Species skills... and lack of examples.

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08-25-2005, 10:12 PM
The Tatterdemalion King

Species skills... and lack of examples.

So, uh... I'm trying to make a character, but given the... iffy-ness of some of the editing, i'm a bit leery of taking the book at its word concerning a lot of things.

The first of these is Species Skills. Being familiar with ICON, i just sort of took them as the template-skills-v2 part of development they look to be. You know, Culture (Klingon), History (Klingon), etc...

However, none of the example character's skill lists i can see anywhere adhere to having Intellect x2 picks worth of these skills. Some (the archetypes in the PG) lack them almost totally–the Vulcan has no language?. Aliens has this problem too, on a cursory glance-through, but those that do have species skills, the picks are usually around equal to their Int.

The whole thing baffles me. Do i just assume all the write-ups are wrong and go with the book? Or is the Int x2 amount wrong?
08-25-2005, 10:44 PM
GandalfOfBorg

Check out the latest issue of Beyond the Final Frontier. It has an article with detailed charcter creation.

GOB
08-26-2005, 03:47 AM
Street

The way I do it

Instead of giving my players Int x2, I only give them points equal to their Int; but I balance that out with their Language skills. I give them their native language at 15 and Fed. Std. (if they're a member species) at 10.
08-26-2005, 07:04 AM
RaconteurX

I give Species SKill picks equal to INT x 3, as in Lord of the Rings. I prefer that characters have some depth to their background. Starfleet's best and brightest should have a fairly diverse skill base. I even allow players to spend picks on skills which their characters logically should have based on written background but which are not present in their Personal Development packages (I might give Picard a point or two in Craft: Viticulture, for example, based on his upbringing in the wine country of Southern France). I consider +3 in a language to be sufficient for typical daily use, and routinely drop the TN for tasks involving a character's native language by 5 to reflect the ease which comes of a lifetime's familiarity.
08-26-2005, 07:16 AM
Doug Burke

Quote:

Originally Posted by C. Huth

So, uh... I'm trying to make a character, but given the... iffy-ness of some of the editing, i'm a bit leery of taking the book at its word concerning a lot of things.

The first of these is Species Skills. Being familiar with ICON, i just sort of took them as the template-skills-v2 part of development they look to be. You know, Culture (Klingon), History (Klingon), etc...

However, none of the example character's skill lists i can see anywhere adhere to having Intellect x2 picks worth of these skills. Some (the archetypes in the PG) lack them almost totally–the Vulcan has no language?. Aliens has this problem too, on a cursory glance-through, but those that do have species skills, the picks are usually around equal to their Int.

The whole thing baffles me. Do i just assume all the write-ups are wrong and go with the book? Or is the Int x2 amount wrong?

In my games, I usually require 6 levels in the species' native language (and/or Federation Standard) and the rest divided between the other skills. But that may just be me...
08-26-2005, 07:34 AM
PGoodman13

I'm not requiring that, just because it'd eat up a lot of points that the players could actually use for some background stuff. Besides, not everyone is equally blessed in languages (even native speakers have different levels of ability). I do require them to take at least 3 in their native language and Federation Standard; some of them just have accents.

I also probably won't be giving them tests in their native tongues unless there's some very interesting circumstances involved. I don't know, though; in the three years and change I've owned these books, this is the first time I've been this close to actually having a game happen.
08-26-2005, 08:05 AM
JALU3

Quote:

Originally Posted by PGoodman13

I don't know, though; in the three years and change I've owned these books, this is the first time I've been this close to actually having a game happen.

Congradulations!
08-26-2005, 08:28 AM
Doug Burke

Quote:

Originally Posted by PGoodman13

I'm not requiring that, just because it'd eat up a lot of points that the players could actually use for some background stuff. Besides, not everyone is equally blessed in languages (even native speakers have different levels of ability). I do require them to take at least 3 in their native language and Federation Standard; some of them just have accents.

::shrug:: The decision was made based on 6 levels being fluent proficiency (as established in the LOTR game) and the fact that all the featured characters in the NG having 6 levels in their native languages. Also, the species skills are meant to just cover language and cultural skills, as opposed to more background-specific skills, which are chosen during the personal background stage of character creation. YMMV, of course...
08-26-2005, 08:47 AM
PGoodman13

I might do some tweaking, then; I have to admit that I haven't even opened my LOTR book in a couple of years, so I guess I forgot about that. I'll get with those characters who've done chargen already and see what everyone wants to do.
08-26-2005, 08:48 AM
PGoodman13

Quote:

Originally Posted by JALU3

Congradulations!

Thanks kindly!
08-26-2005, 09:13 AM
Doug Burke

Quote:

Originally Posted by PGoodman13

I might do some tweaking, then; I have to admit that I haven't even opened my LOTR book in a couple of years, so I guess I forgot about that. I'll get with those characters who've done chargen already and see what everyone wants to do.

Actually, that little nugget of wisdom has yet to be published other than electronically. It's in the support docs and was supposed to be in Paths of the Wise, but we still don't know if that will actually be released or not...
08-26-2005, 02:33 PM
black campbellq

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaconteurX

I give Species SKill picks equal to INT x 3, as in Lord of the Rings. I prefer that characters have some depth to their background. Starfleet's best and brightest should have a fairly diverse skill base. I even allow players to spend picks on skills which their characters logically should have based on written background but which are not present in their Personal Development packages (I might give Picard a point or two in Craft: Viticulture, for example, based on his upbringing in the wine country of Southern France). I consider +3 in a language to be sufficient for typical daily use, and routinely drop the TN for tasks involving a character's native language by 5 to reflect the ease which comes of a lifetime's familiarity.

I like that. I agree on allowing them to spend a few points of hobbies/skills they could have learned as a child. I don't require as much on the languages, due to the universal translator; but assume 4 as the base for a person's native language. Let's face it...even smart people occasionally aren't very erudite (and some erudite are whacking stupid, but sound intelligent.) It makes for an interesting problem if the equipment isn't working, and because of the UT ou didn't study your Fed STandard that well... "LT Idisha, what the %$@( are you saying?"
09-03-2005, 11:23 PM
Rannd

I'm opposed to including native languages as a skill; I much prefer the 3rd Ed. DnD approach, where you have the language, or you don't, and no skill score is attached to it. I think that's simpler and more logical for a game like this.