01-28-2010, 09:38 PM | #31 |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: Some questions about the Soldier skill
Recognizing other people's military hardware and labeling might be Soldier, though.
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I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident. |
01-28-2010, 09:53 PM | #32 | |
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: Some questions about the Soldier skill
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If you are trying to duplicate action movie combat, I can see your point. When you're mowing down mooks with an M60 fired from the hip one handed, you probably don't have to worry about keeping your socks dry.
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RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
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01-28-2010, 10:03 PM | #33 |
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: Some questions about the Soldier skill
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01-28-2010, 10:24 PM | #34 |
"Gimme 18 minutes . . ."
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Albuquerque, NM
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Re: Some questions about the Soldier skill
I'm treating the MANY times I've had to go "fix" a radio/phone and discovered that the phone was no longer connected to the wires, the radio's battery was dead, or either had had their fills zeroed, along with the fill device we gave them in case they zeroed the fill on the phone or radio, as outliers that make good stories, as opposed to the expected level of competence. It's the only thing that keeps me sane.
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01-28-2010, 10:27 PM | #35 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Some questions about the Soldier skill
Soldier effectively acts as your default for any routine task that would be rolled against a military skill at +4 or better. "Routine task" doesn't just mean "simple enough to merit +4," but also "completely rote." "Military skill" means "any of a short list of noncombat skills my armed service uses." Moreover, you take any penalties that the real skill would take but get none of its bonuses. And that's it.
In effect, Soldier is a way to do all the boring crap that a soldier has to do – pack gear, dry out boots, dig foxholes, fill sandbags, unroll barbed wire, etc. – without learning the full-fledged technical skills that let you do the less-boring crap. You would never learn it in an action-oriented, larger-than-life campaign. It's specifically for realistic soldiers in campaigns where the GM intends to be deadly serious about trench foot, loose gear, rattling ammo boxes, underfilled sandbags, and night vision being wrecked by a cigarette's glow. It's nothing like a wildcard skill at all, as then it would stand in for more skills; substitute for every use of all the skills it stands in for, whether they're at -10 or +10; receive bonuses as well as penalties; and fill in for a number of combat skills, too.
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
01-29-2010, 12:23 AM | #36 | ||||
Join Date: Oct 2009
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Re: Some questions about the Soldier skill
Go nuts, I'm touched you've been spelling the whole thing as long as you have.
[QUOTE=sir_pudding;924049]"Soldier cannot replace weapon skills, either; you must buy all such skills separately." Besides even people who aren't combat arms, can have Soldier. Like what? That soldier ought to help you make ice tea in a desert? Quote:
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Whew. These quote-posts are haaard. As for Kromm's post, I didn't expect a Wild-Card skill; I just looked over the example roll-for-these notes under Soldier, noticed a pattern that they were all realistic soldier skills. I suppose I missed the part about 'no gun skills included' but when it says 'a TL8 Soldier may learn to strip his rifle without learning Armoury (Small Arms)' I had kinda made the logical leap that if it let you do THAT, than letting you fire your rifle without a Guns skill might fly too (in the express parameters that this applies only with a gun conceivably practiced and employed by armed forces and plentiful penalties are applied to not-so-related guns). And you have to admit, for something that isn't a Wild Card skill it seems to cover a lot. I didn't even know there were Professional Skills in the game until it was mentioned some posts ago; the only other things in the book covering this many skills (although those skills are more universally useful) are those Wildcard ones; I thought Soldier before now was a more realistic Wild-Card skill, just without the '!' at the end. EDIT: Also, I do apologize for misreading the rule, especially taking this long to go back and read it after 3 pages. |
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01-29-2010, 02:17 AM | #37 | |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Stuttgart, Germany
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Re: Some questions about the Soldier skill
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It'll take a brighter than average guy, or an NCO who's put 8 points into the skill, to have it at 12-. |
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01-29-2010, 02:42 AM | #38 | |||
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: Some questions about the Soldier skill
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Last edited by sir_pudding; 01-29-2010 at 04:15 AM. |
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01-29-2010, 04:00 AM | #39 | |
Join Date: Jul 2006
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Re: Some questions about the Soldier skill
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In most eras, the difference between a soldier and a mercenary is the chain of command, not the skill set. |
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12-14-2012, 06:04 PM | #40 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: In the UFO
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Re: Some questions about the Soldier skill
I'm not that keen on the Soldier and other PS skills in general.
If it's covered by skills, buy 1 point in a skill or a default. At IQ 10 it's not like you're going to have more than skill 8-9 anyway. To remember the basic procedures of something your character is familiar with, below the resolution of a skill, roll against IQ. Isn't that what an IQ roll is generally for, anyway? Still, Soldier is kind of useful for the basic "disciplined troops vs. solo warriors" question, but I don't really like how it is handled, in the way to make it useful. I think the problem is that it's a conflation of Savior Fair (Military), a bit of Engineer, Hiking, the lack of a "Combat Reflexes 0" and possibly a "Fight in Ranks" technique. Heck, much of it could be removed by adding a Specialization to Hiking to cover marching in ranks and advancing in the field, e.g., Hiking (Marching) or Hiking (Military) and the rest with a redefinition of Tactics so at the lower level it covers you not doing dumb things when you're in a fight.
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Is love like the bittersweet taste of marmalade on burnt toast? Last edited by David L Pulver; 12-14-2012 at 06:19 PM. |
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kromm explanation, soldier |
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