Some Rules questions

[Samurai]

I posted this in a thread to Matt Colville over at RPG.net, and he suggested I try posting it here instead, as he did not have an answer for me.

Overall, I really like the new Coda Trek, but I have a few quibbles.

First, when advancing non-professional skills, the chart says it requires 2 picks to increase the skill 1 level. The description text says that a max of only 1 pick may be spent on a non-professional skill each level, though. That means characters will have 1/2 skill levels until they gett 1000 more XP, so that they can spend the 2nd pick and finally go up a level?

Personally, I hate 1/2 skill levels, and will simply allow 2 picks/ level to be spent on a non-professional skill, increasing it by 1 full point. Since I didn't see any rules concerning 1/2 skill levels, is this how it was actually supposed to be done? After all, you can spend 2 picks on professional skills (increasing it by 2 points), so why not 2 picks on a non-pro skill (increasing it by 1 point)?

Second, several of the Professional abilities are just not worth 3 picks. I'm not a min-maxer, but it seems pretty darn obvious to me. Lurking in Shadows, Business Acumen, Atmospheric Craft, Security Ops, and others each give a +2 bonus to a professional skill. Since buying +2 in a professional skill costs 2 picks and a special ability costs 3 picks, it does not seem to be worthwhile.

I see 3 ways around this. 1 way is to handle these abilities the same as the Soldier ability Survival Training. This gives a +2 to the main skill and also doubles any bonus earned from having a Specialization. Since a specialization costs 1 point, when added to the +2 bonus this ability is actually worth the full 3 picks. All of the other abilities could work in the same way.

The second possibility is to increase the cost of skills beyond a certain point. Currently, there is no max skill level, as far as I can tell, and at no point does the cost of a skill increase. If skills and attributes cost the listed amount for levels 1-10, +1 point for levels 11-15, +2 points for levels 16-20, etc, buying a +2 for 3 picks actually becomes a good deal after you have bought 10 levels in the skill, because levels 11 and 12 would now cost 4 points instead of 2 (+1 pick each). This also has the advantage of slowing down advancement to godlike levels of skill.

The 3rd way is the easiest: just increase the bonus from +2 to +3 instead. But that's just TOO easy, isn't it?

What do you think? Does anyone have any other suggestions for this? Do you think its not a problem, just 1 less ability for the player to consider buying?

[Dan Gurden]

Originally posted by Samurai
First, when advancing non-professional skills, the chart says it requires 2 picks to increase the skill 1 level. The description text says that a max of only 1 pick may be spent on a non-professional skill each level, though. That means characters will have 1/2 skill levels until they gett 1000 more XP, so that they can spend the 2nd pick and finally go up a level?

Personally, I hate 1/2 skill levels, and will simply allow 2 picks/ level to be spent on a non-professional skill, increasing it by 1 full point. Since I didn't see any rules concerning 1/2 skill levels, is this how it was actually supposed to be done? After all, you can spend 2 picks on professional skills (increasing it by 2 points), so why not 2 picks on a non-pro skill (increasing it by 1 point)?

Seems perfectly reasonable to me, and I reckon that if this is not a simple error, I will adopt the same stance...

Second, several of the Professional abilities are just not worth 3 picks. I'm not a min-maxer, but it seems pretty darn obvious to me. Lurking in Shadows, Business Acumen, Atmospheric Craft, Security Ops, and others each give a +2 bonus to a professional skill. Since buying +2 in a professional skill costs 2 picks and a special ability costs 3 picks, it does not seem to be worthwhile.

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This seems reasonable to me... For a couple of reasons...

1 - It has been stated that new characters (read; newly minted ensigns) cannot start with a skill level above 6... In these cases the professional abilities will add tothis potenial maximum by adding +2 to that 6 maximum = 8 bofre other additions, and allowing these new ensigns to be very good at something...

There is also the matter of the maximum skill level of 12, (If I understand correctly) at this point the professional abilities STILL add +2 to that Professional skill... Certainly worth the 3 extra points to me... Its just the middle part where the bonus is negligable that makes it invisible... But its like a cloaking device. Just 'cause you cant see it, doesn't mean its not there...

[Don Mappin]

On your two points:

1) I've double-checked with Ross and the text is in error. He was quite surprised to see the "only one pick" rule. The text should indicate that you may only raise one non-professional skill per advancement (2 picks), not that you can only spend one pick on a non-professional skill.

We've never tracked "half" skill ranks because they don't exist.

2) I've got nothing to add beyond what Dan said--he's spot on. While you might not agree with the utility of those professional abilities, they frequently serve as prerequisites for more 'impressive' abilities. Plus, with all being equal between two characters and one receives an additional +2 that the other can't get, then that ability seems pretty valuable to me all of a sudden.

[RIsaacs]

Dan and Don are correct about the professional abilities.

They allow you to add an additional +2 to your skills, very valuable when you max out that skill level at 12. And they're required to get the super bad-ass abilities later on.

On the other hand, if you don't think those bonuses are high enough to suit your tastes, it's certainly reasonable to change them. I think the +3 is a fine idea as a house rule and easy to implement.

[Samurai]

Thanks for the responses. I missed the part about the max skill level of 12... I just got the book and I've been reading the character creation part most, still have much to read Yes, when you have maxed out at skill level 12, then the special ability becomes worthwhile, but as you said, +3 is very easy to implement and it removes even the appearance of the ability not being worth the cost. After all, if the lower tier ability is a stepping stool to a higher one, we don't want the player to wait until he has maxed out the skill before even starting up the ability ladder....