CT Only: CT - We Don't Need No Stinkin' Skills

[Supplement Four]

In a gaming environment where many (most?) gamers are used to characters having a skill for everything that they do, CT is different. It's a game where only the skills where the character excels is listed on the character sheet.

This fact hit me like a hammer between the eyes when I recently perused Supplement 4: Citizens of the Imperium. In the back, there is a chapter titled Heroes and Villains where some well known characters from film and literature are expressed in Traveller terms.

The very first one? Luke Skywalker, as he was when we first saw him in A New Hope.

Luke Skywalker - Young Farmboy - Age 22

797655

Pilot-2

I think this is an excellent example to show a player new to Traveller who can't quite get his head around the CT method of skills.

Take a look at Luke. He's got one skill! And, his stats are not that high or low.

When a player rolls up a character and then seems to be dissatisfied with him, you can look at him and say, "Well, he's a stronger character, skill-wise, than Luke Skywalker, and look at all that Luke did in Episode IV."

There's no weapon skills. He must have the Book 1 version where he's got them as default skills. Still, that's only Level-0, meaning no bonus to hit.

There's no acrobatic skill to swing across the chasm with a princess on his hip. That must have been a function of his DEX 9. Maybe Roll DEX or less on 2D. Use a +2 penalty DM for carrying the princess.

There's no vehicle skill for Luke's landspeeder. Again, this must be a default skill. Level-0. No bonus.

There's no Computer skill or Mechanical skill for cleaning and fixing up droids.

There's no Moisture Vaporator operation skills.

All that's listed* is where Luke, at this stage of his life, really excels. And, that is at piloting. He's got Pilot-2, and he can bullseye womprats in his T-16 while threading the needle in Beggar's Canyon.

The point: A Traveller character doesn't need a lot of skills or even high stats in order to be a hero--or even a fun character to play.

*The text does say that Luke has Psi 11 with rudimentary training (that he must get on the Falcon from Obi-wan).

 

[McPerth]

While all you say is true, by the time Episode V: the Empire Strikes Back ends, I guess he has raised his dex, made a full psionic training (that, BTW seems to take him quite less than the 4 months listed in LBB3) and raising, at least, telekinetic and telepathy skills, learned some skill in lightsaber (as he can confront Darth Vader, who in the same section is listed as Blade Combat 5, for several rounds)...

So, he learns lots of skills in little time, something not posible in CT...

 

[whartung]

Take a look at Luke. He's got one skill! And, his stats are not that high or low.

When a player rolls up a character and then seems to be dissatisfied with him, you can look at him and say, "Well, he's a stronger character, skill-wise, than Luke Skywalker, and look at all that Luke did in Episode IV."

There's no weapon skills. He must have the Book 1 version where he's got them as default skills. Still, that's only Level-0, meaning no bonus to hit.

Well that's the question, though, right?

How many other -0 skills does he have, and why aren't they listed? Or does everyone have Admin-0, Streetwise-0, Steward-0, Gambling-0 etc. Does Chewie have Holo-Not-Chess-Game-0?

Obviously Luke has some skill with personal weapons, he carries a rifle looking for R2. He seems to be at least an intermediate, if not expert shot, with a "clumsy blaster" considering the shot he made at the door controls, under stress, UNDER FIRE, as well. And clearly he's comfortable with routine droid maintenance.

He also appears to be skilled at not just piloting, but gunnery as well. Apparently the flyers they had on Tatooine were armed and you'd shoot "Womprats" for, sport? meat? pest control?

So, -0 seems to be pretty powerful. A Traveller 18 year old is a force to be reckoned with.

 

[Supplement Four]

How many other -0 skills does he have, and why aren't they listed? Or does everyone have Admin-0, Streetwise-0, Steward-0, Gambling-0 etc. Does Chewie have Holo-Not-Chess-Game-0?

I think that you are thinking about this from a more modern perspective where every aspect of a character is measured an on the character sheet.

Think back to early D&D and Traveller. Characters were what the player made them.

If you played a Cleric in AD&D, and you suspected a trap ahead, then you used your staff to poke ahead of you. Maybe you poured some water from your waterskin on the floor stones to see where the water ran and where the water sank between the stones, maybe indicating a floor trap.

There was nothing on the character's sheet that said he could do this or regulated his expertise in searching for traps. Heck, that was the domain o the Thief.

But, nothing stopped a Cleric from doing this. It was the player doing it and the Dungeon Master reacting to the player character actions.





The same goes for Traveller. If your character with only one skill, Pilot-2, and attributes 797665 needed to drive the Landspeeder, then the Ref allowed it. No Landspeeder skill needed. If a roll was needed, then the Ref created one, probably based on DEX.

