Starfleet Medical Officers

[Number 6]

OK, so I finally succumbed and changed from ICON to CODA (sniff!).

Now, this may seem a "niggle" to many - but it has me vexed.

The Player's Guide lists (among others) Investigate +1 (p.75) as one of the prerequisites for a M.O. So far, so good. However, Investigate does not appear in the Personal Development list of Medical Officer Professional Skills (p.95) or in any of the professions listed under Medicine (p.96).

So, in order to fill the prerequisite, does this mean a player has to spend his/her professional skill pick to gain the skill or is it a typo/error or do I have the wrong end of the stick?

Thanks in advance for your help/advice/suggestions!

[TFVanguard]

Thanks in advance for your help/advice/suggestions!

Sounds like one of those cases where 'rule zero' may apply.

Does the PG (which I don't currently have) list a 'Forensics' skill? If so, substitute that one in in its place. (It's a more profession-centric application of Investigate anyway.) If not, then I would personally opt 'Forensics' in.

[PGoodman13]

Known errata (check the sticky threads ). There should be a big "OR" in between the listing of Starship Duty and any other prereqs for the Medical Officer elite profession. You don't need the Investigate +1 to qualify as a beginning character (though spending a professional pick or two on it during chargen isn't a bad idea).

[JALU3]

Why is it that there is no Oath (Hippocratic) flaw?

[Sea Tyger]

Because Coda edges and flaws have greater impact on the character than Icon edges and flaws. As a result, Coda got rid of all the purely-roleplaying edges and flaws (i.e., those with little or no mechanical effect on gameplay).

So, minor roleplaying effects like Oath (Hippocratic) were dropped in favor of making them purely roleplaying effects with no point/pick value.

I'm sure Don or Doug can explain it better than I (since it was from them that I heard the explanation in the first place ).

[GandalfOfBorg]

Well Oath, Code of Honor, etc. are all in LOTR. That is probably something that would've been caught in playtest.

[Doug Burke]

I'm sure Don or Doug can explain it better than I (since it was from them that I heard the explanation in the first place ).[/COLOR][/FONT]

Not really, no. You said it pretty much how I would have, except for noting that the designers of LOTR decided to reverse this decision for that game based on the rationalization that oaths and codes of honor have much more immediate (and powerful) consequences in Middle-earth.

[Doug Burke]

Well Oath, Code of Honor, etc. are all in LOTR. That is probably something that would've been caught in playtest.

See above and also "Oaths & Curses" on p. 164 of the core book. You could think of it a s a setting-specific kind of thing due to the "power of words" in ME (although I personally prefer to have those kinds of flaws).