[House Rules] Crakkerjakk's Reduced Skill List
 

So, I have some problems with the GURPS skill system. I like the granularity, but find tracking the various skills that I think are required for a complete character to be a chore. Heck, the Barbarian template from DF has 24 skills, despite missing several of Kromm's "Strongly recommended for action heroes" skills. And the character sheet in the back of the book only comes with 25 lines to list skills!

The three current RAW skill systems are the standard skill system in the Basic Set, the skill system in GURPS Lite, and Wildcard skills. The system in the basic set is too granular for some of my players and is a pain to get on a character sheet, as mentioned. The GURPS Lite skills (84 in total) is closer to the number I think is manageable, but has some holes in it. Wildcard skills are okay for superhero or more cinematic pulp games, but rapidly become uneconomical if you're buying more than one. Plus, they go a little too far for what I had in mind, completely throwing granularity out the window.

Anyway, my tweak had several design goals. First, allow the people who like the way the system currently is to retain the granularity of the current skill system without compromising their effectiveness. Second, allow those who think that 256 skills before counting specializations is too many access to a streamlined list of skills, while retaining some element of balance with the more detail oriented. Finally, attempt to remain within the confines of the current rule system as much as possible.

1. The first step was eliminating what I view as redundant skills. Some skills are better represented as techniques of other skills, as specializations of other skills, or as worked examples of a expert, hobby, or professional skill, IMO. These were simply struck from the skill lists, still purchasable if vital to a character concept but no longer cluttering up the list.
   
2. The second step was to harness the power of specialties. Basically you can cut down a lot of clutter if instead of three specialties of Driving on the sheet you can just put down Driving. So almost all of the skills with required specializations are a difficulty class higher and no longer require a specialization.
   
3. Finally, some skills were packaged into even broader higher difficulty skills. An additional difficulty of skill, Extremely Hard, was added to accommodate skills like Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, etc. These are just a step past Very Hard, with 1 point giving you the skill at attribute-4. This means that they cost 12 points just to bring up to the level of attributes, meaning that at a reasonable human level of attributes they do tend to be expensive enough not to be too good of a deal, IMO.

So, without further ado, first a list of 57 skills folded into other skills or eliminated:

With those out of the way, some new super-skills were created to fold multiple skills under a larger, more difficult skill.

Agile Movement (DX/VH) contains Acrobatics, Aerobatics, Aquabatics, and Climbing.
Atheletics (HT/VH) contains Breath Control, Flight, Hiking, Jumping, Lifting, Running, and Swimming.
Business (IQ/VH) contains Accouting, Finance, Administration, and Merchant.
Computers (IQ/EH) contains Computer Hacking, Computer Programming, and Computer Operation.
Crafting (IQ/VH) contains Armoury, Jeweler, Mechanic, Smith, Electrician, Machinist, Carpentry, Leatherworking, and Masonry.
Electronics (IQ/VH) contains Electronics Operation and Electronics Repair.
Humanities (IQ/EH) contains Artist, History, Philosophy, Theology, Connoisseur, and Literature.
Investigation (IQ/VH) contains Detect Lies, Forensics, Observation, and Search.
Medicine (IQ/EH) contains Pharmacy, Physiology, Surgery, Diagnosis, and Physician.
Natural Sciences (IQ/EH) contains Biology, Paleontology, Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry, Geology, Metallurgy, and Meteorology.
Persuade (IQ/VH) contains Diplomacy, Fast-Talk, Interrogation, Intimidation, Savior-Faire, Sex Appeal, and Streetwise.
Social Sciences (IQ/VH) contains Anthropology, Archaeology, Economics, Linguistics, Psychology, and Sociology.
Sneaking (DX/H) contains Disguise, Shadowing, Smuggling, and Stealth.

Some skills DO retain the need to specialize. They are:

Hidden Lore
Musical Instrument
Religious Ritual
Ritual Magic
Symbol Drawing

A note on melee weapon skills.

