Context: objective character creation
Purpose: seeking advice and alternate approaches
Broad skills result in characters which are proficient in broad
areas, incorporating many related sub-skills. This is realistic to
me: a warrior should know lots of combat skills. But while he should
know a variety of combat skills, he should not be equally skilled in
all them. Which leads to...
Narrow skills result in characters who are very detailed.
Unfortunately, I've noticed that if narrow skills are unrestricted,
players build specialists who are amazing in one or two skills but
neglect other stuff. This totally defeats my purpose, as I don't
*want* specialists; I want detail in broad groups.
Of course there's always subjective creation, in which case this
isn't a problem. Or Carl's semi-subjective, where the GM enforces
genre conventions on otherwise objective creation. But I'd like to
find something purely objective.
Five-point fudge solves this problem, but isn't very flexible for
what I have in mind. It is too prescriptive of number of skills and
specific skill levels.
Someone had a "pyramid" skill approach which might do the trick.
although I'm not necessarily seeking lots of low level skills.
An idea of mine is to use broad skills, but allow players to specify
"exceptions". For example, I have good warcraft, so all combat skills
default to good; but I want to be great with swords, so I'll lower
crossbow and axe/mace to fair as compensation. Or you could do this
with Aspects.
Another idea is to let characters buy Gift levels, where each level
includes a number of skill points which can be spent on appropriate
skills. But this is getting pretty heavy-handed.
Prerequisites might work. Say, you have to have certain prerequisites
at 2 levels below your desired level.
So, any ideas? Anyone else see this as a problem?
Mike
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Mike Harvey -- Beaverton, Oregon
http://members.dsl-only.net/~bing/
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