[House Rules] Crakkerjakk's Reduced Skill List

[happylrac]

Nice work CJ. I had this same thought about a month ago and started work on it but looks like you have it all done for me. I plan on making a few mods and then get it formatted for the character generator. Thanks!

[Tzeentch]

Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk

Cartography Now a specialty of Navigation

-- IMO this should be a speciality of either Geography or (at low TL) Artist and (at high TL) Computer Operation.

[warmachine]

I don't think the maths works. Take Medicine (IQ/EH). It costs 12 CP for IQ+0 levels whereas the individual skills (ignoring Pharmacy(Herbal)) are 4 + 4 + 8 + 4 + 4 = 24. Each additional level costs 4 for the super skill and 20 for all the individual ones. The super specialists are much cheaper, even more so than using Talents. That curmudgeonly grognard clinging to his copy of Characters will complain fiercely. This explains why Wildcard skills use a x3 multiplier.

[Crakkerjakk]

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

Having been in the pool with a great many non-swimming recruits in a modern setting, I have to strongly disagree, swimming is a skill the majority of the people in the world completely lack, but the default is generous enough for most people.

Who says most people have points in Atheletics?

[Crakkerjakk]

Originally Posted by jacobmuller

*I was a 25wpm touch-typist and failed to get a job in a typing pool - too slow. Darned if I'll call that a Hobby but I'd allow Hobby Skill - Typing, or Sewing, etc and make it clear that the Professional version was different. So yes, dropping those skills and making them available as either Hobby or Professional versions is a good idea:)

I can't tell if you're suggesting two Typing skills at two different difficulty levels, so this may be irrelevant, but to be clear:

Typing is a DX/E skill. If you're eliminating the skill and making this an example of some other generic skill, all Easy skills are Hobby Skills. There is no "professional version." Professional Skills are Average.

Originally Posted by Tzeentch

-- IMO this should be a speciality of either Geography or (at low TL) Artist and (at high TL) Computer Operation.

The problem is the first sentence of the skill description includes both creating maps and "interpreting" them. I figured that while you need to be able to use a computer or draw some to make them, since it includes being able to figure out what the map means that's a fairly substantial part of getting from point a to point b with a map. Hence, part of Navigation. I can see the argument for Geography, but I don't think it's an integral part of Artist or Computer Operation. I mean, I'm very computer savy, but have no idea how to make maps. And I think that's the case for most people who have Computer Operation and Artist, though I have no personal experience to back the later up with.

Originally Posted by warmachine

I don't think the maths works. Take Medicine (IQ/EH). It costs 12 CP for IQ+0 levels whereas the individual skills (ignoring Pharmacy(Herbal)) are 4 + 4 + 8 + 4 + 4 = 24. Each additional level costs 4 for the super skill and 20 for each individual one. The super specialists are much cheaper, even more so than using Talents. That curmudgeonly grognard clinging to his copy of Characters will complain fiercely. This explains why Wildcard skills use a x3 multiplier.

First, my thread, I get to define terminology. "Specialists" is going to mean people with focused competency, while "generalists" is going to mean people with broad competence with a variety of skills, whether they're using my rules or RAW.

That said, I was thinking most of the grognards would be wanting to focus on a single skill. My concern was that the generalists not be better at the specialist grognard's specialty for the same amount of points.

When I was constructing this, mostly I was looking at combat skills. Mostly that works nicely because a lot of stuff defaults to each other at -2, so you get Guns-DX-1 [1] v. Guns(Rifle)-DX+0 [1], with the second guy getting access to everything else at one level lower than the generalist, but one level higher in their specialty.

Hm. Perhaps I should just double costs for skill levels above VH instead of just bumping the skill down the difficulty rankings. Lets see, that would meant that Medicine(IQ/EH)-IQ+0 is 16 points. That's closer, and for 16 points the specialist can get Medicine(Physician) (IQ/H) IQ+3 [16], giving them defaults at IQ-1 or IQ-2 for the other skills.

I think the super-skills are really the nastiest part of this. Getting rid of optional specialties and folding closely related skills together is fairly simple. Pricing entirely new traits is the hard part.

I'm gonna think on this some more. I'll get back to y'all when I have something coherent.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk

I can't tell if you're suggesting two Typing skills at two different difficulty levels, so this may be irrelevant, but to be clear:

Typing is a DX/E skill. If you're eliminating the skill and making this an example of some other generic skill, all Easy skills are Hobby Skills. There is no "professional version." Professional Skills are Average.

For what it's worth, these days I'm treating Typing, and a fair number of other rather minor skills, as variations of Skill Adaptation perks. You can take them alone (and use an attribute for any rolls) or attach them to an appropriate skill as a Skill Adaptation, and use that skill. In the case of Typing for example you can take it as a freestanding perk (in which case your typing speed is 3 x DX wpm), or you can attach it to a skill in which typing could reasonably be useful (Administration or Computer Programming or Writing for example), in which case you type at 3 x skill wpm. It's not perfectly nuanced, in that it doesn't get you the full range of possible target numbers, but it works pretty well for a lot of minor stuff - Morse code for example (normally attached to EO (Comm) but you *could* take it freestanding), or a really elaborate professional jargon (got a little Latin for use in religious services but not enough to carry on a conversation, attach it to your Religious Ritual skill, and maybe you can make a Religious Ritual roll to understand it in another religious context...), or working in an exotic metal (pick a Smith skill and attach it), or manufacturing something that needs just a *little* bit of a second skill, like those barrels in another thread today, it's a Skill Adaptation tacked on to Carpentry.

[Langy]

The problem is the first sentence of the skill description includes both creating maps and "interpreting" them. I figured that while you need to be able to use a computer or draw some to make them, since it includes being able to figure out what the map means that's a fairly substantial part of getting from point a to point b with a map. Hence, part of Navigation. I can see the argument for Geography, but I don't think it's an integral part of Artist or Computer Operation. I mean, I'm very computer savy, but have no idea how to make maps. And I think that's the case for most people who have Computer Operation and Artist, though I have no personal experience to back the later up with.

I'd say *understanding* maps is definitely part of Navigation (even in the rules-as-written), but *drawing* maps is part of Artist, with Navigation as a prerequisite.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by SCAR

Fast-Draw off Weapon Skill seems like a good idea, but what would Kromm's Fast-Draw (Rose) base off?

Make it Sleight of Hand or DX for non-weapons.

To be sure, Fast Draw/Speed Load for gun ammo or arrows would also be techniques of the governing weapon skill.

[jacobmuller]

Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk

I can't tell if you're suggesting two Typing skills at two different difficulty levels

Yes, I was, but then I woke up this morning and said "That's crazy!"
Properly, the skill should be the difficulty it is and the characters' usage of the skills determine whether it is a hobby or profession, as opposed to Hobby or Profession skill.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by warmachine

I commend this kind of thinking but I think skill granularity is part of the GURPS gameplay philosophy. For example, a police procedural will have a number of investigators who have different methods of investigation, some scientific forensics, some mundane clue analysis, some face-to-face interviewing, some database research, some following the suspects etc. The Investigate skill stomps on too much of this difference whereas the natural science skills aren't that important. However, Investigate would be fine in, say, a space exploration where an investigator is just one of a broader team but the natural sciences are more commonly used. That is granularity and redundancy depends on the campaign.

To get differentiation, you could let component skills be bought up as techniques, or if that's too cheap, use the buying skill up from default rules.

e.g. A PC buys Natural Sciences up to skill 18, then spends 4 more points to get Physics at 19.