Tips for avoiding skill bloat; Pro skills

FF_Ninja · 06-16-2017, 12:10 PM

Starting a new criminal empire building campaign this Sunday, and I'm helping players build their very first GURPS characters. It's going pretty smoothly, but I'm a bit at a loss when it comes to skills.

With how GURPS handles skills, I'm used to there being a lot of skill bloat (and much of that being fat) and skill malnutrition. In Case A, players get a whole butt-load of 1-point skills for cheap, falling into the "I want dis" mentality. In Case B on the other hand, players have a hard time determining how to properly spend points on skills in order to make a fully fleshed-out character experience.

Anyone have some advice or a guide for properly and realistically choosing skills for a character without putting too much meta into it?

ALSO:

Professional skills. When does one roll vs a pro skill, instead of a normal skill? Example: One of my characters wants to be a cop, so that's Pro: Law Enforcement. But how would that work? Would it replace or overlap with other skills? I think I know how to work with overlap (synergy bonuses are a nice method), but I could use a hard and fast guideline of when to use a Pro skill vs. a normal skill, if both are applicable in theory.

Thanks again, guys!

06-16-2017, 12:10 PM	#1
FF_Ninja Join Date: Feb 2016	Tips for avoiding skill bloat; Pro skills Starting a new criminal empire building campaign this Sunday, and I'm helping players build their very first GURPS characters. It's going pretty smoothly, but I'm a bit at a loss when it comes to skills. With how GURPS handles skills, I'm used to there being a lot of skill bloat (and much of that being fat) and skill malnutrition. In Case A, players get a whole butt-load of 1-point skills for cheap, falling into the "I want dis" mentality. In Case B on the other hand, players have a hard time determining how to properly spend points on skills in order to make a fully fleshed-out character experience. Anyone have some advice or a guide for properly and realistically choosing skills for a character without putting too much meta into it? ALSO: Professional skills. When does one roll vs a pro skill, instead of a normal skill? Example: One of my characters wants to be a cop, so that's Pro: Law Enforcement. But how would that work? Would it replace or overlap with other skills? I think I know how to work with overlap (synergy bonuses are a nice method), but I could use a hard and fast guideline of when to use a Pro skill vs. a normal skill, if both are applicable in theory. Thanks again, guys!