Scholar Skills

[Scratches]

A Scholar Rank 5 gets "Science 2". Does this mean that they gain two additional levels at this rank or is it supposed to be a single additional level on top of the previous "Science 1" they receive at an earlier rank?

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

A Scholar Rank 5 gets "Science 2". Does this mean that they gain two additional levels at this rank or is it supposed to be a single additional level on top of the previous "Science 1" they receive at an earlier rank?

It means you get Science 2 if you don't have Science 2 already. It's not a +2 in Science.

 

[Belisknar]

A Scholar Rank 5 gets "Science 2". Does this mean that they gain two additional levels at this rank or is it supposed to be a single additional level on top of the previous "Science 1" they receive at an earlier rank?

I get where you are coming from.

Mechanically speaking. You can receive any Science skill at Rank 2 or increase any eisting science skill to rank 2. Every time something is recieved at a different time from something else it is seperate and can be treated as such.

Plain text example of how I'd play it.

Advance to Rank 1 Gain Science Biology 1

If by chance I didn't advance that any further by the time I reached Rank 5 I would increase that to Science Biology 2 with the Advancement bonus.

If I had increased that up to or beyond level 2 I would just choose another Science skill. Such as Science Cybernetics 2.

 

[Scratches]

Thanks both. For either of these cases I think the Ranks and Bonuses on page 17 should be clarified and explicit on how they work. I've always read them as working exactly like the skill tables, you get a +1 and in this case my read is a +2.

 

[Belisknar]

Thanks both. For either of these cases I think the Ranks and Bonuses on page 17 should be clarified and explicit on how they work. I've always read them as working exactly like the skill tables, you get a +1 and in this case my read is a +2.

They're already pretty clearly explained about how it works both when a skill is listed with and without a number. It's on page 16, not 17.

Skills can be listed with or without an associated level. If no rank is listed, then you gain that skill at level 1 if you do not have it already, or increases its level by +1 if you are already trained in that field. If a rank is listed, then you gain the skill at that level so long as it is higher than your current level in that skill.

For example, Gambler 0 would mean you receive the Gambler skill at level 0. This is of benefit to you only if you have no Gambler skill.

Vacc Suit would mean you increase your Vacc Suit skill by +1, or gain it at level 1 if you have no Vacc Suit skill to begin with. If you have Vacc Suit 0, it increases to 1, if you have Vacc Suit 2 it rises to 3, and so on.

Streetwise 1 would mean you get the Streetwise skill at level 1. If your Streetwise skill is already 1 or more, then this is of no benefit to you. If you have no Streetwise skill, or it is only at 0, you jump straight to Streetwise 1.

This last paragraph is the one that is of importance to your Scholar rank question. It's a little more complicated though because Science has a bunch of specialties and therefore you have more options.

 

[Scratches]

Makes sense.