruundehn
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Default 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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Old 01-02-2012, 11:28 AM   #2
CrimsonDawn
 
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Default Re: Skill: General Education

Quote:
Originally Posted by gruundehn View Post
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.
Power-Ups 3 : Talents, page 11 (and DF 11) has Jack of All Trades. With a combination of that, the perk Dabbler (from PU2), and an above-average IQ, you should be able to make any build imaginable for this kind of character.
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Old 01-02-2012, 11:31 AM   #3
Magpie
 
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Default 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.

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Old 01-02-2012, 11:32 AM   #4
Magpie
 
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Default Re: Skill: General Education

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Originally Posted by CrimsonDawn View Post
Power-Ups 3 : Talents, page 11 (and DF 11) has Jack of All Trades. With a combination of that, the perk Dabbler (from PU2), and an above-average IQ, you should be able to make any build imaginable for this kind of character.
Dabbler is the perk I was referring to- CrimsonDawn's post went up as I was typing my response.
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Old 01-02-2012, 12:11 PM   #5
demonsbane
 
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Default Re: Skill: General Education

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Originally Posted by gruundehn View Post
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. (. . .)
Even if the Dabbler perk were the answer in this case, as I said here I miss a section in the Basic Set pointing to the creation of new skills, (not just techniques) in the same way it supports and encourages building new advantages and disadvantages or modifying them.
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Last edited by demonsbane; 01-02-2012 at 12:22 PM. Reason: grammar
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Old 01-02-2012, 12:20 PM   #6
Anders
 
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Default Re: Skill: General Education

Isn't this what defaults are supposed to represent?
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Old 01-02-2012, 12:33 PM   #7
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Default Re: Skill: General Education

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Originally Posted by Asta Kask View Post
Isn't this what defaults are supposed to represent?
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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Old 01-02-2012, 01:08 PM   #8
RyanW
 
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Default 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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Old 01-02-2012, 01:11 PM   #9
Polydamas
 
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Default 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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Old 01-02-2012, 07:00 PM   #10
aesir23
 
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Default 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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