Assumptions on High School and College Skill Levels

[MagiMaster]

Just to point out, but most universities won't let you get away with focusing solely on your major. Any college graduate will pick up a broad range of skills, although mostly at the Dabbler level. I know I don't have a full point in History, no matter how many courses I took (3 or 4 IIRC). Actually, I think a lot of people would argue that all the miscellaneous stuff you pick up in college is at least half the point.

[blacksmith]

Originally Posted by MagiMaster

Just to point out, but most universities won't let you get away with focusing solely on your major. Any college graduate will pick up a broad range of skills, although mostly at the Dabbler level. I know I don't have a full point in History, no matter how many courses I took (3 or 4 IIRC). Actually, I think a lot of people would argue that all the miscellaneous stuff you pick up in college is at least half the point.

Yes but that could justify a skill like Liberal Arts or College. Think of them as the accademic equivelant of the soldier skill.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Dwarf99

Well I read somewhere that a typical college semester would be like 1 point in a skill (some have even suggested that it should be Intensive and that it should suffer from Maintaining Skills)

Intensive Training is for Army Ranger School. not a semester at Chug-a-Brew U. Most people never picked up an actual Skill in a college course so there's nothing to maintain.

4 hours of lecture hall for 12 weeks (or whatever a semester is these days) would only come to 48 hours (if it counted fully as study with an instructor which I am dubious of). The remaining 150 hours would have to come from self-study at half speed for something like 20-25 hours per week per course you're taking.

1 cp per year in the major field only seems more likely to me.

[Dwarf99]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Intensive Training is for Army Ranger School. not a semester at Chug-a-Brew U. Most people never picked up an actual Skill in a college course so there's nothing to maintain...

1 cp per year in the major field only seems more likely to me.

ok well I was using intensive training for those cram sessions where you ace the final after and then forget everything three weeks later (which I wouldn't even really call it that, but I know that some would). I think that saying most people don't pick up a skill would be more accurately said by "those that get drunk, party, and don't give a crap about school" because some places actually have less partiers and more actual students.

anyway it's 3 per class for 16 weeks (at UARK anyway). same number of hours of in class time. so, yeah sure you could say that the 300 or so hours required to get that point in addition to the 48 will only get you 1 point of a single subject but that 300 hours only amounts to about 3 hours per day (300/16/7... yes people study on weekends too if they know and appreciate where their money is going), and if you're only studying about 3 hours per day let's face it, you could always study a second subject and get two points :)

[tanniynim]

I'm going to voice my support for the use of the Dabbler Perk for College classes. I've used an unofficial version of this for a while and it seems to work well. I generally use plain 'ol default for High School Students, however.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by tanniynim

I'm going to voice my support for the use of the Dabbler Perk for College classes. I've used an unofficial version of this for a while and it seems to work well. I generally use plain 'ol default for High School Students, however.

Yes. If you gain skill pts from a College curriculum, you don't from a High School one covering the same broad subjects. High School barely covers the basics (i.e. Defaults). If you didn't have the HS education you mostly wouldn't get a Default.

Even with largely Yes/No things like Languages there are significant amounts of nuances they don't cover in High School.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Yes. If you gain skill pts from a College curriculum, you don't from a High School one covering the same broad subjects. High School barely covers the basics (i.e. Defaults). If you didn't have the HS education you mostly wouldn't get a Default.

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

[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

[Green-Neck]

read somewhere that one skill point equals 200 hours of study.
40 hours a week (including homework) for 40 weeks a year would yeild 8 CP per annum. whether you actually paid attention in school is another thing!

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by Green-Neck

read somewhere that one skill point equals 200 hours of study.
40 hours a week (including homework) for 40 weeks a year would yeild 8 CP per annum. whether you actually paid attention in school is another thing!

That is assuming one on one teaching, and the ration ares if it pressure learning, self taught etc.. a point in a skill can also represent a narrower than a Talent natural gift.

Compulsory Education is the modern Western way of imparting working knowledge (defaults) some of it goes to raising IQ other part grants a default in the first place.