Broad Skills

From: simon_hibbs2 <simon.hibbs_at_...>
Date: Fri, 23 May 2003 13:22:26 -0000

> I guess what I was getting at is how is CC any different
> from "Smart" or "Well Read"? Broad skills like that are nearly
> always used with an improv modifier, right? Is HQ singling out CC,
> or is it suggesting you guide your players toward narrower skills
in
> general? After all, the player can always write "skilled with all
> weapons" in their description - it's up to the narrator to deal
with
> that.

These are the test I use for whether I will accept an ability

  1. The description of what the ability does, or allows you to do, must not reference any existing abilities. i.e. It must be useful on it's own, and not primarily to augment other abilities.
  2. The description of the kinds of things the ability lets you do shouldn't cover activities that are already covered by more than one existing ability, or obvious ability candidates. If it does, you should choose one of them instead.

I wouldn't allow Smart (assuming the 'inteligent' meaning, as against 'well dressed'), because either it's an augment for all possible mental abilities, or it's a sustitute for most of them.

I would allow Well Read if we agree that it means the character has a broad knowledge of books, plots, authors and so on, and as a handy augment to many knowledge-based mental skills. However he would have to come up with a book title and author every time he used, or even augmented with the ability.

Abilities that are always used with an appropriateness modifier are daft and I don't allow them.

I recently had a player put down two abilities - Move Through Shadows and Slip Into Shadows. I let him have just the first one, on the basis that I'd allow him to use it at no penalty to slip into shadows anyway. It's a rare case where I think it made sense to allow a broader interpretation than the player wanted.

There's no point being pedantic when it's not realy necessery.

Simon Hibbs

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