CT+ Skills List

[robject]

I have four different skill lists to put down here for consideration, integration, and redaction.

First, T. Foster's list of 61:
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">Admin
Animal Handling
Archaic Weapons (C)
Armorer
Artillery
Astrogation
Battle Dress
Blade Combat (C)
Brawling
Bribery
Broker
Camouflage
Carousing
Combat Engineering
Communications
Computer
Craftsman
Cryptography
Demolitions
Disguise
Electronics
Engineering
Environmental Adaptation
Fleet Tactics
Forensics
Forgery
Forward Observer
Gambling
Gun Combat (C)
Gunnery (C)
Heavy Weapons
Instruction
Interrogation
Intrusion
Jack-of-all-Trades
Language
Law
Leadership
Liaison
Linguistics
Mechanics
Medical
Naval Architect
Performance (C)
Persuasion
Pilot
Prospecting
Recon
Recruiting
Sensors
Ship Tactics
Science (C)
Stealth
Steward
Streetwise
Survey
Survival
Tactics
Trader
Vac Suit
Vehicle (C)</pre>[/QUOTE]T. Foster says:

The list is still heavy on arcane/obscure military skills that IMO have no real place in the general/core rules, but that's been true ever since "Forward Observer" was included in Book 1 so I suppose it's one of those "Traveller traditions," like dying in char-gen and marines receiving more training with cutlass than rifle, that give the game its unique character.

Next, Mike Wightman's list of 42:
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">Admin
Battle Dress
Bow combat
Brawling
Bribery
Broker
Carousing
Combat Engineering
Computer
Communications
Demolitions
Electronics
Engineering
Handgun
Forgery
Forward Observer
Gambling
Gravitics
Gunnery
Heavy Weapon
Instruction
Interrogation
Jack o-T
Large blade
Leader
Liaison
Mechanical
Medical
Navigation
Rifle
Pilot
Recon
Sensor ops
Small blade
Survival
Steward
Streetwise
Tactics
Trader
Vehicle
Vacc Suit
Zero-g combat</pre>[/QUOTE]Next, Wil Hostman's list of 52:
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">BASIC SKILLS
Admin
Bribery
Broker
Carousing
Communications
Computer
Demolitions
Electronics
Engineering
Equestrian
Forgery
Forward Observer
Gambling
Gravitics
Hunting
Instruction
Interrogation
JOT
Leader
Legal
Liason
Mechanical
Medical
Naval Architect
Navigation
Pilot
Prospecting
Space [type]
Steward
Streetwise
Survey
Survival
Tactics
Trader
Vacc Suit

COMBAT SKILLS
Battle Dress
Brawling
Blade [type]
Combat Engineering
Field Artillery
Fleet Tactics
Gun [type]
Gunnery
Heavy Weapons
Recon
Recruiting
Ship Tactics
0G Combat

TRANSPORT SKILLS:
Air/raft
ATV
Ships Boat
Vehicle [type & subtype]</pre>[/QUOTE]Finally, of course, the draft T5 list of 75:
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">Acting
Admin
Aircraft
Animal Handling
Archeology
Armor
Art
Astrogation
Athletics
Biology
Broker
Carousing
Chemistry
Communications
Computer
Conceal
Craftsman
Dance
Designer
Diplomacy
Dominate
Drives
Electronics
Explosives
Fluidics
Forward Obsvr
Gambling
Geology
Grav Vehicle
Gravitics
Ground Craft
Gunnery
Heavy Weapons
History
Hostile Environ
Investigate
Jack of All Trades
Language
Law
Leadership
Liaison
Linguistics
Magnetics
Mechanics
Medical
Melee
Military Strategy
Military Tactics
Mole
Music
Naval Strategy
Naval Tactics
Observe
Persuade
Philosophy
Photonics
Physics
Pilot
Programming
Psychology
Sapper
Sensors
Spacecraft
Stealth
Steward
Streetwise
Survey
Survival
Teaching
Trader
Vacc Suit
Watercraft
Weapons
Writing [Writer?]
Zero-G</pre>[/QUOTE]

 

[robject]

And here's the 54 skills which occur in at least two of the above lists.

The number in parentheses is the number of lists the skill shows up in.

