Making a spear

[otghand]

What skills would a TL-0 PC use to create a spear?

The easy answer is Armoury (Melee Weapons), but consider a TL-0 PC from a hunter gatherer society.

Lands out of time has these new skills:

Bone Carving
Defaults: DX-2, Armoury (TL0)-2
DX/Average
This is the ability to shape and carve bone into weapons, tools, and artifacts. Bone fishhooks, jewelry, and simple carved figures can all be made with this skill. To use the skill for artistry instead of functionality, make an IQ-based roll.
Modifiers: Equipment modifiers (p. B345); +1 per level of High Manual Dexterity (p. B59); -3 per level of Ham-Fisted (p. B138).

and

Defaults:DX-2, Armoury(TL0)-1, Anthropology-4
This is the ability to chip flint into simple and useful tools, such as hand axes, arrowheads, spear tips, and so on. Nearly all natives of the World of Banded Night (p. 38) will have this skill at DX, with the exception of the folk of Tarn. Timelost often have it as well, as a suddenly-useful relic of their boy scout days or their time spent among various indigenous peo- ples back in the Peace Corps.
Modifiers: Equipment modifiers (p. B345); +1 per level of High Manual Dexterity (p. B59); -3 per level of Ham-Fisted (p. B138).

So it would seem that either of these DX based skills would suffice to create a spear head, which suggests that Armoury alone might not.

Consider a typical spear will have a head (of bone, stone, or at TL1 and above metal), a shaft of wood, and leather or gut to attach the head and possibly as a grip. That is three different materials.

GURPS Low Tech Companion 3 suggests the IQ skill Machinist for bone and stone, Professional Skill (Forester) to get the wood, and Professional Skill (Tanner) or Leatherworking -3 to get the leather from a carcass (however obtained).

It seems that there would be at least 4 skills involved to make a simple spear out in the wild, and if you don't have a high IQ and a lot of points in the skills you won't be making a spear without a lot of time. This is probably realistic but not sure how I would handle this as a GM.

I also find it interesting that Survival skill addresses none of these needs.

[GoldenMonkey]

You could also just make a fire-hardened spear. For that all you need is green wood and a fire, although a sharpening stone also helps.

[Varyon]

Armoury should probably cover most of what you need. A character with Armoury (TL0) at 12 should be just as capable of turning a stone into a spearhead as the guy with Flintknapping at 12. However, the guy with Armoury can then go on to make the rest of the spear, while the guy with Flintknapping can't - but the guy with Armoury can't make stone tools, only weapons, while the guy with Flintknapping can.

[Anaraxes]

Also seems reasonable to add a TL0 default to Armory to these skills at -3, to match the Smith defaults for the metal age ones.

I also find it interesting that Survival skill addresses none of these needs.

Why should it? The skill isn't Survival! or Survivalist!, a wildcard for anything you need to know to survive. Survival also doesn't firearms training at higher TLs or navigation/orienteering skills, useful as though would be, nor first aid, medicinal values of plants (even though you recognize the poisonous ones so as not to eat them), or making any of the tools you'd find useful for building shelter or trapping game.

It's reasonable for a person with such an interest (or need) to have more than one GURPS skill; those skills are pretty fine-grained, even if they do overlap. They wouldn't just learn Survival, but several other skills (possibly via Dabbler if they're not really that serious about it, but just took a survival course once or the like).

The BSA Wilderness Survival merit badge doesn't include any requirements for making weapons (of any tech level). The list is actually pretty close to the topics covered in the text for the GURPS skill.

[Anders]

Break a branch from World-Ash and carve it with runes of law, binding all to your will. But be careful, or the Ash will poke out your eye.

[Brandy]

Originally Posted by Anders

Break a branch from World-Ash and carve it with runes of law, binding all to your will. But be careful, or the Ash will poke out your eye.

If that happens, you could always just rub some woad in.

[DanHoward]

You don't need any skill to make a sharpened stick except perhaps the competence not to cut yourself with a knife. I've made firehardened spears with nothing but a machete despite having no previous spearmaking slills. You can use the skill of Armoury instead of Smith to make a spear with a metal spearhead so why not allow Armoury to knap a stone spearhead and attach it to a shaft?

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

You don't need any skill to make a sharpened stick except perhaps the competence not to cut yourself with a knife.

And yet a spear is more than just a sharpened stick, even when it is nothing but a length of wood with a pointy end.

Part of the skill is in finding a length of wood that won't break on first use, is easily griped, isn't poisonous, etc.

[Xplo]

Originally Posted by otghand

it would seem that either of these DX based skills would suffice to create a spear head, which suggests that Armoury alone might not.

It suggests no such thing. Armoury/TL0 is the skill of making primitive weapons and is all you need for a spear, including one with an attached head made of stone, obsidian, or bone.

GURPS skills tend to have functional overlap and this is especially true at the lowest TLs; a TL0 armorer is probably also a competent stone knapper and/or bone carver, depending on what crafts are available in his culture, and should not have to pay for more than one skill to be able to make both a stabby stone knife tied to the end of a stick and a scrapey one suitable for working hides. Specialization is for insects and higher TLs.

[safisher]

Originally Posted by otghand

What skills would a TL-0 PC use to create a spear?...I also find it interesting that Survival skill addresses none of these needs.

Spear fishing is clearly a Survival skill; making a spear to hunt/trap animals for food is clearly Survival, too. I would make the PC who is making a simple fire-hardened spear a survival "tool" and probably at +5 or more (routine use) in many cases. If you have to make a spear with absolutely no tools while trying to survive in the wild, it might require a flat skill roll (stressed). As other's have said, there are a variety of other skills involved in this task -- Armoury or Machinist might be used as well, especially in making spears with stone points.