Character Creation Questions

[Captain]

So I come from an Industrial world and as a result I get Trade 0.

Then I take the Citizen Worker career and roll 1d6 on the Worker table and get Trade.

Then I find out I have all the skills at basic training under Worker and two of those skills are again, Trade and Trade

What's my character's Trade skill rating at this point?

Thanks

 

[Old timer]

Dont have the rule book in front of me at moment, but iirc 0 level skills dont stack up to rank 1. If your rolled trade on the skill table, it will become rank 1 (and then you pick a trade speciality). The other trade skills remain at 0, so you would have one trade skill at rank 1, and all others at rank 0 (until you roll trade again, then another trade skill goes to rank 1).

 

[AndrewW]

You would get Trade-0 x3 and Trade-1.

You can take different specialties so you could have:

Trade (Biologicals)-0
Trade (Civil Engineering)-0
Trade (Space Construction)-0
Trade (Hydroponics)-1

Basic training and background skills are always at level 0, if you already have the skill you don't get it at a higher level.

However you take your basic training from the Service Skills tables with only has one Trade, not the Worker table.

Also you could have picked a different background skill if you have more choices.

 

[TrippyHippy]

If you rolled Trade on the Career’s table it would step up from Trade 0 to Trade 1. Note that Trade also cascades into different specialities too, although the effect is negligible for Level 0 skills (as these cover every type of Trade).

If you get a clash of two level 0 skills in character generation you could be harsh and simply end up with two Trade 0 skills effectively cancelling each other out. But this clash only really occurs when you add Homeworld and Education Level 0 Skills to Basic Trainings for Careers. In this instance, I’d possibly house rule that two Level 0 skills would stack to a Level 1 skill - providing it amounts to just one or two skills.

 

[Anonymous]

I find the rules on Trade skill a little unclear.

Quoted from page 59 of my PDF of the CRB:

"Unlike other skills with specialties, levels in the Trade skill do not grant the ability to use other specialties at skill level 0. Each specialty must be learned individually. Someone with a Trade skill of 0 has a general grasp of working for a living but little experience beyond the most menial jobs."

"Do not grant"

Huh? As I understood it specialities only started when a skill hit level 1.

If the not of that statement is a typo then it implies that Trade specialisations unlike all other skills, start at level 0 but the last sentence contradicts it.

It could be argued that trade specialisations are sufficiently different to warrant learning each from level 0 separately.

Sounds like a good case for a house rule.

With regard to other duplicated level 0 skills, normally you just lose the extras. Makes for some power gaming when people orchestrate no duplicates but that's hardly unusual...

 

[TrippyHippy]

Well, I’ll quickly defer to anybody who checks the book! Trade 0 does state that it caters for specific specialities only - so you’d have separate Trade-0 skills for different types. For me, however, I’d house rule.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

I don't use "cascading" rules. The players get only one specific skill. No generic 0 skills that cover every skill in a group.

 

[Captain]

So is the default answer here that background skills have no effect on later skill acquisition as concerning extra level modifiers?

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

So is the default answer here that background skills have no effect on later skill acquisition as concerning extra level modifiers?

Later 0 skills add nothing to 0 skills one already has from their homeworld.

 

[Captain]

Ok thanks all

 

[Hopeless]

I assumed Trade 0 would only mean you suffer no penalties when either searching for or working a generic job that would'nt duplicate the jack of all trades skill and would never be better than someone with a more relevant for example Engineer/Power Systems over Trade/Power Systems Engineer since one deals only with city, station or spaceport duties the other copes with having to be Montgomery Scott on at least a daily basis since there isn't anyone who can do what they do!

Hope that makes sense!

 

[Rick]

I assumed Trade 0 would only mean you suffer no penalties when either searching for or working a generic job that would'nt duplicate the jack of all trades skill and would never be better than someone with a more relevant for example Engineer/Power Systems over Trade/Power Systems Engineer since one deals only with city, station or spaceport duties the other copes with having to be Montgomery Scott on at least a daily basis since there isn't anyone who can do what they do!

Hope that makes sense!

