Skills for Scientists and Doctors

[Minuteman37]

Ok SJGames, what skills/advantages are necessary to represent people with Doctorates in the following fields.

English
Law
Economics
Mathematics
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Psychology

and someone with a Medical Degree.

These individuals are responsible for teaching their various fields to survivors of an After the End scenario, so if additional information like what subset of a field they're trained in assume something fairly practical.

[Flyndaran]

A doctorate means you know an incredible amount about a very narrow sub-subject. It does not mean expansive knowledge of a subject in gaming terms.
But realistic characters don't last long in most game let alone post-apocalyptic ones.

Also, there have been quite a few threads on just how to make a doctor with wildly varying stats, skills, and features.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Minuteman37

Ok SJGames, what skills/advantages are necessary to represent people with Doctorates in the following fields.

English
Law
Mathematics
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Psychology

and someone with a Medical Degree.

I'm not too picky about specializations, but feel free to ask for additional information if you need it.

For English I would say Literature, the rest the relevant skill of the same name.
Than add Writing to handle all those reports and your thesis and Research.
There really should be something to represent the overall experience, something like Expert Skill (College Student) to handle the misc stuff.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Minuteman37

Ok SJGames, what skills/advantages are necessary to represent people with Doctorates in the following fields.

English
Law
Economics
Mathematics
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Psychology

and someone with a Medical Degree.

These individuals are responsible for teaching their various fields to survivors of an After the End scenario, so if additional information like what subset of a field they're trained in assume something fairly practical.

Apart from English, which would be Writing, and Economics, which won't be useful for centuries, there's a skill by the same name in the book. Oh the medical doctor should of course have Physician.

[Minuteman37]

Originally Posted by Refplace

For English I would say Literature, the rest the relevant skill of the same name.
Than add Writing to handle all those reports and your thesis and Research.
There really should be something to represent the overall experience, something like Expert Skill (College Student) to handle the misc stuff.

This is what I'm talking about, I know a chemist needs chemistry, but what other skills does he acquire on the way.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Refplace

There really should be something to represent the overall experience, something like Expert Skill (College Student) to handle the misc stuff.

College Student is precisely the kind of thing you can't represent by an Expert Skill. It isn't a matter of a vast store of academic or abstract knowledge of facts or doctrines; it's a "how-to" skill. Somebody really dedicated might have it as a Professional Skill; conceivably someone might have it as a Hobby Skill.

Actually, though, I think the primary thing colleges teach is Adminstration, at least the first point of it. Practically everything you do, from the first day on, involves complying with bureaucratic procedures and figuring out ways to get bureaucrats to give you what you want. There might also be, in the present-day United States, an element of Savoir-Faire (High Society), in that you learn what manners are expected in the professional and higher classes, and what opinions and sentiments must not be voiced.

And in a lot of colleges, Carousing seems to be important.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by whswhs

College Student is precisely the kind of thing you can't represent by an Expert Skill. It isn't a matter of a vast store of academic or abstract knowledge of facts or doctrines; it's a "how-to" skill. Somebody really dedicated might have it as a Professional Skill; conceivably someone might have it as a Hobby Skill.

Actually, though, I think the primary thing colleges teach is Adminstration, at least the first point of it. Practically everything you do, from the first day on, involves complying with bureaucratic procedures and figuring out ways to get bureaucrats to give you what you want. There might also be, in the present-day United States, an element of Savoir-Faire (High Society), in that you learn what manners are expected in the professional and higher classes, and what opinions and sentiments must not be voiced.

And in a lot of colleges, Carousing seems to be important.

I thought of Hobby skill but figured some of the graduates here might be offended.
And Professional Students crossed my mind as well.
Expert skill seems to me a decent fit, your not going to have a lot of points in it but it covers trivia and book learning about a variety of stuff but no practical experience in many fields.
In IT we used to have to tell recent computer grads that the real world doesnt work like they learned in school.

I would not fault either 1 pt in Administration or Savoire-Faire (College) either. Both could help you in college and out. High Society strikes me as more likely if your in a prestigious school.

[johndallman]

Doctoral students do some teaching, so can have Teaching skill if they work at it, which would be useful.

I recently built a character with a brand-new doctorate in physics, which came out as:

Mathematics (Applied) [2]
Physics (optional specialisation) [2]

Plus several perks:

Hyperspecialisation (Physics (thesis topic))

Dabbler (Teaching +3, Writing +2, Research +2)

Dabbler (Astronomy +2, Navigation (Space) +2, History (Naval) +2, Housekeeping +2)

The Astronomy and Navigation were relevant to the thesis topic, which was to do with the interstellar travel system of the setting. The History was a hobby, and the Housekeeping a survival skill.

Bio-Tech has templates for doctors.

[Phil Masters]

Research is in principle a significant aspect of a lot of academic careers, though often that may be covered by the limited default from the primary career/subject skill. Still, a useful academic character should probably know how to use a library and collate data in a general sort of way, so I'd usually drop a point in it.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Minuteman37

Law

Several specialisations of Law. Definitely Research, which is very important in doing anything with Law in an academic environment. Probably Writing.

Mathematics

One or more specialisations of Mathematics. Quite often some Physics, Economics, or Computer Programming.

Physics

Physics, usually with an optional specialisation and Mathematics (Applied). Almost always Computer Programming, quite often a bit of Chemistry.

They'd all have Computer Operation, and are likely to at least dabble in Research, Teaching and Writing. They'll all have a hyper-specialisation perk in the subject of their thesis.