I always found it silly that my skill dropped four points if I used both hands to swing my Broadsword. Hence, you may now take the weapon categories listed under Melee Weapon (B208) as skills one difficulty class higher than the hardest skill within that class. You can take Fencing (DX/H), Flails (DX/VH), Impact Weapons (DX/H), Pole Weapons (DX/H), Swords (DX/H), and Whips (DX/VH).

So, at the end of all this, what do we end up with?

The new skill list is at ~120 skills. The DF barbarian can be built with ~18 skills if someone so chooses, and if they go that route they'll be more broadly competent but at a lower skill level than the person who chooses to specialize.

I've uploaded an .ods file to my site (link is in the sig) that has lists of skills from the Basic Set, GURPS Lite, an expanded list of skills (though not with all the optional specialties from basic entered) and the compressed list.

So, at the end of this, aside from presenting this work for others to use, I'd love some constructive criticism. If you think that RAW is just fine, please don't post just to say that. But if you think a skill I turned into a technique should be a specialty, or vice versa, or that one super-skill is too powerful for the cost, or if this gimps certain types of players, or doesn't meet my design goals, I'd love to hear your thoughts. This hasn't been playtested at all (although I have a game starting up that will probably use it) so there are almost certainly some flaws.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Re: [House Rules] Crakkerjakk's Reduced Skill List
 

I don't get these two.

I can imagine a person who can easily draw a weapon but is terrible at using it (but I guess it wouldn't turn up too much).

Body Language has uses other than helping you to detect lies. Gauging feelings is a useful skill in its own right.


Other than that I really like it, especially axing Herb Lore and Esoteric Medicine.

Re: [House Rules] Crakkerjakk's Reduced Skill List
 

I figure you should design for the most general case. The majority of people who are quick on the draw can also shoot, and most guys who are good shots will have practiced drawing fast. I just think it's something highly skilled opponents should be able to do without cluttering up the character sheet. If you want to represent the guy from burning saddles, you can always buy up the technique a whole bunch and take an Incompetence (Shooting) quirk.

Slap those uses onto detect lies too. My eyeball was that Body Language was pretty much Detect Lies, but easier because you have to be able to see the person to use it. Since I was ruthlessly eliminating skills, redundant uses means they get combined into one skill.

Course, I've always thought there should be a more elegant way to manage all the unarmed combat skills, but I was afraid messing with that would mean you couldn't use Martial Arts without some serious head-scratching, so I left em.

Re: [House Rules] Crakkerjakk's Reduced Skill List
 

Because it's a technique, a character could improve it up to (default+4) by taking the Technique Mastery perk. Could represent someone who spends all their time practicing their draw, rather than their aim.

Overall I like this idea of streamlining the skill list.

Re: [House Rules] Crakkerjakk's Reduced Skill List
 

Feedback if you want...

Don't you mean professional skill?
Hobby fishing is to real fishing as a flower garden is to farming.
Gardening is small scale farming, not a hobby, but could easily be a farming specialization.

Do you mean some sort of technique?
It is something specifically trained for.


Do you mean a spear technique with a Riding requirement?
Again specifically trained for.


Um, piloting?

Huh?

Sewing is a profession, not a hobby.



Can't see how Climbing fits there, if you took it out I'd say that was a fine DX/H skill.

Um, making everyone automatically able to swim wouldn't work for me at all.

Might even work fine as IQ/H Expert Skill

IQ/H again, at most IQ/VH

A bit messed up pairing DX and IQ skills together like that...

IQ/H Expert Skill

IQ/H Expert Skill

IQ/VH is fine.

IQ/VH

Smuggling? I'd just put that one into the professional skills.

Hm, I'd say you'd want to separate out Unbalanced vs Balanced Weapons.
Fencing and Swords default at -2 from each other?

Other than my above comments, I think it's reasonable, don't bother with EH, not worth it.

Re: [House Rules] Crakkerjakk's Reduced Skill List
 

Thanks, I do appreciate it.

