New Professions,skills and Backgrounds

[@stroval]

okay for the first in my series of questions:

I am thinking of introducing Airships(questions about the mechanics of the actual ships will follow ;p)
should Airship captains use boating or a new type of skill?

[auyl]

okay for the first in my series of questions:

I am thinking of introducing Airships(questions about the mechanics of the actual ships will follow ;p)
should Airship captains use boating or a new type of skill?

I would say a new type of skill. Simply because when piloting an airship you'd have to take into account more three-dimensional aspects than boating would. Not saying regular boating wouldn't, but it is increased quite a bit in the air.

[Olaus Petrus]

I would say that controlling an airship requires a new skill, but I would make the new skill similar with shiphandling (INT+CON) rather than with boating (STR+CON), because controlling aircraft probably requires more intelligence than physical strength.

EDIT: If those airships are actual ships, which sail through the sky like real ships sail through the oceans, then I would allow using regular shiphandling. In Elric there are some races who have such ships and they don't have special skill for controlling flying ships, but they use regular shiphandling.

[alex_greene]

Develop a skill called Piloting (not "Pilot"), specifically for airship handling. If you also have some sort of apparatus to enable flight, such as a "flight cape" with metal armatures that opens out to leathery wings, you could also develop another skill, "Flight," which you could default to Acrobatics at a pinch.

It's up to you to consider whether or not these should be Advanced Skills or mere Common Skills for your characters. They should be reserved as Advanced Skills for the general public.

For the ships themselves, look to the rules for ships in either Arms of Legend or Pirates of Legend - replacing Seaworthiness with Airworthiness, and using the Engineering skill in place of Shiphandling to perform the necessary maintenance and repair tasks for the ship.

[soltakss]

Definitely a new skill.

Whether it should be Piloting or Piloting (Airship) depends on if you intend to introduce other types of flying machines. If all you will ever have is Airships then Piloting is fine. If you are planning on planes and helicopters then Piloting () is a better way to go.

[alex_greene]

As for the rest of character development, how about the starter profession of Airshipman? It'd have to have the Civilised background, unless you would care to consider a Civilised version of the Nomadic lifestyle - Mendicant, perhaps? - and the profession should have the following bonuses:-

Common Skills: Athletics +20%, Lore (regional) +5%, Evade +10%, Perception +30%.
Combat Styles: 1H Bludgeon, Bludgeon and Shield (no sharp objects!)
Advanced Skills: Acrobatics +20%, Piloting, plus select two from Lore (other), Language (other), Engineering, Mechanisms
Starting Money: 4D6 x 100 SP (includes hazard pay!)

[Olaus Petrus]

Definitely a new skill.

Whether it should be Piloting or Piloting (Airship) depends on if you intend to introduce other types of flying machines. If all you will ever have is Airships then Piloting is fine. If you are planning on planes and helicopters then Piloting () is a better way to go.

And if you're going to have faster aircrafts you might consider making the skill for piloting those DEX based, because you need much greater reaction speed to fly those than you need when you control slowly moving airships.

[@stroval]

Other types of craft might come in to play,but all within fantasy reason.
No airplanes etc (unless Da Vinci styled Ornithopters count)

Piloting sounds a bit too modern for me...maybe Shiphandling(Airship) ?
Its similar to a sea-going vessel only it has levers etc to account for altitude control and more closed compartment structure and the rigging differs(it floats due to magic but still the deck isn't open to account for breathing air at higher altitudes etc)

[@stroval]

As for the rest of character development, how about the starter profession of Airshipman? It'd have to have the Civilised background, unless you would care to consider a Civilised version of the Nomadic lifestyle - Mendicant, perhaps? - and the profession should have the following bonuses:-

Common Skills: Athletics +20%, Lore (regional) +5%, Evade +10%, Perception +30%.
Combat Styles: 1H Bludgeon, Bludgeon and Shield (no sharp objects!)
Advanced Skills: Acrobatics +20%, Piloting, plus select two from Lore (other), Language (other), Engineering, Mechanisms
Starting Money: 4D6 x 100 SP (includes hazard pay!)

