The differences in abilities

[JMISBEST]

I'm wondering whah the differences in training, ability, skill and experance between the following 2 pairs are

1 is of 2 Naval Captains that both have A Leadership DM of +4, but the common born 1 has that from Leadership /3 and A +1 Social Scale DM and the 1 whose the 5 child of A Duke has that from Leadership /1 and A +3 Social Scale DM

The other is for 2 Doctors that both have A Medic DM of +4, but the common born 1 who is literally a medical protgee but is only of above average intelligence has Medic /3 and A +1 Edu DM and 1 whose A Multi billion Dollar Merchants 5th child who got her the greatest education money can buy and had Edu Augumented to guarantee him the highest medical position on the planet and has Medic/0 and A +4 Edu DM

So as they will eventually pop up, not saying when or how or if in my or a friends campaign incase 1 of my or their players reads this and spoils thr fun, roughly whats the difference between the training, skill, ability and experance of both people in both grouos and how should me or they best roleplay it?. Please help and please remember that even rough ideas will be more helpful then you may think. Please and thank you

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Role-play is character-driven. RPGs are not about winning the game. Try basing your characters on TV or movie characters that you like and are familiar with at first before making characters with rushed or missing backstories.

 

[locarno24]

It's a fair enough question.

The other is for 2 Doctors that both have A Medic DM of +4, but the common born 1 who is literally a medical protgee but is only of above average intelligence has Medic /3 and A +1 Edu DM and 1 whose A Multi billion Dollar Merchants 5th child who got her the greatest education money can buy and had Edu Augumented to guarantee him the highest medical position on the planet and has Medic/0 and A +4 Edu DM

Your total DM is, essentially, the odds of you succeeding, so a character with a +4 DM to a roll is 'as good', regardless of the source of the DM. So both are as good medics (or officers) for Medic + EDU checks (or Leadership + SOC)



It's more a case of how 'flexible' your ability is outside that specific application. Improving your stats implies a more 'rounded' character outside your core speciality.



A low EDU, high skill character has practical experience and the confidence that comes from it (think Dr McCoy). Which means they're likely to do cope better at emergencies within their field (although the rules don't specifically reflect this). That experience will show itself most in competence with awkward specialist tools. A lot of specialist gear (Armour springs to mind) has a minimum skill requirement to use it without penalty (for example Vacc Suits and Battle Dress) - an experienced TL14 medic has used a nanostent fabricator before. A highly educated one knows what one is (of course) but presented with one for the first time is likely to screw it up and tear the blood vessel instead of just forcing it open wider...



A high EDU, low skill character knows a lot of facts about everything (think Data), and knows how a procedure should work, and all the known complications that might occur, but doesn't have the specific experience, and may only have actually done the procedure in simulation. But, high EDU/INT covers all fields of science, not just medicine.

Put both in the situation of doing a Medic 10+ check for emergency surgery, and both will crack their knuckles and go 'right!' and be on with it.
HOWEVER
If, during the surgery, power fails in the room and the life support machine blows out, fixing it will take a Mechanics + EDU 8+ check. The experienced doctor will be in trouble because "Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not an electrician" whilst the highly educated individual can offset the unskilled penalty with their high EDU DM, make an educated guess from the basic electrical theory they recall from tech classes at college, and get the thing working again enough to finish the procedure.




Equally, a lot of 'knowledge' skills allow INT or EDU, or sometimes flip-flop between them for specific applications.

Planning a surgery to remove an obscure tumour of some kind in accordance with previously established surgical procedures would be EDU, because it's "do I know how it should be done?", and your putative billionaire's daughter should do just as well as the experienced doctor.

Being presented with a patient suffering from a totally new and previously undiagnosed condition requires creativity and quick thinking to treat because no-one knows the right answer. At this point, she has to use her (comparatively poor) INT DM, not EDU DM, and she'll be saying "this was never in the books!!!" whilst the medical protégée, who's INT may be no better than his EDU but he's not relying on the DM from either, will come up with off-the-wall ideas that will probably work.



The same thing applies with your naval officers. Take both of them, get them drunk on a night out planetside, have them kidnapped, taken to a different planet in a different star nation, beaten up, their belongings and ID stolen, and force them to rally a bunch of other prisoners to lead a breakout.

No-one cares that the duke's son is a ducal heir (SOC is a very situation-specific stat!). They care that the other guy is actually inspiring.

By comparison, you don't need leadership to talk your way into an exclusive theatre salon. You need either persuade or a high SOC. Guess who's getting backstage?

 

[steve98052]

On topic, locarno24 covers the topic well.

But as a language usage note, compare
prodigy English definition 5
and
protégé English definition.