This is something I have been playing around with, partly because of the paucity and (I think, anyway 8)) over-generalness of skills in the game.
It's all (c) copyright Phil McGregor (2008), but it will, possibly, be a part of a Traveller SRD based project I am working on, so feel free to use it for the moment with that in mind (or ignore it. or tear it to shreds.) :lol:
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Skill (Career): A character’s pursuit of a profession or trade generally means that they acquire a familiarity with many more aspects of that pursuit than can easily be represented by Skills and Skill Levels directly. To represent this, all characters may reduce the standard -4 penalty for using a skill unskilled against a number of skills listed in their career description equal to the highest of their Intelligence or Education bonus during the course of an adventure or game session.
They acquire a -1 bonus on Basic Training and a further, cumulative, -1 bonus for every two terms they serve in the same career thereafter. Thus, for example, if they remain in the same career for three terms, at the end of their third term of service they would reduce the standard unskilled penalty by -2 from -4, down to -2.
Characters who pursue (either by chance or design) more than one career during the character creation process do not gain the Basic Training “bonus” to unskilled skill use as described above and must wait two terms in their new career before they gain a further, cumulative, -1 bonus to lay against the unskilled skill use penalty.
This is a direct penalty to characters who jump from career to career.
If a character pursues more than one career, they may apply whatever Skill (Career) bonus they have acquired to any number of skills in their initial career (up to the normal maximum of either their Intelligence or their Education bonus) – they are limited, however, to doing so to one skill in each additional career pursued.
A character with INT +3 bonus and EDU +1 bonus who has served three terms in the Scouts would attract a -2 to the standard -4 penalty for unskilled skill use for up to three skills listed in the Scout Career. If they had a further two terms in Army career they would gain a -3 bonus to the unskilled skill use penalty and could still apply this to any three skills, but only one of those could be from their Army career list. If they had pursued only an additional one term in the Army career they would have gained no additional bonus to offset against their unskilled skill use penalty, but would be able to choose to apply the -2 bonus to one Army career skill.
These allocations last for the remainder of the game session or until the end of the current major event/scene within the overall session. Unless the scene/event is not completed when the session ends, however, it would be unusual for the characters to be required to continue on with those exact choices at the beginning of the next session.
Note: Characters need not pre-allocate their “professional bonus” skills until the moment they need to!
Explanatory Note: This represents a degree of cross training that occurs, at the very least, informally, over the course of a character’s career. Thus, for example, an Army Cook with one term would have Skill (Army)/1 and, though they may not have Support Weapons (Mortar) skill as such, they have probably picked up enough in basic training or simply by seeking Mortar gunners in operation to not be quite as clewless in using a Mortar as the ordinary “civilian on the street” – which is why he can use a Mortar at -3 rather than -4!
Yes, in a loose sense it’s like Jack of All Trades. But more restricted. And, like JoT, it can’t be learnt. Nor can the bonus be used to reduce the time needed to learn a skill within the chosen career background.
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Phil McGregor 8)
It's all (c) copyright Phil McGregor (2008), but it will, possibly, be a part of a Traveller SRD based project I am working on, so feel free to use it for the moment with that in mind (or ignore it. or tear it to shreds.) :lol:
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Skill (Career): A character’s pursuit of a profession or trade generally means that they acquire a familiarity with many more aspects of that pursuit than can easily be represented by Skills and Skill Levels directly. To represent this, all characters may reduce the standard -4 penalty for using a skill unskilled against a number of skills listed in their career description equal to the highest of their Intelligence or Education bonus during the course of an adventure or game session.
They acquire a -1 bonus on Basic Training and a further, cumulative, -1 bonus for every two terms they serve in the same career thereafter. Thus, for example, if they remain in the same career for three terms, at the end of their third term of service they would reduce the standard unskilled penalty by -2 from -4, down to -2.
Characters who pursue (either by chance or design) more than one career during the character creation process do not gain the Basic Training “bonus” to unskilled skill use as described above and must wait two terms in their new career before they gain a further, cumulative, -1 bonus to lay against the unskilled skill use penalty.
This is a direct penalty to characters who jump from career to career.
If a character pursues more than one career, they may apply whatever Skill (Career) bonus they have acquired to any number of skills in their initial career (up to the normal maximum of either their Intelligence or their Education bonus) – they are limited, however, to doing so to one skill in each additional career pursued.
A character with INT +3 bonus and EDU +1 bonus who has served three terms in the Scouts would attract a -2 to the standard -4 penalty for unskilled skill use for up to three skills listed in the Scout Career. If they had a further two terms in Army career they would gain a -3 bonus to the unskilled skill use penalty and could still apply this to any three skills, but only one of those could be from their Army career list. If they had pursued only an additional one term in the Army career they would have gained no additional bonus to offset against their unskilled skill use penalty, but would be able to choose to apply the -2 bonus to one Army career skill.
These allocations last for the remainder of the game session or until the end of the current major event/scene within the overall session. Unless the scene/event is not completed when the session ends, however, it would be unusual for the characters to be required to continue on with those exact choices at the beginning of the next session.
Note: Characters need not pre-allocate their “professional bonus” skills until the moment they need to!
Explanatory Note: This represents a degree of cross training that occurs, at the very least, informally, over the course of a character’s career. Thus, for example, an Army Cook with one term would have Skill (Army)/1 and, though they may not have Support Weapons (Mortar) skill as such, they have probably picked up enough in basic training or simply by seeking Mortar gunners in operation to not be quite as clewless in using a Mortar as the ordinary “civilian on the street” – which is why he can use a Mortar at -3 rather than -4!
Yes, in a loose sense it’s like Jack of All Trades. But more restricted. And, like JoT, it can’t be learnt. Nor can the bonus be used to reduce the time needed to learn a skill within the chosen career background.
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Phil McGregor 8)