Fishing is Per/E, professional skills are Attribute/A

Sure, I'd allow a technique. Maybe even just a skill-specific perk for getting a damage bonus hitting inanimate objects out of combat. Mainly, I just don't think people spend enough time on it to justify a skill, and I figure using a weapon or unarmed skill + telegraphed + AoA is good enough.

I was thinking it was just something that people who knew how to use spears and how to ride could do, for the most part. You might get a few exceptions, and you might end up with some knights that are surprisingly good with a spear when dismounted. I hadn't considered that. Hmm... I think allowing a technique that allows you to exceed spear skill only when mounted seems okay.

Figured it wasn't that different from piloting a glider or landing with a flight pack.

Figured it was close enough to Free Flooding Sub for gov'mint work. Unfortunately I overlooked the fact that Submarine is DX/A, not IQ/A.

Sewing is an easy skill, thus a hobby skill

Acrobatics is DX/H, in order for it to stay balanced it needs to be more difficult. And yeah, Climbing should probably come out.

It's not automatic. You can still take the skills separately just like in RAW. But if you want a short-hand for "Athletic mofo" you can just take the Athletics skill. If you want shorthand for "Athletic mofo that can't swim," take Athletics and Incompetence(Swimming)[-1].

Accounting and Finance are already Hard skills. Need to up the difficulty to not make Business blatantly better.

Computer Hacking is already VH.

Leatherworking is the only DX skill. Honestly I just assumed it was IQ along with all the other crafting skills, and I think I'd be okay with changing it so that was the case.

The specializations are A, so individually each of them are H, combining both into one skill should be harder. I also thought about throwing in Electrician to make it a bit better of a deal.

Artist, History, Philosophy, and Theology are all Very Hard skills once you strip the requirement for specialization from them. It's definitely an EH skill.

Pharmacy, Physiology, and Surgery are all VH skills. Needs to be more difficult to stay balanced.

Biology, Paleontology, and Physics are all VH skills.

The way it is now, someone with Sneaking can make themselves up to look like a turnip farmer, sneak some weapons past the front gate of the city in their wagon o' turnips, and then ghost around the city till they find the guy they're supposed to assassinate, and follow him back to his meeting place with the other guys they're supposed to whack. I think it fits.

Which unbalanced v. balanced? In pole weapons? Might be a good idea. What does that leave, polearms in one pile, spear and staff in the other?

I might even go as far as -4. I mean, you can use a rapier with the broadsword skill, but if you're used to using a broadsword I think it'd be a bit of a stretch to fight like a fencer.

It's necessary to make the super-skills balanced with the VH skills they incorperate. But I do thank you for taking the time to run through and comment. You made some good points.

Re: [House Rules] Crakkerjakk's Reduced Skill List
 

I would pull Computer Hacking out of that skill package, on the grounds that it's harder than the rest and blatantly cinematic. You might even want to do away with it entirely, like you do for Esoteric Medicine and Exorcism - it's an application of Computer Programming, Cryptography and Expert Skill (Computer Security).

Re: [House Rules] Crakkerjakk's Reduced Skill List
 

Heh, I'm just objecting to the nomenclature of calling them hobbies, they should be E Professional skills.

Parachuting is closer to Flying, no?

Well, thing is you either say it's DX/H with Aerobatics, Aquabatics techniques, or you have it as DX/VH and most every player who takes it will take Incompetence(Aerobatics, Aquabatics)[-2] to make up for the wasted points.

I can see a lot of Incompetences getting listed...

This is where Hard techniques come in.

It's also listed as Cinematic, not a real skill.



Expert Skills are setting specific, if you're simplifying skills it's a valid way of doing things.

How much utility are they really worth in your games?
If you're reducing skill numbers, are the skills left really worth a premium beyond VH?

Yeah, there was a recent thread about that, Revisiting Talents for Combat:
Lance, Polearm, Spear, Staff would work for balanced.
Axe/Mace, Flail, Polearm, Two-Handed Axe/Mace, Two-Handed Flail would work for unbalanced.

You just have to keep an eye on when it's a balanced vs unbalanced Polearm.