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">1. admin (4)
2. animal handling (2)
3. astrogation (2)
4. battle dress (3)
5. blade (2)
6. brawling (3)
7. bribery (3)
8. broker (4)
9. carousing (4)
10. combat engineering (3)
11. communications (4)
12. computer (4)
13. craftsman (2)
14. demolitions (3)
15. electronics (4)
16. engineering (3)
17. fleet tactics (2)
18. forgery (3)
19. forward observer (3)
20. gambling (4)
21. gravitics (3)
22. gun (2)
23. gunnery (4)
24. heavy weapons (3)
25. instruction (3)
26. interrogation (3)
27. jack of all trades (3)
28. language (2)
29. law (2)
30. leader (2)
31. leadership (2)
32. liaison (3)
33. linguistics (2)
34. mechanical (2)
35. mechanics (2)
36. medical (4)
37. naval architect (2)
38. navigation (2)
39. pilot (4)
40. prospecting (2)
41. recon (3)
42. recruiting (2)
43. sensor ops (3)
44. ship tactics (2)
45. stealth (2)
46. steward (4)
47. streetwise (4)
48. survey (3)
49. survival (4)
50. tactics (3)
51. trader (4)
52. vac suit (4)
53. vehicle (3)
54. zero g (3)</pre>[/QUOTE]

 

[mike wightman]

Originally posted by robject:
And here's the 54 skills which occur in at least two of the above lists.

I've looked through the list, which I think shows promise, and made comments.
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">1. admin (4)
2. animal handling (2)
3. astrogation (2) - same as navigation?
4. battle dress (3)
5. blade (2)
6. brawling (3)
7. bribery (3)
8. broker (4)
9. carousing (4)
10. combat engineering (3)
11. communications (4)
12. computer (4)
13. craftsman (2)
14. demolitions (3)
15. electronics (4)
16. engineering (3)
17. fleet tactics (2)
18. forgery (3)
19. forward observer (3)
20. gambling (4)
21. gravitics (3)
22. gun (2)
23. gunnery (4)
24. heavy weapons (3)
25. instruction (3)
26. interrogation (3)
27. jack of all trades (3)
28. language (2) - same as linguistics?
29. law (2)
30. leader (2) - same as leadership?
31. leadership (2) - same as leader?
32. liaison (3)
33. linguistics (2) - same as language?
34. mechanical (2) - same as mechanics?
35. mechanics (2) - same as mechanical?
36. medical (4)
37. naval architect (2)
38. navigation (2) - same as astrogation?
39. pilot (4)
40. prospecting (2)
41. recon (3)
42. recruiting (2)
43. sensor ops (3)
44. ship tactics (2)
45. stealth (2)
46. steward (4)
47. streetwise (4)
48. survey (3)
49. survival (4)
50. tactics (3)
51. trader (4)
52. vac suit (4)
53. vehicle (3)
54. zero g (3)</pre>[/QUOTE]Remove the four duplicate skills and the list is quite a managable 50.

 

[zakrol]

Also, we have leader and leadership which looks like another duplication. Down to 51?

One thing that does seem to be missing is a Science/Knowledge cascade skill? With this skill list, all academic type characters are going to be electronics/gravitics specialists. It may not be a big deal for most PCs but what skills does the NPC have who they go and consult about that Ancients artifact they found?

 

[mike wightman]

Well spotted Zakrol, I also wonder if a separate language and linguistic skill is necessary?

Adding science may be a good idea.

 

[Morte]

I presume language means "ability to speak language X" whereas linguistics means "the academic study of languages and how they relate/differ" (e.g. the comparison of how Italian and Spanish verbs differ in their borrowings from Latin). So you'd have Language (Vilanin), Language (Galanglic) etc. Knowledge (Linguistics) would be a seldom seen specialisation of the Knowledge umbrella skill.

Astrogation covers starship orbits and jump plots etc. Navigation is finding your way around the wilderness with map and compass or picking out the north star, or using a sextant in the age of sail. You might call Navigation a part of the survival skill for gaming purposes (i.e. getting home from a crashed air/raft).

You could make more specialised navigation (routing an icebreaker through the northeast passage during the annual three week thaw) a knowldege or professional sub skill.

Cr 64000 question: are you going to have umbrella/cluster skills, like Profession/Whatever or Knowledge/Whatever or Engineering/Whatever?

[Aside: I'd dump the EDU ability and move its function into knowledge/profession/etc skills. Abilities are what you're born with and don't vary much, skills are what you develop through life and they improve with experience. The things CT uses EDU for belong in a skill, it never really fit with STR/INT/etc. But that may be a bit radical for this exercise.]

 

[mike wightman]

So lingustics could go into the science cascade?

In CT Navigation was planet based find your way, space astrogation, and later a default for sensor use as well.

I prefer broad skills like this to having a skill for each sub-use, it cuts down on skill inflation.

As for Education as a stat, I'm starting to think it is also a measure of the TL to which you have been exposed, and a measure of your general knowledge base.

 

[robject]

Excellent proofreading gents. The list is at 51 skills.

Next, please organize the skills into cascades or clusters or careers or all three...

