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Old 01-18-2018, 03:58 PM   #1
cupbearer
 
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Default Converting Advantages to Skills or Techniques

Hi

Is there any rule in RAW that allows you to convert an advantage to skill (or technique for that matter)?

I saw expensive techniques in the dungeon fantasy power ups (for the swashbuckler) that gave me inspiration - does anyone know how this might work?
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Old 01-18-2018, 04:03 PM   #2
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Default Re: Converting Advantages to Skills or Techniques

See Using Abilities by Default in Powers. Combined with Skills for Everyone is how many of the techniques in Psionic Powers work.
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Old 01-18-2018, 05:12 PM   #3
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Default Re: Converting Advantages to Skills or Techniques

sir_pudding's suggestion of Using Abilities By Default and Skills for Everyone is probably the closest you'll get for this. Note that both require you to buy at least one actual advantage, as well as pay for the skills.

Quote:
Originally Posted by cupbearer View Post
I saw expensive techniques in the dungeon fantasy power ups (for the swashbuckler) that gave me inspiration
I haven't checked on all the techniques in Power Ups, but I strongly suspect that all of them are actually not based on advantages at all. Rather, I believe they make use of the technique design system in Martial Arts, that lets you do various stunts and normally-impossible tricks with your skill, and assigns penalties to these. See "Creating New Techniques", Martial Arts pp. 89-95.
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Old 01-19-2018, 11:09 AM   #4
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Default Re: Converting Advantages to Skills or Techniques

There's an Alternate GURPS issue of Pyramid with an article about converting Skills to Advantages. The heart of the notion was that you can call n points of Skill an n-point Advantage as long as it meets certain conditions.

The same premise works the other way around: if you can make an Advantage look like a Skill under the right conditions, you can call it a Skill. It turns out that those conditions are fairly strict: for instance, in order to call an Advantage a Hard Skill, the Advantage must cost four points and require a roll against an Attribute. On top of that, the resulting Skill almost certainly requires an Unusual Background or other “gateway Advantage” (e.g., Magery, Trained By a Master, etc.) — which is still a step up from Skills For Everyone in that you don't need to buy a separate ability-specific Advantage for each Skill.

The drawback is that ability-skills created in this manner pretty much have to be dirt-cheap, which severely restricts what you can do with them. The other drawback is that this comes from an Alternate GURPS article, which means that it is by definition a rules hack, and not something officially sanctioned: it's very much “use at your own risk”.
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Old 01-19-2018, 03:33 PM   #5
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Default Re: Converting Advantages to Skills or Techniques

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen View Post
sir_pudding's suggestion of Using Abilities By Default and Skills for Everyone is probably the closest you'll get for this. Note that both require you to buy at least one actual advantage, as well as pay for the skills.



I haven't checked on all the techniques in Power Ups, but I strongly suspect that all of them are actually not based on advantages at all. Rather, I believe they make use of the technique design system in Martial Arts, that lets you do various stunts and normally-impossible tricks with your skill, and assigns penalties to these. See "Creating New Techniques", Martial Arts pp. 89-95.
What about just using a point for point cost as the basis of a technique penalty. for instance:
Extra Attack technique - defaults at -25 can be bought up to 0 penalty
grants an extra attack.

In this way you aren't getting rid of cost of the advantage but you are essentially give access to this ability without having to buy the advantage.
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Old 01-19-2018, 03:54 PM   #6
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Default Re: Converting Advantages to Skills or Techniques

Quote:
Originally Posted by cupbearer View Post
What about just using a point for point cost as the basis of a technique penalty. for instance:
Extra Attack technique - defaults at -25 can be bought up to 0 penalty
grants an extra attack.

In this way you aren't getting rid of cost of the advantage but you are essentially give access to this ability without having to buy the advantage.
Why would I take an Extra Attack technique at -25, when I could just take a Rapid Strike at -6?
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Old 01-19-2018, 04:21 PM   #7
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Default Re: Converting Advantages to Skills or Techniques

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Originally Posted by trooper6 View Post
Why would I take an Extra Attack technique at -25, when I could just take a Rapid Strike at -6?
It might not have been the best example but Extra Attack is more flexible than Rapid Strike. Most of the time Rapid Strike is better since its cheaper but the Technique is only for 1 skill.
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Old 01-19-2018, 06:22 PM   #8
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Default Re: Converting Advantages to Skills or Techniques

Quote:
Originally Posted by trooper6 View Post
Why would I take an Extra Attack technique at -25, when I could just take a Rapid Strike at -6?
Because you can do both, now you have 3attacks. But really thats beside the point your question asks why bother buying extra attack , im just asking about converting advantages to techniques.
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Old 01-20-2018, 03:48 PM   #9
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Default Re: Converting Advantages to Skills or Techniques

And why do that when, if you have Trained By Master, you can have have nine attacks for -24 to skill?
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