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Old 06-17-2017, 03:11 AM   #71
RogerBW
 
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Default Re: New Technique of the Week: an ongoing thread

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Autopsy (Surgery). Hard, default Surgery, cannot exceed Surgery+4. This allows you to buy up skill in the dissection part of an autopsy, which is fairly standardised.
It certainly feels like a technique rather than a specialty (whereas e.g. neurosurgery, working only on a specific sort of tissue, would be a specialty).

While I like complementary skills, I wonder whether one might want a mechanic more like Environment Suit: the Surgery (Autopsy) could act as a cap to the other investigative skills. (It would be possible for investigator A to do the cutting, and investigator B to draw the conclusions based on A's skill cap, of course.)

One might even extend the Complementary Skill mechanic: you have Autopsy-13, you pass, so your functional Autopsy level on this specific body is at +1 for 14, and that's what caps the investigative skills.
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Old 06-24-2017, 12:26 PM   #72
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Default Re: New Technique of the Week: an ongoing thread

Dislocation (Escape). Hard, default Escape, cannot exceed prerequisite+4. This is buying up skill in escaping by dislocating a limb (usually arms or digits) to ease slipping out of restraints. The technique affects the time to dislocate a limb, the Will roll to do so, and the Escape roll. It's very useful for reducing the chances of injury when using dislocation.

Escape being a DX-based skill, it can't have optional specialisations, so this is a Technique. A One-Task Wonder perk would be specific to a form of restraint, such as handcuffs.

Opinions?

Last edited by johndallman; 06-24-2017 at 01:08 PM.
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Old 06-25-2017, 06:55 AM   #73
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Default Re: New Technique of the Week: an ongoing thread

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Dislocation (Escape). Hard, default Escape, cannot exceed prerequisite+4. This is buying up skill in escaping by dislocating a limb (usually arms or digits) to ease slipping out of restraints. The technique affects the time to dislocate a limb, the Will roll to do so, and the Escape roll. It's very useful for reducing the chances of injury when using dislocation.

Escape being a DX-based skill, it can't have optional specialisations, so this is a Technique. A One-Task Wonder perk would be specific to a form of restraint, such as handcuffs.

Opinions?
To me dislocation is part of what you do when using the Escape skill.
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Old 06-25-2017, 08:01 AM   #74
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Default Re: New Technique of the Week: an ongoing thread

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To me dislocation is part of what you do when using the Escape skill.
It reads to me like an optional measure.
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Old 06-25-2017, 09:04 AM   #75
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Default Re: New Technique of the Week: an ongoing thread

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To me dislocation is part of what you do when using the Escape skill.
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Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
It reads to me like an optional measure.
Dislocation is an option that halves the penalty from more secure restraints. It is also listed in the very first description of the skill, on B192.
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Old 06-25-2017, 10:24 AM   #76
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Default Re: New Technique of the Week: an ongoing thread

Autopsy (Surgery). Hard, default Surgery+6, cannot exceed Surgery+10 (See Bio-Tech, p139). This allows you to buy up skill in the dissection part of an autopsy, which is fairly standardised.

Pathologists, for whom doing autopsies is a routine activity, don't normally have high surgery skill, or do surgery on living patients. Depending on how your game treats specialisations of Surgery, Pathology may be a required specialisation, which covers the entire body, but isn't concerned about keeping the patient alive.

Finding evidence or clues during or after an autopsy usually requires rolls against Diagnosis, Forensics, Physiology and/or Poisons, but Biology (Entomology or Microbiology) is sometimes needed. Lab tests for toxicology are Biology (Biochemistry) or Chemistry (Analytical). Roll against the lower of these skills and the Autopsy technique level; it isn't necessary for all the rolls to be made by the same investigator, provided all the investigators can examine the body, or lab testers have adequate samples. This makes equipment bonuses for Autopsy valuable, see Bio-Tech p127.

This technique is Hard because you only get one try at dismantling a corpse; a "second autopsy" involves another pathologist making new Diagnosis (etc.) rolls, at -1 if the corpse has been frozen or -2 if it has been embalmed (which also gives -3 or worse to further toxicology tests).


I finally found the autopsy rules in Bio-Tech, and decided not to extend complementary skills into cap skills.

Last edited by johndallman; 06-25-2017 at 12:46 PM. Reason: Poisons
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Old 06-25-2017, 11:08 AM   #77
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Default Re: New Technique of the Week: an ongoing thread

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Toxicology is Biology (Biochemistry) or Chemistry (Analytical).
Wouldn't this be the Poisons skill? Or at least an optional specialization of it, covering detecting and identifying poison, just not delivering it?
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Old 06-25-2017, 12:47 PM   #78
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Default Re: New Technique of the Week: an ongoing thread

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Wouldn't this be the Poisons skill? Or at least an optional specialization of it, covering detecting and identifying poison, just not delivering it?
Edited in: I reckon Poisons doesn't cover detailed lab work.
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Old 06-25-2017, 12:53 PM   #79
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Default Re: New Technique of the Week: an ongoing thread

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Edited in: I reckon Poisons doesn't cover detailed lab work.
Given how narrow the topic 'poisons' is compared to 'biology' or 'chemistry' or 'physics', it pretty well should.
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Old 06-25-2017, 01:05 PM   #80
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Default Re: New Technique of the Week: an ongoing thread

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Edited in: I reckon Poisons doesn't cover detailed lab work.
Well, it is a TL skill. To me, that suggests that equipment bonuses or penalties are appropriate, and that it should improve with TL generally. I think that suggests that TL 8 Poisons skill should involve lab work.
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