Interesting. I am still confused at how you decide the number of skills to choose when making a new profession and the max percentage each one contributes. Thats why I was asking for a homebrewers guide at my first thread

[alex_greene]

As for the rest of character development, how about the starter profession of Airshipman? It'd have to have the Civilised background, unless you would care to consider a Civilised version of the Nomadic lifestyle - Mendicant, perhaps? - and the profession should have the following bonuses:-

Common Skills: Athletics +20%, Lore (regional) +5%, Evade +10%, Perception +30%.
Combat Styles: 1H Bludgeon, Bludgeon and Shield (no sharp objects!)
Advanced Skills: Acrobatics +20%, Piloting, plus select two from Lore (other), Language (other), Engineering, Mechanisms
Starting Money: 4D6 x 100 SP (includes hazard pay!)

Interesting. I am still confused at how you decide the number of skills to choose when making a new profession and the max percentage each one contributes. Thats why I was asking for a homebrewers guide at my first thread

In the above case, it's a matter of considering their training and background.

Someone who's probably used to clambering along the outside hull of an airship to fix some damage 300 metres up in the air is going to have fairly high Acrobatics and Athletics, and Perception is at a premium to spot very distant objects, other flying vessels, people on the ground and so on.

The Lore bonuses and the choice of Lore and Language reflect, like the sailors, the broader range of experiences open to those who spend their lives flying from port to port; and Engineering and Mechanisms would be required because of the need to keep all that equipment running and functional.

[Loz]

Common Skills: Athletics +20%, Lore (regional) +5%, Evade +10%, Perception +30%.
Combat Styles: 1H Bludgeon, Bludgeon and Shield (no sharp objects!)
Advanced Skills: Acrobatics +20%, Piloting, plus select two from Lore (other), Language (other), Engineering, Mechanisms

This is unbalanced when compared with other Legend/MRQII professions. It totals +125 when most non-magical professions total +50.

A skill-set for Aviator that's better balanced would be:

Common: Athletics +5%, Evade +5%, Lore (Regional)+5%, Perception +5%
Combat Style: Dashing Aviator (Mace, Club, Shield) +10%
Advanced: Piloting, plus select one from: Acrobatics, Engineering, Lore (Astronomy), Lore (Navigation), Language (Other), Mechanisms, Survival.

[soltakss]

Interesting. I am still confused at how you decide the number of skills to choose when making a new profession and the max percentage each one contributes. Thats why I was asking for a homebrewers guide at my first thread

I am currently working on a supplement which, amongst other things, has guidelines on creating new backgrounds, professions, non-humans and general homebrew advice. It won't be heavily detailed, as I think these things should have a very light touch, but it should help.

[@stroval]

Common Skills: Athletics +20%, Lore (regional) +5%, Evade +10%, Perception +30%.
Combat Styles: 1H Bludgeon, Bludgeon and Shield (no sharp objects!)
Advanced Skills: Acrobatics +20%, Piloting, plus select two from Lore (other), Language (other), Engineering, Mechanisms

This is unbalanced when compared with other Legend/MRQII professions. It totals +125 when most non-magical professions total +50.

A skill-set for Aviator that's better balanced would be:

Common: Athletics +5%, Evade +5%, Lore (Regional)+5%, Perception +5%
Combat Style: Dashing Aviator (Mace, Club, Shield) +10%
Advanced: Piloting, plus select one from: Acrobatics, Engineering, Lore (Astronomy), Lore (Navigation), Language (Other), Mechanisms, Survival.

I ve noticed that some professions total 50%, but thats not the case for all,which had me wondering if its meant to be more random...

[@stroval]

Interesting. I am still confused at how you decide the number of skills to choose when making a new profession and the max percentage each one contributes. Thats why I was asking for a homebrewers guide at my first thread

I am currently working on a supplement which, amongst other things, has guidelines on creating new backgrounds, professions, non-humans and general homebrew advice. It won't be heavily detailed, as I think these things should have a very light touch, but it should help.

[Loz]

I ve noticed that some professions total 50%, but thats not the case for all,which had me wondering if its meant to be more random...