If your character fired back at stormtroopers, then he did it. Just rolled plain dice. No modifier for skill (but the Required/Advantageous DEX mod would be used, along with that for Range and Target Armor...plus Evasion, Cover and the like).

The Ref might decide that Landspeeder skill is actually important to the maneuver being attempted, but the character doesn't have the skill. So, the Ref sets the target number at 10+. That's a pretty tough number to hit. And, the Ref says that a +4 DM is allowed per point of Landspeeder skill. Therefore the Luke character has a tough 10+ to roll, but if he had the skill Landspeeder-2, it would be automatic success.

Or, the Ref might have a different take and say that the landspeeders themselves are actually grav powered flying vehicles, and a person pilots them--doesn't drive them. Thus, Luke's Pilot-2 skill applies to his landspeeder.

Let's say that the maneuver fails, and the landspeeder is damaged. Luke opens the trunk and gathers his tools. No, he doesn't have Mechanical skill. But, can he fix the speeder?

Maybe. Depends on the Ref's take on the damage. Is Mechanical skill a necessity? Should the Ref set the number high and give a big bonus to Mechanical skill level as he did with the Landspeeder skill above? Or, should the Ref assign a penalty to Luke because he doesn't have the skill?

Or, should Luke be able to attempt fixing the speeder with just a plain 2D roll?

Heck, let the dice decide. The Ref allows +2 DM per Mechanical skill, which Luke doesn't have. Then, he throws 3D for the target number that needs to be made to fix the speeder.

If the roll is 12-, then Luke has a chance to fix it. If it is 13+, then Luke is going to need to find someone with Mechanical skill to fix it.





We're not counting Level-0 skills here. We're just playing the game.

 

[ffilz]

Well, remember with that DEX 9, he may get +2 with some side arms, though by the book Laser weapons need at least DEX 10 for advantage, but then Traveller Laser weapons are a lot bulkier than Star Wars blasters, so maybe a blaster has an advantageous DEX of 9+.

Probably Luke should have been given some Gunnery skill also.

The challenge is always looking at what a character does in fiction and deciding what actually merits some skill.

Of course the movies also clearly play by different rules than Traveller.

Still the idea holds, the Traveller designers are showing some of the intent of the "skill" system with the example characters from fiction.

Frank

 

[Supplement Four]

So, he learns lots of skills in little time, something not posible in CT...

Allowances have to be made for a different universe.

Remember, Traveller was originally created as a generic system to do just this--a person goes and sees Star Wars and wants to play that. He uses Traveller as his base rules but makes allowances for the universe that he's adapting the rules to serve.

There are no shotguns or gauss rifles. Those all become blasters.

There's no tracked ATV. That all becomes Grav Vehicles.




And, let's not miss the point of the thread: That CT characters have few skills, and a CT character with only one skill is extremely playable. He's not handicapped.

 

[robject]

Marc still thinks of Traveller (and runs Traveller) this way. The character is not defined by his skill set (much).

 

[Supplement Four]

Marc still thinks of Traveller (and runs Traveller) this way. The character is not defined by his skill set (much).

It's old school, baby! And, I think it leads to a better roleplaying experience where as more adherence to stats defining the character leads to more rolling dice.

 

[Supplement Four]

So, -0 seems to be pretty powerful. A Traveller 18 year old is a force to be reckoned with.

Also consider that, by the rules, a Book 1 CT character has every weapon listed in that book as a default skill. That's a lot of skills right there.

And, if the Ref approves, the character can pick up Vacc Suit-0, air/raft-0, Steward-0, ATV-0, and Forward Observer-0.

That's a lot of Skill-0 skills, and rarely are they written on a character's sheet. You don't see a long list of every weapon on Book 1 listed at Skill-0. We just remember that when we play.

 

[creativehum]

It is really important to remember that Book 1 RAW anyone lacking weapon-0 or better suffers a DM -5 when using a weapon. Essentially, the default is DM -5, with anyone's with 0 or better becoming substantially better than anyone without training of any kind.

 

[mike wightman]

It is really important to remember that Book 1 RAW anyone lacking weapon-0 or better suffers a DM -5 when using a weapon. Essentially, the default is DM -5, with anyone's with 0 or better becoming substantially better than anyone without training of any kind.

It is definitely something that sets the player character Traveller apart from the masses

I have come to the conclusion that the automatic waiving of the skill penalty for unskilled combat skills is due to this one thing that sets a Traveller character apart from the myriad of other inhabitants of the setting - they can remain calm under pressure and do stuff. Note I am not saying there are not NPCs who behave this way too

Yes there may be the occasional morale check or what have you, but the Traveller is an individual who has that unusual capacity to remain calm enough when life is threatened to act decisively.

This may be the result of innate character/strength of will call it what you may, or it may be the result of military training, or it could be the result of conditioning or augmentation - there are many reasons and options.