A Trade skill would never duplicate JoT - Trade isn't a skill at all in the traditional sense - it gives you money as if you were working at a job whilst adventuring, but no other bonuses. If, for example; you had Trade/Power Systems Engineer, you would know how to run a small business and make a couple of hundred credits, but you couldn't identify or repair a power system if your life depended on it. It would be as if you were the office manager or secretary in the firm that did the work.

 

[alex_greene]

Trade 0 should only mean that that is what you start off doing, as an apprentice / trainee learning some trade and doing menial work for that professional. You pick the Trade specialisation, but basically your Trade 0 means you just do the scut work for that trade at this level - basically cleaning the workshop, setting up the workbenches, mopping up spillages, basic stuff where you put in a lot of elbow grease and get dirty a lot.

Once you start chargen, everything is Trade 1. The first Trade you learn is your Trade-0 skill; if you learned Trade (shoemaking)-0 at boot, the first Trade you learn to Trade-1 is shoemaking. Subsequent Trades, you can add to the shoemaking speciality to gain Trade (shoemaking)-2, Trade (shoemaking)-3 etc, or you could add Trade (leatherworking)-1 (thus expanding your leatherworking repertoire beyond mere shoemaking), or you can learn other Trades, e.g. lapidary (jewellery), latex, designer tailoring or whatever.

 

[Rick]

Yeah - I don't think the rulebook actually means 'skill specialisation' for Trade skills necessarily; I think what they mean is a specific Trade; what sort of Trade would depend on the background for the character. In the original example, the most obvious fit might be Trade (3) Factory worker, but they could be Trade (3) Vid-star (I would house-rule you could add any Acting skill to this), Political Lobbyist, Trade Union representative, Prostitute, Used Air-raft salesman, Pet walker, Maid/cleaner, Short-order cook, Waiting staff/bartender, Freelance journalist/reporter, After-dinner speaker, etc. It all adds flavour to your background.

 

[CosmicGamer]

Here is a list that I put together from I don't recall where but some could be used for trade specializations.
Accountant
Advertising
Agriculture
Antiquing
Art
Art Sales
Asteroid Mining
Auctioneer
Automotive
Baking
Banking
Belter
Biochemicals
Caretaker
Chef
Chemistry
Cobbler
Comestibles
Construction
Crystal Mining
Delivery
Dock Worker
Dockhand
Doctor
Economic Advisor
Evangelism
Factory Work
Farmhand
Farming
Fashion Design
Fire Fighting
Food Preparation
Food Service
Gambler
Gourmet Cuisine
Holography
Homemaker
Housekeeping
Hunting/Gathering
Husbandry
Instructor
Janitor
Landscaping
Laundry Service
Lawyer
Luxuries
Machinist
Maintenance
Manufacturing
Massage
Mechanic
Media
Merchant
Metal Manufacturing
Milling
Mining
Mixologist
Munitions
Nursing
Painting
Postal Service
Printing
Procurement
Publishing
Real Estate
Refinery
Restaurant
Retail
Robotics
Sales
Scrap Metals
Seamstress
Secretarial
Seneschal
Ship Systems
Starport Operations
Stonemason
Stoneware
Supervisor
Tailoring
Teamster
Terraforming
Textiles
Utilities
Utility Worker
Warehousing
Waste Management
Welder
Winemaking And Brewing

 

[CosmicGamer]

So is the default answer here that background skills have no effect on later skill acquisition as concerning extra level modifiers?

If I'm understanding this question and the rules correctly, you are correct.

it implies that Trade specialisations unlike all other skills, start at level 0

It makes sense to me. As you say yourself

It could be argued that trade specialisations are sufficiently different to warrant learning each from level 0 separately.

However I disagree with this:

but the last sentence contradicts it.

To me, if taken in context, "general grasp of working for a living" is not referring to a JoaT like ability to do any type of work for a living but to work utilizing the Trade skill(s) one may possess as laid out in prior sentences of the Trade skill rules.

I will also use trade skill for task rolls if the task is specific to the trade skill. I'll allow the trade skill to provide a Situational Modifier (page 49 of core rules) when applicable to the situation.