Skill Advancement

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by ericthered

One caution is that when you are moving from D&D stats to gurps stats, they look equivalent, but they're not. a 12 in gurps is about a 14 in D&D, and a 14 in gurps is about an 18.

It's also important to keep in mind that they track things a bit differently. Strength in DnD covers a mix of GURPS ST (aside from HP) as well as some of GURPS DX and HT (striking in melee combat, as well as a few skills IIRC), Dexterity covers a mix of GURPS DX (aside from striking in melee combat) and some HT (mainly its contribution to Basic Speed), Constitution covers GURPS HT and a touch of ST (HP), Wisdom roughly maps to both GURPS Per and Will (with a bit of IQ in the mix), Intelligence covers some of GURPS IQ (the intellectual bits) but also calls for more non-combat skills and languages, and Charisma covers some parts of GURPS IQ (the social skills) as well as Reaction Modifiers. As ericthered notes, generally speaking every +1 modifier for a DnD stat corresponds to a +1 to the stat itself in GURPS (DnD Str 11 is +0, so roughly GURPS ST 10; DnD Wis 17 is +3, so roughly GURPS Per 13 and Will 13).

Originally Posted by Dalin

As others have said, there are diminishing returns. Moreover, it really depends on the feel of the campaign. For example, if you're a bunch of faux-medieval superheroes (i.e., dungeon fantasy characters), then it's fine to have a bow or rapier skill of 25+ so you can do ridiculous things like Legolas or Zoro. (In my current DF campaign, with five PCs in the 400 point range, the highest skill level is currently only 21.)

If the campaign is grittier, then it makes sense to impose a limit, like "No skills over __ without a GM-approved Unusual Background." Since that varies from game to game, and points don't really reflect anything in the "reality" of the game world, it makes sense to leave it to each table to determine.

Kromm has also pointed out in various places that true mastery is reflected as much by the breadth of skills as depth. A legendary swordmaster will have a high weapon skill, but also a slew of other support skills. Depending on the genre, a swordmaster might invest points in acrobatics, armoury, blind fighting, connoisseur, leadership, observation, psychology, tactics, strategy, etc.). This is in addition to the advantages, attributes, and secondary attributes that support the archetype.

Advantages can also be useful here, although those often map a bit more closely to Feats and Class Features/Special Abilities. Charisma, Social Regard, Reputation, Appearance, etc can stand in for DnD Cha, and Weapon Master could stand in for DnD Str/Dex (depending on weapon) and/or Weapon Specialization. Techniques can also be useful to map to Feats (DF even has many Power-Ups, roughly comparable to DnD Feats, that are actually Techniques), although it's rare for getting more than 2 to be worthwhile compared to just buying up skill (but consider this for a Technique-heavy character).