OmniTL (multiple Tech Levels)

[KarlKost]

Ok, we live on TL 8. If, for example, I'm a traveler from a TL 10 future and get to the present... Ok, I pay 10 CP and use all my TL skills with TL 10... Which means that I'll have a penalty to use anything from this age (so... Not much of an advantage after all if I don't have any TL 10 toy to stack on my mojo).

Thats fine.

But, what if I want my guy to be good with more than a single TL? What if I have a bigger than life Doctor Who Temporal Cop that is just as good with TL 0 polished rocks as he is with TL 12 dark matter transmitters? How can I build the supremme cyber-steampunk gadgeteer that can have unthinkable steam Engineering designs from TL 6 mixed with incredible HUD computer interface from TL 8, armed with TL 7 submachine guns and powered by TL 9 power cells?

[ericthered]

There are two kinds of TL a character has.

One is the High TL advantage. This grants you access to stuff no one else has, and is a prerequisite for high TL skills.

The other is the TL of a specific skill. And you can buy two versions of the skill with different TL's. For example: Machinist (TL3), which is essentially a blacksmith, and Machinist (TL 7), which is probably what you think of when you think of a machinist. There are rules for what to do if you have the wrong TL for the tools or task you are attempting.

That's the RAW foundation.

EDIT: Of course, if you're going that crazy, you may want to just use a wildcard skill and call it a day.

[KarlKost]

Yeah... But I want my char to have multiple TLs. Not just buying skills from two different TLs, but having two (or more TLs) to ALL.

Maybe an UB... I'm just not sure how much for that

[KarlKost]

Actually, now that I've come to think about it, this trait is not so absurd... For example, very old imortal vampires from the time of Rome could have TL from 2 to 8, time travelers that never stays too much in one time for... Too long? Ever since birth (my mother time-traveled with me since before I had my first gradson ya know, so I dont even know when I will be born...), and ancient AIs or gods could all have seem the change of TL from the civilizations (an AI could still have the memory from the beggining of TL 10, even if it lives now in a TL 12 society, so it would have familiarity to TL 10, 11 and 12)

[Phantasm]

For a single skill that's valid across several TLs, I use an "I Lived It!" Perk, specifying the lowest TL you learned the skill at. This lets, for example, someone like the Eternal Soldier or a vampire to specify (for example) "Solder/TL8" in a modern-day game while not suffering penalties for using the lower levels of TL. (In Longinus's case, it'd be Soldier/TL2, while in Vlad II Dracula's case it'd be Soldier/TL3 or /TL4.) Think of it as the reverse of the Cutting Edge Training Perk.

Now, using a handful of skills across various TLs I'd consider it a 5- or 10-point Unusual Background; in keeping with the example of Omnilingual, I might go with a 40 point UB for "no penalties to any /TL skill regardless of whether you're in TL0 or TL12+". The character has to have the relevant skills, of course.

This seem valid?

[KarlKost]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

For a single skill that's valid across several TLs, I use an "I Lived It!" Perk, specifying the lowest TL you learned the skill at. This lets, for example, someone like the Eternal Soldier or a vampire to specify (for example) "Solder/TL8" in a modern-day game while not suffering penalties for using the lower levels of TL. (In Longinus's case, it'd be Soldier/TL2, while in Vlad II Dracula's case it'd be Soldier/TL3 or /TL4.) Think of it as the reverse of the Cutting Edge Training Perk.

Now, using a handful of skills across various TLs I'd consider it a 5- or 10-point Unusual Background; in keeping with the example of Omnilingual, I might go with a 40 point UB for "no penalties to any /TL skill regardless of whether you're in TL0 or TL12+". The character has to have the relevant skills, of course.

This seem valid?

Yep, it would be something like it. But I wanted something leveled... For example " you can use any TL 4, 6, 9 or 11 skills", or "you are good for TL 3 to 10", instead of being straight to full spectrum "from cavemen to Machine God" TL 0-12

[whswhs]

Let's say you're in a TL8 society. You will normally buy your skills at TL8. But in general, you can buy a skill at anywhere from TL0 to TL7, starting either from the IQ (or other) default or from the default from a TL8 skill, unless the GM says no. There are anthropologists who have the skill of making tools from chipped stone, which is Machinist/TL0; they may well not know how to make tools or parts in a modern-day machine shop. On the other hand, they probably can't learn Surgery (Field-Expedient)/TL0, at least without an Unusual Background. ("I learned how to perform trepanation with stone tools from an isolated Siberian tribe.")

