GURPS Power-Ups 10: Skill Trees

[Colonel__Klink]

I am curious now. Skill trees sounds similar to a concept I'm using for certain types of skills in my campaign based upon Vampire the Masquerade disciplines.

A discipline is in effect a spell that gains new attributes as it's leveled up. Some are straight forward like Potence at attribute + 0 gives the vampire +5 strength. ATT + 1 allows the vampire (if they want to use the more expensive version) have +10 strength instead.

Others allow variants. Protean at ATT+0 allows the caster to have animal like eyes that can see in the dark. Protean + 2 allows the caster to chose between that, growing claws or folding themselves into the earth beneath their feet seamlessly. Each effect has it's own costs.

To reduce the number of skills a cyborg needs to master his new body (and to make the game rules fair and consistent) I have gone the same route with cybernetics skills. Overdrive is the same thing as potence allowing the cyborg to override the safety limiters (which are set at the character's base strength) and utilize increasing levels of strength from the cybernetics. Unlike the vampire however their body just can't handle that increasing strength without further modification. So overdrive's max benefit doesn't come in at ATT+4 skill level, it comes in having 5/5 major body components cyberized.

Others, like Slayer: Cybernetically enhanced speed are far more like the vampires. If you got the Dexterity to handle it, the cybernetic synapse booster installed (think Sandevestan out of Cyberpunk Edgerunners) then you can activate Slayer's +2 attacks +4 speed (at a tremendous fatigue cost) at ATT+3.

I wonder if the skill trees in this book work similarly!