 

[Supplement Four]

It is really important to remember that Book 1 RAW anyone lacking weapon-0 or better suffers a DM -5 when using a weapon. Essentially, the default is DM -5, with anyone's with 0 or better becoming substantially better than anyone without training of any kind.

But, since all characters from Book 1 get all weapons in Book 1 as default skills, then that rule is never used unless we're talking about some alien weapons--something not considered in the general weapons given in Book 1.

I think the penalty is good for use with Book 4 weapons (in most cases but not all), but that's personal preference.

The penalty could be used with Supplement 4 characters as those characters do not get all of the Book 1 weapons as default skills.

And, that's interesting. If I have a Doctor with Revolver skill, I'd at least allow the man to have AutoPistol-0.

 

[creativehum]

But, since all characters from Book 1 get all weapons in Book 1 as default skills...

Non-Player Characters of all sorts will lack expertise-0 in weapons. This gives PCs a distinct edge against most people on most worlds. The rule matters a lot as far as I can tell.

I consider Weapon-0 to represent expertise in combat situations, not competency at a shooting range. Everyone else's interpretations of what skills mean will vary of course.

 

[Supplement Four]

Non-Player Characters of all sorts will lack expertise-0 in weapons. This gives PCs a distinct edge against most people on most worlds. The rule matters a lot as far as I can tell.

Where do you see that rule? I would think that NPCs created with Book 1 would use the default weapons rule.


EDIT: Page 20 of TTB, in the NPC section, says...

(NPC) skills and abilities should be determined by the referee using the character generation procedure.

And, I've always considered one of Traveller's strengths is that a PC and NPC are generated using the same procedure--that PCs really aren't superior with their stats. All characters, PC and NPC alike, are created the same.

Therefore, I'd say that NPCs created by Book 1 use the Book 1 default weapons rule.

 

[sabredog]

It's old school, baby! And, I think it leads to a better roleplaying experience where as more adherence to stats defining the character leads to more rolling dice.

Yes! Exactly!

Again and again I've pointed that out ot players. And using the 68AC tasking scores you can make that work easily. No skill (or "0") then roll 10 or better to make it work if a technical (difficult, skilled labor) job, or 8+ for non-skilled.

At least that's how I do it. But I have always allowed for mods from things like attribute levels in Education and IQ, or even Dex. And of course this is also where Jack Of All Trades fits nicely.

But that is exactly why it all allows for a better role-playing experience than a system with rigid rules on what you can and can't do unless you have the required perks/skills/feats/whatever. In Traveller you can always try, even if you don't survive the experience.

 

[sabredog]

There is also the idea that anyone can drive a car, but to do so under stress isn't the same as to the store. That is where skills come in while otherwise no roll is even needed.

 

[Supplement Four]

There is also the idea that anyone can drive a car, but to do so under stress isn't the same as to the store. That is where skills come in while otherwise no roll is even needed.

Agreed.

Maybe they get into a groundcar chase. Any special maneuvers? 10+ to avoid, with +4 per skill level.

 

[sabredog]

Agreed.

Maybe they get into a groundcar chase. Any special maneuvers? 10+ to avoid, with +4 per skill level.

Definitely. And maybe the failure to make the roll makes the chance any passengers have to shoot at the pursuing vehicle less likely or impossible?

10+ for keep control while avoiding a crash or being hit by incoming fire from the pursuing vehicle. If the driver can make the roll then passengers want to return fire can do so, if not they have the chance to return fire either eliminated or their rolls to hit are reduced by a DM equal to the difference between the driver's roll and the target for his success?


So if the driver fails his roll by rolling 6 then the difference is -4, which is applied to the attempts by any passengers to fire on the pursuing vehicle.


This ties the fates of everyone in the car together, too. I imagine amusing things being said between passengers and driver while the dice are rolling.

 

[mike wightman]

It specifically states in LBB1, the TTB etc that it is player characters that have weapon expertise at 0.

Non-player characters may be generated using the tables of LBB1 but not being player characters they do not get the level 0 weapon skill automatically - not unless you are the referee decide to grant them it.

 

[sabredog]

It specifically states in LBB1, the TTB etc that it is player characters that have weapon expertise at 0.

Non-player characters may be generated using the tables of LBB1 but not being player characters they do not get the level 0 weapon skill automatically - not unless you are the referee decide to grant them it.

Sure, but that's for just the average NPC generated for a specific purpose. One that does more can have more skills anyway and will still just be used even by the players for only the skills the NPC has by default.

The reasoning behind that rule was, I believe, to make sure that the players are more likely to be the masters of their fates (on at least a sliding scale of events) rather than be able to rely on NPC's to get some extra saving throws.