Assumptions on High School and College Skill Levels

[Infornific]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

I think this is a fundamentally wrong understanding of what Default means. I'm curious what others think.

I also agree with Fred. Defaults are supposed to be dependent on the character's background. In a modern campaign set in a first world country, people are typically high school graduates. So the general knowledge from high school in game terms is your default in History, Literature, Mathematics, Science skills, etc. A lack of a high school education would be represented by a Social Stigma plus possibly reduced IQ, Illiteracy of some level and an implied lack of default skills. You could certainly justify a few points in skills based on your interests in high school, but learning them in high school is just a feature.

College again I would treat as a feature. If you went to a good school and took advantage of all opportunities to improve your mind you could justify buying a level of IQ plus points in skills for your major. If you partied a lot, possibly nothing but points in certain social skills. A skill level of 12 or so sounds right for the typical major for a good college but a character could justify higher or lower skill easily enough. If you really want a game mechanic, maybe assume 15-20 points in Attributes, Advantages and skills acquired for an active college education.

- DW