Which ones don't total +50?

I don't have Legend, but I doubt that the skill distribution was altered between MRQII and Legend - and in MRQII, all the professions equal +50. I've just been through all the MRQII professions and checked they come out the same: they do.

Common Skills are either +5 or +10
Combat Styles are +10
Advanced Skills = 10.

Pete and I took great care to ensure that each profession was balanced in terms of skill distribution. So, unless someone involved in Legend's conversion changed things, then they should still remain balanced.

[soltakss]

Although the cultural backgrounds and professions in Legend are well-balanced and easy to use, they are limited and quite generic. Many settings would need new cultural backgrounds and new professions. However, Legend does not provide any guidelines on how to create new cultural backgrounds or professions. This is a shame, as the rules behind the backgrounds and professions are consistent, but not easily seen.

Legend cultural backgrounds and professions follow a set of rules that were not included in the Legend rulebook. The total skill bonuses are the same across the board, with each Advanced Skill purchased costing 10.

One of the most difficult things about building Backgrounds and Professions is deciding which skills to use. The best way to do this is to imagine the profession, visualize it and think about what the person does. Once you have an idea, you need to pick the corresponding Legend skills and allocate the totals accordingly. Is the skill something that the profession relies on heavily? If so, give it a +20% bonus. Is it something incidental which the person can do? If so, give it a +5%.
Is a skill common to all members of a tribe, country or race? If so, it should be in the cultural background not in the profession.

Backgrounds

For a cultural background, all skill bonuses add up to 200.

All Legend cultural backgrounds have +30 to Culture (Own) and Lore (Regional) as Common skill bonuses, and +50% to Language (Native).

All Legend cultural backgrounds have at least one Combat Style, each costs 10 points and gives a +10 bonus to the Combat Style in question.

Professions

All skill bonuses add up to 50.

Very few Legend professions gain Combat Style bonuses, In fact, only four do, that of Champion/Knight/Noble Warrior, Hunter, Mercenary, Soldier/Warrior and Tracker. It is a good idea to think about whether the new profession should have a combat style as part of its makeup, as most do not.

When creating a new profession, you should decide whether it is a variant of a current one or a brand new one entirely. Do you need a dedicated Goldsmith profession or can you simply use the Craftsman profession? It is sometimes best to avoid multiplying the professions by having many variants of a single profession.

[soltakss]

I ve noticed that some professions total 50%, but thats not the case for all,which had me wondering if its meant to be more random...

Which ones don't total +50?

All professions add up to 50 in the Legend book, if you assume each Advanced skill is +10 and each magic skill is +10.

Pete and I took great care to ensure that each profession was balanced in terms of skill distribution. So, unless someone involved in Legend's conversion changed things, then they should still remain balanced.

They are still balanced. This is one of the things about Legend which makes it incredibly easy to create new backgrounds and professions. The hardest part is thinking of the skills, the easiest part is getting them to add up to 50, or 200 for a background.

[Loz]

They are still balanced. This is one of the things about Legend which makes it incredibly easy to create new backgrounds and professions. The hardest part is thinking of the skills, the easiest part is getting them to add up to 50, or 200 for a background.

That's what I thought. I do, BTW, like your guidance notes on allocating skills and their respective bonuses. Although not implicitly stated in Legend, that was very similar to our thinking.

What Alex was proposing was a profession where the skills added-up to more than double the +50 for other professions. It would lead to players either: a) all wanting to be aviators simply for the extra bonuses; or b) demanding an additional +50 or +60 in bonuses for extra skills to balance against the undoubted superiority of the Aviator/Pilot profession.

[havercake lad]

I agree with Loz. It's always as well to look at existing Professions and deciding if any have skills that should make a new profession unlikely to have them at a particular level, if at all. The sample Aviator initially submitted was at good at Evade as a Mercenary Profession might choose.
The formular discribed by Loz was used on all the extra professions I've submitted for Elric Legend gaming.

[@stroval]

Cheers for the info. I didn't have the book with me so I didn't assume the +10% for some of the magical skills. That would explain the total being less