From Abilities to Skills

[dataweaver]

In Pyramid 3/44, Dr. Kromm has an article ("From Skills to Advantages") that Shows how one might turn a cinematic skill into an advantage. (Short version: figure out how much the skill would cost at Attribute+0 level, then say that it's an advantage that costs that many points and works just like the skill does, but requires an attribute roll to use successfully.) I'd like to experiment with doing things the other way around: start with an Advantage; apply a set of Enhancements and limitations to it until it requires an Attribute roll to use it and costs as much as a skill would at the Attribute+0 level; then declare it to be a (cinematic) skill.

So, for example: start with Medium. This 10-point Advantage lets you perceive and communicate with spirits, and to call them (though they're not forced to answer the call). No roll is required, nor is any effort needed to maintain it. How would we turn this into a Skill?

First, determine how much Limitations are needed. An Easy Skill costs 1 point to use at its base value; an Average Skill costs 2 points; a Hard Skill costs 4 points; and a Very Hard Skill costs 8 points. These require -90%, -80%, -60%, and -20%, respectively. Since you can't have more than -80% worth of Limitations, we have to make it at least Average difficulty.

Second, apply some Limitations. We need it to be based on an Attribute roll, so we'll start with "Requires (Attribute) Roll". The attributes that make the most sense are IQ, Per, and Will: IQ would count as a -10% Limitation while each of the other two would count as a -5% Limitation. Adding a Fatigue Cost is recommended, so that you can't make the roll once and then leave it on more or less indefinitely; -5% per FP if you have to maintain it every minute, and -10% per FP if you have to maintain it every second. Alternately, it might Require Concentration to maintain (-15%). Finally, Preparation Required is highly appropriate for converting Medium into a "Séance" skill: that's -20% for 1 minute, -30% for ten minutes, -50% for one hour, and -60% for eight hours.

So let's go with a Per roll (-5%), Requires Concentration (-15%), and Preparation Required (one minute, for -20%). That brings the cost down to 6 points, half-way between the costs of Hard and Very Hard. Let's add an Accessibility limitation (must have a person or item present that is significant to the spirit being called; -20%). Now the cost is 4 points, the same as a Hard Skill. End result:

Séance (Per/Hard): Collect a symbolic connection to the spirit. After a minute of preparation, Concentrate to call out to the spirit. The spirit will hear your call, and can choose to come to you. If it does, then for as long as you Concentrate, you can see and converse with it.

Following are the Limitation amounts required to convert various Advantages into Skills.

• A 5-point Advantage requires -80% in Limitations to become an Easy Skill, -60% to become an Average Skill, and -20% to become a Hard Skill. You can take up to +60% in Enhancements and still qualify for Very Hard.
• A 10-point Advantage requires -80% in Limitations to becoma an Average Skill, -60% to become a Hard Skill, and -20% to become a Very Hard Skill.
• A 15-point Advantage requires -75% in Limitations to become a Hard Skill, and -50% to become a Very Hard Skill.
• A 20-point Advantage requires -80% in Limitations to become a Hard Skill, and -60% to become a Very Hard Skill.
• A 25-point Advantage requires -70% in Limitations to become a Very Hard Skill.
• A 30-point Advantage requires -75% in Limitations to become a Very Hard Skill.
• A 35-point Advantage requires -77% in Limitations to become a Very Hard Skill.
• A 40-point Advantage requires -80% in Limitations to become a Very Hard Skill.
• Larger Advantages cannot be made into Skills.

Remember that unless the Advantage already requires an Attribute roll to use, you probably already have 5% to 10% of that amount covered. Noncombat "super-Skills" can usually get further cost breaks from Preparation Required and Requires Concentration; and unless the Skill already has something built into it that keeps it from being left "on" all the time, some sort of duration limiter should be applied.

When considering super-skills that fit the theme of a power source, you should be able to apply the appropriate Power Modifier as well: the above "Séance" skill could potentially take a Spirit Power Modifier, possibly bringing it closer to being an Average Skill (depending on whether or not the Spirit Power Modifier replaces any of the other Limitations).

Finally, the article that inspired this included a bit about paying for an Unusual Training Perk and narrowing the scope of the skill a bit. If we're truly reverse-engineering said article, the "target costs" for our skills would be 2, 3, 5, and 9 points for Easy, Average, Hard, and Very Hard, respectively, and every Limitation requirement would be at least partially offset by an unspecified Accessibility Limitation corresponding to whatever conditions Unusual Training might impose (unspecified because once we meet the above requirements, we'd drop the Unusual Training perk and its conditions; so it doesn't matter to the skill writeup what it is). Per the guidelines for Accessibility, I'd say that said limitation is good for -30%. If this logic makes sense, then the breakpoints change considerably:

5 points: -30% for Easy; -10% for Average
10 points: -50% for Easy; -40% for Average; -20% for Hard
15 points: -50% for Average; -36% for Hard; -10% for Very Hard
20 points: -45% for Hard; -30% for Very Hard
25 points: -50% for Hard; -34% for Very Hard
30 points: -40% for Very Hard
35 points: -44% for Very Hard
40 points: -48% for Very Hard
45 points: -50% for Very Hard

The above amounts incorporate the aforementioned -30% Accessibility Limitation. I also ditched any options based on positive modifiers, on the theory that building Enhancements into super-skills should probably be discouraged. (With exceptions, of course: the Turning Enhancement for True Faith is especially appropriate when turning it into a super-skill.)

EDIT: Note that if you use this second approach, the resulting super-skill should have some sort of "enabler Advantage" as a prerequisite, such as Magery or Trained By a Master. IMHO, this ought to be true of super-skills.

Thoughts?