Essential Skills

[77thPatron]

Given that MGT provides connection and package skills that are the players choice, what two or three essential skills should a character have based on their role:

Combat Characters (Army, Marines, etc.)
Tactics (Military)-1, Recon-1, Gun Combat (E or S Rifles)-1

Merchant Characters:
Broker-1, Streetwise-1, Steward-1

Rogues:
Stealth-1, Deception-1, Streetwise-1

Spacer (Pilot):
Pilot (x)-1, Sensors-1, Comms-1

Spacer (Engineer):
Engineer (Electronics)-1, Mechanic-1, Vacc Suit-1

And my personal list of the three most useful skills in the game (based on my own play style):

Computers, Deception, Streetwise

 

[Bense]

Jack of All Trades-3 is probably the most useful. Couple that with some high attributes and you have a generalist that can fill in wherever needed.

 

[77thPatron]

Jack of All Trades-3 is probably the most useful. Couple that with some high attributes and you have a generalist that can fill in wherever needed.

:roll:

Want to try again with skills that are eligable to be selected from packages, or as connection skills?

 

[alex_greene]

The title just says "Essential Skills," not "Essential Skill Packages." However ...

Steward Package:
Steward, Admin, Carouse

Wilderness Survivor Package:
Survival, Navigation, Animals

EVA Package:
Athletics, Vacc Suit, Zero-G

Science Package:
Science (any three varieties, any three specialities)

Gumshoe Package:
Investigation, Streetwise, Deception

Linguist Package:
Language (any two), Social Science (linguistics)

Hacker Package:
Computers, Engineer (electronics), Deception

 

[Bense]

Jack of All Trades-3 is probably the most useful. Couple that with some high attributes and you have a generalist that can fill in wherever needed.

:roll:

Want to try again with skills that are eligable to be selected from packages, or as connection skills?

Sorry, I house-ruled that J-o-T was available as a connection skill in my campaign.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

But connection skills can only be Level 1 skills. Sounds like 2 house rules to me! :wink:

Space Vagabond (Those working passage guys):
Mechanic-1, Vacc Suit-1, Streward-1

Medic/Healer:
Medic-1, Life Sciences-1, Athletics (Co-ordination)-1

Barbarian:
Animals-1, Athletics-1, Melee-1

 

[Bense]

But connection skills can only be Level 1 skills. Sounds like 2 house rules to me! :wink:

My book just says that connection skills can't raise a skill level above 3, not that they can only be level 1 skills.
It's the skill package skills that can only be Level 1.

 

[DFW]

Spacer (Engineer):
Engineer (Electronics)-1, Mechanic-1, Vacc Suit-1

Engineer (J-Drive) is MUCH more critical than Electronics when it comes to star ship operation.

 

[Matian]

Spacer (Engineer):
Engineer (Electronics)-1, Mechanic-1, Vacc Suit-1

Engineer (J-Drive) is MUCH more critical than Electronics when it comes to star ship operation.

To keep from having awful, awful disasters, I collapsed Engineer into one skill. It makes bodger-themed characters more feasible, and allows for greater skill diversity among characters. I've run three games with full Engineer and two games with collapsed Engineer, and I can say there's no real balance issue in-game and players seem to enjoy it more.

I like all the skill packages here. From my games, I'd use:

Archaeologist
Diplomat, Social Science (Archaeology), Investigate

Tomb Raider
Broker/Persuade, Social Science (Archaeology), Explosives (because the only way to get to Priam's palace is blowing up all the other levels of Troy)

Bodger
Mechanic, Engineer, Streetwise

Combat Medic
Medic, Gun Combat (slug or laz pistol), Drive (any, depending on stationing)

University Student
Art/Science (any), Persuade, Carouse

(Obviously these depend on the type of campaign you're running. )