BUSINESS
admin
broker
law
trader


SCIENCE
electronics
gravitics
linguistics
medic
animal handling


SPACE/TECH
astrogation
communications
computer
craftsman
engineering
mechanic
naval architect
pilot
prospecting
sensor ops
survey
vac suit
vehicle
zero g


HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT
battle dress
blade
brawling
combat engineering
demolitions
fleet tactics
forward observer
gun
gunnery
heavy weapons
recon
ship tactics
stealth
survival
tactics


SOCIAL
bribery
carousing
forgery
gambling
instruction
interrogation
language
leader
liaison
recruiting
steward
streetwise


SPECIAL
jack of all trades

 

[Golan2072]

I don't think that ALL skills should be cascaded; only part of them. This will give career skill lists a unique flavor and will increase variance between characters. Think along the lines of T4 in cascading, especially in gear skills (vehicle/weapon) and in knowledge (science or otherwise).

 

[robject]

Good advice, Employee, thank you.

I don't know if this is better or worse, but here's a rearrangement: 1/3 are uncascaded, and the cascade groups are smaller in size.


Animal Handling
Battle dress
Brawling
Fleet tactics
Instruction
Jack of all trades
Language
Law
Leader
Liaison
Medic
Naval architect
Prospecting
Recruiting
Steward
Survival

BLADE (type)

BUSINESS
Admin
Broker
Trader

CLANDESTINE
Bribery
Carousing
Forgery
Gambling
Interrogation
Stealth
Streetwise

FIREARM (type)

HEAVY WEAPONS (type)

INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Astrogation
Communications
Computer
Sensor ops

SOLDIER
Combat engineering
Demolitions
Forward observer
Recon
Ship tactics
Tactics

SPACE
Gunnery
Pilot
Survey
Vac suit
Zero g

TECHNICAL
Craftsman
Electronics
Engineering
Gravitics
Linguistics
Mechanic

VEHICLE (type)

 

[Berg]

Suppose Blade would cascade as well

Tom

 

[zakrol]

Looks good.

Cascades wouldn't have to be used every time. You could imagine wanting to have Pilot as a single roll on one of the Scout tables as well as the Space cascade.

 

[robject]

I was wondering about blade. I suppose it does.

And I agree, Zakrol.

 

[Berg]

I guess this thread will tie in with the careers thread in order to make the tables for the careers. Those tables definately need a rewrite for some of the placement of skills. Not a total revision, just tweaking depending on the careers we choose. Looking good so far

Kudo's to Mr Robject for all the work holding it all together. Extra mustering out roll for you

Tom

 

[robject]

It seems that there are actually more than 51 skills there, of course. For example, Vehicle includes Ship's Boat, I suspect...

Anyhow, looking over the MT basic chargen tables, it seems that there will be minor tweaks, but nothing too serious I think.

And thanks for that extra roll.

 

[robject]

My next task for y'all is to come up with likely Homeworld Skills.

I'm starting with a system distantly related to the T5 draft system: skills are organized based on some of the trade codes, more or less.

Six skills per trade category, with nine trade codes represented, plus a "general" category as a catch-all, an "exotic atmosphere/hydrosphere" category, and a bonus "on the X-Boat route" category. 12 categories in all.

Trade codes: Ag, Na, In, Ni, As, Ri, Po, Wa, De.

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">CT+ Homeworld Skills Determination

Pick/roll three (or D6) skills from tables
appropriate to the character's homeworld:

General
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Industrial
1. Mechanic
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Non-Industrial
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Asteroid world
1. Vac suit
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Agricultural
1. Survival
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Non-Agricultural
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
On the Xboat route
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Rich
1. Animal handling
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Poor
1. Blade
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Exotic atmos/hydro
1. Vac suit
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Vacuum world
1. Vac suit
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Water world
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Desert world
1. Survival
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.</pre>[/QUOTE]

 

[Golan2072]

You could find my take on default (including Homeworld) skills here.

Also, will the Homeworld Skills be level-0 or level-1?

 

[robject]

I suspect they could be either. However, there could be an 'automatic' set of default skills for all PCs already, in which case it would make more sense to have them at level 1.

 

[jappel]

robject,

Perhaps I missed it in the last list, but I think a Knowledge or Academic cascade is needed, particularly for the Scientist career. That's one of the things that MT did well in cleaning up CT. It never made much sense to me (and others) that Scientists in Supplement 4 had Admin & Computer skills but nothing particular to their knowledge domain.

I'd just give a few examples like Biology, Astronomy, Physics etc. and include verbiage to indicate that the player could select any reasonable high-level field of knowledge along the lines of the examples.

Regarding homeworlds - would you consider adding the classification for Vaccum worlds? It's at least as big a factor as De or Wa, IMHO.

I'll take a stab at this tonight, if no one else has by then.

- John

 

[robject]

John,

You're right, I forgot about the Academic cluster. OK, we'll tinker some more. (Hey Sigg, maybe we should add another career, wot? )

And 'Va' is just fine for the homeworld stuff. Send in your suggestions, my list off the cuff.

- Rob