Meh, you can use a broadsword like a rapier too, it's a pain, but you can do it, it's mostly just an issue of getting used to different stances when switching between styles.

Re: [House Rules] Crakkerjakk's Reduced Skill List
 

I've juggled the Skill Lists, looked at related Skills and Defaults, etc a fair bit, and I've considered some similar things, but nothing so drastic.

A GM should be reviewing the Skill List and defining the allowed skills for any particular campaign, along with any specific skill amendments. The DF Skill List has 149 skills (down from the full 270+, and pretty close to your 120).

Shifting closely related skills with good defaults to a single Primary Skill and optional Techniques or Specialisations seems like a reasonable idea.

Several skills could be changed to Professional or Hobby quite easily, but I'd agree with Ze'Manel Cunha about some of your choices between Professional and Hobby. Then again, Professional and Hobby are more 'labels' and the real distinction is Easy vs. Average difficulty.

Combining all of the Influence Skills into a single Persuade skill seems like a bad idea to me. How are you going to deal with the distinct special effects of the different influence skills, in particular the fact that use of the Diplomacy skill mean no worse than Neutral reaction?

I suspect you might also need to give some specific consideration to Talents and the effect your changes will have on their cost/benefit. Some of your 'Super Skills' are pretty close to Talents, and some Talents are only going to have 1 or 2 skills now.

You could simply drop Jumping and Lifting (and possibly others) and simply use the standard Attribute based rules - Jumping is based on Move and/or DX and Lifting rolls against ST.

Some specifics:
- Urban Survival as a Survival Specialisation seems reasonable, but the defaults are entirely different (none for Urban!)
- Esoteric Medicine is not just low-TL Physician, Chinese Medecine (among many others) coexists alongside Physician in our TL - perhaps it should be a Specialisation of Physician, with little or no defaults.
- Economics might be better as a 'Business' skill alongside Finance and Accounting, rather than a 'Social Sciences' skill.

Fast-Draw off Weapon Skill seems like a good idea, but what would Kromm's Fast-Draw (Rose) base off?

I think you also need to be careful not to cut some Niches down too much, Thief might have been reduced a little too much by your choices (I haven't checked, so it might be just fine). And Face Man from Action will certainly suffer from the loss of distinction on the Influence skills.

I'd also agree that you need to be careful rolling Physical (DX, HT) and Mental (IQ, Per, Will) skills together, but one or two shouldn't be any real problem.

I think anything like this has 2 important considerations:
1) Campaign Specifics - different campaigns may have different requirements, and rolling some skills together for one campaign might be fine, but would hurt another campaign considerably.
2) GM Style - If as a GM your games have less social interaction where the Influence skills make a difference, then by all means roll them together. If you have less of the gritty breaking and entering, pickpocket, crime action, then the Thief skills might not need to be as distinct.

Re: [House Rules] Crakkerjakk's Reduced Skill List
 

I commend this kind of thinking but I think skill granularity is part of the GURPS gameplay philosophy. For example, a police procedural will have a number of investigators who have different methods of investigation, some scientific forensics, some mundane clue analysis, some face-to-face interviewing, some database research, some following the suspects etc. The Investigate skill stomps on too much of this difference whereas the natural science skills aren't that important. However, Investigate would be fine in, say, a space exploration where an investigator is just one of a broader team but the natural sciences are more commonly used. That is granularity and redundancy depends on the campaign.

That is, a universal list either has skills that are too granular in some campaigns or too coarse in others. Now, you could switch each individual super-skill on or off, depending on the campaign. There is another problem that the usefulness of a skill depends on the campaign. Natural Science could be essential in a Star Trek style exploration, useless in a political intrigue, or somewhere in between for, say, a frontier trading game. You could reduce the difficulty of super-skills by two steps for campaigns where the GM deems it not so useful but not useless.

I have taken a different approach in my house rules, emphasising usefulness. Depending on the campaign, the GM chooses amalgamations of less useful skills, making it cheaper to be proficient in a set of less useful skills.