Rank Benefits -- Expansion to Core Rules

[apoc527]

I'm just tossing an idea out there for public consumption. The idea is Rank Benefits. Basically, as you obtain higher skill levels, you gain certain new abilities or special bonuses. They can be useful for combat and non-combat skills. This is something like Feats from d20 but tied directly to your skill rank.

Some Examples

Guns
Slug Pistol
Rank 2--Double Tap (you may fire two shots in quick succession with a pistol. As a single Significant action, make two attacks with a handgun, both at a -1 DM.)

Rank 4--Marksman (you are especially good at long range shots. Reduce your range DMs by -2.)

Slug Rifle
Rank 3--Controlled Burst (you are a master of short, controlled bursts. You may add your full Rank to any Autofire 4 or less burst and you expend only 2xAuto rating in ammunition).

Medic
Rank 3--Combat Medic (you are remarkably skilled at helping comrades wounded under fire. As long as you achieve Effect 0, you always treat your rolls as +2 Effect.)

Broker
Rank 3--Connected (you are remarkably well connected and able to find and close deals much faster than normal. You take no penalty when you choose to go faster up to 1 step down the Time Frames Table.)

Melee
Any
Rank 2--Reaction Parry (your ability to parry attacks does not slow you down as much. When you parry, your initiative is reduced by 1, instead of 2.)

Etc. Etc. Share your own!

As you can see, there will be some common themes. Double Attacks, improved use of combat abilities, ability to perform well in shorter times, bonus Effect (with minimum success), etc. There's SO MUCH that can be done with MGT, it's just great.

Possible variations would be to make a list and say that you may choose one per Rank instead of automatically getting them. It just depends on what you want to do. The idea is simply to provide a little extra ooomph for higher skill ranks than merely a larger DM (which is good, but lacks flavor).

 

[Dave Chase]

Sounds a bit like the benefits that a character might receive from attending schools during creation.

Maybe add a few things based on carreer and rank

Like being in the Marines, your first blade skill must be cutlass

Dave Chase

 

[AndrewW]

Like being in the Marines, your first blade skill must be cutlass

Classic Traveller had something like this where you had to throw against marine tradition to take a different blade.

 

[Sturn]

I don't like feats at all for Traveller. They work fine in a fantasy game, but I would prefer to stay with just skills and characteristics.

 

[lordmalachdrim]

Rank Benefits are an idea apoc got from Alternity. If I'm not wrong.

 

[apoc527]

Yup. They aren't feats though because they are linked directly skills.

 

[rust]

I guess it is a matter of one's "game philosophy".

The Rank Benefits give the characters additional advantages, abilities and
thelike that are tied to their skill levels, and thereby to the mechanics of
the game.
There is nothing wrong with that, I just do not like it. :wink:

I very much prefer to have the characters earn any such advantages in
play, within the setting, as a result of their actions there.

For example, a trader can have a bonus for deals on a certain planet be-
cause he invested some time and money to build a network of contacts
there, not because he has a high skill level - especially since the skill le-
vel itself already improves his chances for a better deal, without any ad-
ded Rank Benefits.

In the end, it depends on whether one wants to have more powerful cha-
racters from the start (since improving skills in Traveller is not easy), or
whether one wants to have more "normal" characters who have to earn
each improvement through hard work.

 

[FreeTrav]

My take on this is that this could be considered to have been addressed by the Classic/Mega concept of "Cluster" or "Cascade" skills - I always manage to forget which one.

The idea was that if you earned a skill level in (for example) Handgun, you would choose a specialization from (e.g.) AutoPistol, Body Pistol, Revolver, Snub Revolver, et cetera - but you could use any of the OTHER specializations at -1 to skill - so that if you had Revolver-3, you could use an AutoPistol as though you had AutoPistol-2.

What the OP seems to be proposing is, in essence, to convert some singular skills (e.g., Medic) into Cluster/Cascade skills (e.g., Medic:Surgeon, Medic:CombatMedic, Medic:GeneralPractitioner). Not a bad idea, necessarily, and Freelance Traveller would welcome an article on the hows, whys, and whiches of doing so.

 

[Dave Chase]

T5 will have something like the grouping/Casade skill.

Hopefully they will have made it lots clear than the last time I saw it in playtest.

It does give some more flexibility along with the ability to specialize a bit.

Dave Chase

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I kind of like this idea. I may have to pick up Alternity and read it for myself.

I think it would be very easy for something like this to get out of hand, but if you keep it at the Level 2+ Skills, it won't come up too often and would give the player some individuality.

I might even allow the player to PICK a Rank Benefit from a small list, providing even more individuality.

So the Character with Gun Combat (Slug Pistol) 2 could pick EITHER Double-Tap or Marksman (Player's Choice). So one character could be a marksman and the other could be a D-T'er and they both have the same skill level. I think I like that a lot.

Say at every 2 skill levels (2, 4, 6 etc) you get another Rank Benefit. Between all the abilities and Prestige stuff out there from D20, it should be possible to come up with a reasonable list of 3-5 Rank Benefits for most skills. Not all skills would need or have these of course, but more could be added later, or the player could come up with one on there own that they like. TV shows would be a great inspiration for these too.

 

[Rex]

Or one could, per say, take something like the Special Abilities mechanic from Judge Dredd, and import them over to Rank Benefits, for Traveller.

~Rex

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

That would work too!

 

[AndrewW]

Or use the one in Strontium Dog, depending on which you happen to have or get.

 

[Rex]

Or use the one in Strontium Dog, depending on which you happen to have or get.

which of course will be more. Even if you just have Dredd, with the Special abilities there you can see the entire framework for adding More. Always nice when you can visualize the whole mechanic.

~Rex

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I wasn't planning on getting either JD or SD (I never read any of the comics), but I may have to pick up one, or both, of them when they go PDF.

 

[apoc527]

Crap, now I might have to get Judge Dredd...which might not be so bad, but I'm afraid (and terribly ashamed) that my only knowledge of Dredd comes from the Stallone movie of the same name.

 

[Rex]

Crap, now I might have to get Judge Dredd...which might not be so bad, but I'm afraid (and terribly ashamed) that my only knowledge of Dredd comes from the Stallone movie of the same name.

See I brought that up in my Dredd Thread and Fordy wanted to revoke my Dredd0ness.

I'll let you in on a little secret. If you get that book, you really don't need to know as much about Dredd as the rest of us 2000ad fanatics (though I would recommend getting the Complete Case Files if you really want to know even more, and you will, because it's THAT good).

When I did the Dredd demo's at Gencon, I had tables of Dredd Experts, and Tables of Kids that knew nothing of it, and everything in between. Including folks that have only seen the movie.

They all went, and bought the book. So, well worth it, and it gives you what you need to run the setting. The rest of the series will give you more.

~Rex

 

[Klaus Kipling]

Get some Dredd(comic). You will like it, promise.