Quote:
Originally Posted by dcarson
A Physical Work(HT) skill with a required specialty to cover any kind of physically demanding job and learning how to minimize the effort, train the right muscles. Like the scrawny old farmer that can toss more bails of hay than the football star teen.
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This makes sense for a HT/A skill. It could also represent animals conditioned to perform physically demanding tasks like carrying loads.
Laborer (HT/Average)
Defaults: Crewman-3, Farming-3, Hiking-3, Lifting-3, Masonry-3, Soldier-3, Smith-3.
You’re trained to perform all manner of repetitive, physically strenuous, non-combat tasks such as chopping wood, digging, turning cranks, tossing hay bales, and pulling loads.
Roll vs. Laborer skill when you attempt to drag, push, pull, or shift (but not lift) a heavy object. On a success, increase your Basic Lift by 5% per point by which you made your roll.
You may also substitute your skill for Basic Lift to determine how fast you dig (p. B350), or for HT to determine how quickly you fatigue when doing tasks such as chopping wood or operating human-powered machines.
Animals can learn this skill to help them better adapt to carrying packs, pulling wagons, or powering machines.
Any skill which involves repetitive non-combat physical activity might default to Laborer, but only for tasks which could reasonably be part of that skill. For example, low-tech Seamanship defaults to Laborer when performing tasks like hoisting sails, manning pumps, or turning capstans.
It could also be combined with the following perk.
Trained Strength (Type) (Leveled)
You get a +1 bonus per level to Lifting ST to perform a single, repetitive non-combat task, such as breaking rocks, chopping wood, digging, or carrying a certain type of load.
This is the generic, non-combat version of perks such as Strongbow. Realistically, the GM might limit the type of tasks this perk benefits or limit characters to just 1-2 levels.