Where did Skill 12 = professional come from?
 

As the title asks, where did the skill-12 professional come from? What points, references, factors and ideas that made the general rule that way?

Re: Where did Skill 12 = professional come from?
 

At skill 12, you will only succeed at routine tasks (+4) on a critical failure. Further, assuming a base attribute of 11, you need 4 to 8 points spent on a skill to reach level 12, equivalent to higher learning.

Re: Where did Skill 12 = professional come from?
 

You mean 'fail at routine tasks'.

Re: Where did Skill 12 = professional come from?
 

This is backed up this side bar:

Re: Where did Skill 12 = professional come from?
 

Why, yes. Yes, I do. :)

Re: Where did Skill 12 = professional come from?
 

They needed a benchmark, and 12 sounded good. It's high enough to be not quite trivial for characters in a baseline game to achieve (bear in mind that skill 12 = professional predates 4e by a lot; I think it predates 3e as well) and that a character with that skill won't feel incompetent, but low enough that a character who wants to be an expert can exceed it well enough.

Re: Where did Skill 12 = professional come from?
 

So am I to assume that this value was arbitrary for game purposes?

I think I remember reading about 12 as the professional skill level in 3e also. Most of the old job tables entries function on the 12 level.

as a follow up question:
Are Job Rolls in B516 considered routine? I remember in 3e they were not, but has that changed in 4e?

Re: Where did Skill 12 = professional come from?
 

it not arbitrary, and unless the job is 'adventuring level stress' then it's routine.

Re: Where did Skill 12 = professional come from?
 

I'd say that Job rolls are a special rule that abstracts a whole lot of routine rolls into one that covers them all.

As such, I wouldn't give an extra bonus for TDMs unless said month was somehow extra easy. Yes, most of the individual rolls you make are going to be easy, but that's why you get away with just one roll for a whole month.

If the intention of the rules was to make the roll against skill+4 or more, I believe that would have been stated explicitly.

Re: Where did Skill 12 = professional come from?
 

Where is I would take the explicit state rules on that skills are based for adventuring tasks, and based on job type, an office sectary is going to get it, the bomb squad is not.