If you have Low TL, you can learn skills from 0 up to something less than 8, same deal.

You can't learn skills at TL9 or above, though I suppose the GM could allow you an Unusual Background to grant access to a single such skill. High TL lets you go up to skills from some level higher than 8. Of course, if you have those skills, you'll be a bit at a loss with TL8 equipment, like a present-day auto mechanic trying to repair a Model T with no computer diagnostic equipment and no way to connect it.

So you don't need any special traits to buy most tech skills up to your personal TL. You just need to spend the points.

Canonically, you have to buy each skill at each TL, or work at the default—which usually makes it best to buy skills at your highest TL, as the penalties are much less going down (-1, -3, -5, and so on) than going up (-5 per level). But it might not be unbalancing to let the penalties downward be bought off with a technique. So say you have Electrician/TL8. For 2 points (a Hard technique) you buy off -1, and can work with TL7 equipment at no penalty. For 4 points, you buy off -3; for 6 points, -5. That gets you down to Electrician/TL5, where you're working with primary batteries, telegraph lines, and Leyden jars. You could call it "Obsolete Technology." You'd need a technique to help out each separate skill.

Going up would be harder. I might suggest that from one to five levels of the Advanced or Cutting Edge Technology technique, costing two to six points, buys off part or all of the penalty for working one TL higher (TL9 for us). It probably would even be okay to say that if you can work with TL9 at no penalty, you can work with TL10 at -5, not -10. I wouldn't allow more than five levels, though; going more than one TL up, even with very specialized training, seems a bit much.

(What about the anthropologist who's learned stone age surgery, and is handed some bronze knives and such? By this set of rules, he's at Surgery(Field-Expedient)/TL0 with a -5 penalty, and it would seem unlikely for him to be taught the technique of working with those advanced bronze tools, though he might could buy the technique after a successful skill roll.)

As an alternative, you could consider allowing knowledge of *any* lower TL version of your skill to be a perk. So if you have Armoury (Small Arms)/TL8, and you take a perk that gives you the same skill for TL4 (matchlocks, wheellocks, and early flintlocks), you roll at -1 for TL7, -3 for TL6, -5 for TL5 (working either down or up), no penalty for TL4, and -1 for TL3. But I wouldn't let you buy access to TL9 as a perk!

Does any of that do what you're looking for?

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by KarlKost

the supreme cyber-steampunk gadgeteer that can have unthinkable steam Engineering designs from TL 6 mixed with incredible HUD computer interface from TL 8, armed with TL 7 submachine guns and powered by TL 9 power cells?

As a side note, this kind of setting often calls for divergent TLs, usually written with a '+' sign (like TL6+2). That means the capabilities of TL8, but achieved by other means, like super-steampunk analytical engines with brass gears instead of transistors. As far as multiple TLs goes, these settings are often considered as all one TL (as much as the real world is one TL, anyway). Steampunk is just different tech, not a mixture of different TLs.

Tech level rules are scattered around, so for reference:
Character's Tech Level: B22. Basic concept, Low Tech and High Tech traits.
Technological Skills, B168. Modifiers for using skills of the wrong TL.
Game World Tech Levels, B511. World-building considerations, split tech levels, divergent tech and superscience, building up local tech levels.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by KarlKost

But, what if I want my guy to be good with more than a single TL? What if I have a bigger than life Doctor Who Temporal Cop that is just as good with TL 0 polished rocks as he is with TL 12 dark matter transmitters? How can I build the supremme cyber-steampunk gadgeteer that can have unthinkable steam Engineering designs from TL 6 mixed with incredible HUD computer interface from TL 8, armed with TL 7 submachine guns and powered by TL 9 power cells?

For one skill, I now do that with a perk (consider it Skill Adaptation (Skill/TLx with Skill/TLy -0). Being familiar with an additional TL (which gives you defaults, and would let you buy you skills at either) I charge 5 points for.

Having all your skills at two TLs I'm conflicted about. Technically that probably should scale with the number of skills (so buy the perk for all of them), but it's a fairly minor edge even in settings where it matters, so I generally just let it go with the 5 point Tech Familiarity. Bump it to 10 points if that seems too generous.

[sir_pudding]

The anachronistic training technique in GURPS Infinite Worlds is also a thing.