Specialist vs. General skills

From: Julian Lord <julian.lord_at_...>
Date: Sat, 03 Jun 2000 10:49:36 +0200


Mikael Raaterova :

> A specialized character (say, "Armwrestler" 18) armwrestles a
> generalist (say, "Strong" 18). I don't penalize the Strong guy (i
> don't care much for improv penalties), but i would give the
> Armwrestler a BIG bonus because of two things: a) he is using a
> narrow* trait as intended, and b) he has a 'skill-depth' advantage
> over his opponent.

It should be the same with Rituals.

Knowing the 'Tree-Chopping Song' should give your Uz an advantage (when elf-slaying, later on in the evening) over the next guy who only knows his Mythology of Kaarg.

> In Robin's draft, you got a bonus when you used specialized
> traits for the specific actions they were intended for.
> This seems to have been officially discarded.

Well it shouldn't have been IMO.

> * I'd say a trait is Narrow if situations where it can be used
> appropriately occur no more often than, say, every other or third
> session.

Not necessarily : for example, a Ritual that you used *every* session could still be Narrow IMO.

Actually, I'm not too happy with the Rituals rules :

    encouraging players to invent their own : good     no rule for knowing the right Ritual as a Feat/Ability : bad

I think that's Bad 50% Good 40% Not Sure 10%

cheers,

Julian Lord

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