Character creation questions

[daddystabz]

Ok....I'm making my first character right now. I am on the part where I do my first term in a career. I chose Navy (pg 24) in the Flight branch and made my qualification rill successfully. I rolled on the first table for this career and got a 5 under Personal Development, which is +1 Edu. I recorded this on my sheet. I am now recording all the Service skills you get for your first profession and one is Pilot (any). Does that mean I can choose any of the Pilot specializations or can I pilot any craft?

Also, for the Advanced Education stuff it requires EDU 8. Does this mean I need at least an 8 rating in EDU to qualify and is not the same as a qualification roll for 8+, right?

Lastly, when utilizing the Connections rule, do you get to choose any skill you like or do you get a skill roll on some table? Looking on pg 37 about finalizing connections it makes it sound like you can increase 2 or 3 skills up to lvl 3 but the Connections sidebar on pg 8 is talking about choosing up to 2 brand new skills you don't already have. Which do you get or can you get both options?

 

[AndrewW]

Ok....I'm making my first character right now. I am on the part where I do my first term in a career. I chose Navy (pg 24) in the Flight branch and made my qualification rill successfully. I rolled on the first table for this career and got a 5 under Personal Development, which is +1 Edu. I recorded this on my sheet. I am now recording all the Service skills you get for your first profession and one is Pilot (any). Does that mean I can choose any of the Pilot specializations or can I pilot any craft?

You choose your speciality, once you have a level 1 or better in a speciality you get the others at skill 0 as well. (except where there is an exception noted (namely the Trade skill). (See Traveller Core Rulebook - Skill Levels and what they mean).

Also, for the Advanced Education stuff it requires EDU 8. Does this mean I need at least an 8 rating in EDU to qualify and is not the same as a qualification roll for 8+, right?

Correct.

Lastly, when utilizing the Connections rule, do you get to choose any skill you like or do you get a skill roll on some table?

Any although you can't bring a skill up past level 3 with this, see pages 8 and 37.

 

[Scalding]

You choose your speciality, once you have a level 1 or better in a speciality you get the others at skill 0 as well. (except where there is an exception noted (namely the Trade skill). (See Traveller Core Rulebook - Skill Levels and what they mean).

I am also new to Traveller, but my interpretation here differs. From what I see on page 6 in the paragraph that starts "Some skills have specialties ..." (emphasis in the original), the rank 0 skill that you get from basic training covers all specialties at rank 0. So for example, you'd have Drive (any) 0, which means you don't take a penalty to any drive test, whether it be a tracked, wheeled, or mole vehicle. Then, once you get another rank of drive you'd choose the specialty to put that point in, and the other two specialties would remain 0 unless you got more ranks of drive and increased them.

 

[AndrewW]

You choose your speciality, once you have a level 1 or better in a speciality you get the others at skill 0 as well. (except where there is an exception noted (namely the Trade skill). (See Traveller Core Rulebook - Skill Levels and what they mean).

I am also new to Traveller, but my interpretation here differs. From what I see on page 6 in the paragraph that starts "Some skills have specialties ..." (emphasis in the original), the rank 0 skill that you get from basic training covers all specialties at rank 0. So for example, you'd have Drive (any) 0, which means you don't take a penalty to any drive test, whether it be a tracked, wheeled, or mole vehicle. Then, once you get another rank of drive you'd choose the specialty to put that point in, and the other two specialties would remain 0 unless you got more ranks of drive and increased them.

Sorry, poor wording on my part. Just meant if you gain a level in a skill you get the others at rank 0, you don't have a specialty at rank 0 just say engineering - 0, which allows you to make any engineering check without the -3 unskilled penalty. You start with specialties once you gain a skill at rank 1 or better.

 

[Easterner]

Connections

Pg8 says it is good form to link the skill to the connection. So if characters' event involves asteroids neither should be grabbing Seafarer.

 

[GypsyComet]

To the connecting event or the connected PC is ideal, but not always practical. We often establish connections based on career advancement (or the lack of it), a failed survival roll, or an apropos skill roll.

As an example, we had a Merchant type establish a connection to a Scout via a chartered supply run to a remote mission. The Merchant was in the Merchant Marine at the time, and got a promotion out of the term. He chose a rank of Broker for the connection, on the assumption that the charter required some off-contact items that had to be garnered at the last minute. The Scout had failed the Survival check for the term, and the whole mission was going to vanish (the "lost time" result) shortly after the supply run had made contact. The Scout took Zero-G for the connection skill.

As an aside, I've used the "Lost Time" event to give unknown skills to PCs. One PC who had that event in his background didn't realize he knew how to speak and read Darrian until we entered Darrian space and it was pointed out to him that he was reading the signage that no one else in the group could understand...