CT Only: S4 and Default Weapon Skill

[Supplement Four]

I was checking my memory of default weapon skills by the Supplement 4 rules, and, of course, my memory is faulty. I thought all characters in Sup 4 didn't get the default in weapons, but it's just Barbarians, Doctors, and Bureaucrats.

The questions I had about weapon default skills is: Does that rule exist because of profession--that all the professions in Book 1--the adventuring careers--have the default because those careers involve a lot of gunplay?

Or, does the weapon default rule exist because operating one weapon is akin to operating another--thus, no penalty for no expertise.

Sup 4 confirms for us that the previous is true. It's profession based. Otherwise, any doctor that picks up skill in a handgun would also get the default skills--and he doesn't.



Half Skills.

What is a half skill? I'm assuming it's a Level-0 skill, and that is terminology left over from 1977 Traveller.

You'll see half skills referred to on pages 10-11 of Sup 4.

 

[creativehum]

What is a half skill? I'm assuming it's a Level-0 skill, and that is terminology left over from 1977 Traveller.

Yes.

 

[creativehum]

I was checking my memory of default weapon skills by the Supplement 4 rules, and, of course, my memory is faulty. I thought all characters in Sup 4 didn't get the default in weapons, but it's just Barbarians, Doctors, and Bureaucrats.

Can you point me to what you are referencing? I'm not sure what you are talking about... and I can't seem to find context when I flip through the book.

 

[Supplement Four]

Can you point me to what you are referencing? I'm not sure what you are talking about... and I can't seem to find context when I flip through the book.

Page 11, under Gun Combat. Barbarians, Bureacrats, and Doctors do not get the weapons defaults. If they get a gun skill, it is only that one weapon. And, if they don't have a skill in Revolver, but pick up a revolver to use, they are subject to the -5 penalty for no skill from Book 1.

Page 10, under Bow Combat, only Barbarians can gain skill in bows. All other characters are treated as unskilled.

etc.

 

[Supplement Four]

It is interesting that the default weapon rule applies to weapons like polearms, daggers, and swords, but it doesn't apply to slings, bows, and crossbows.

 

[mike wightman]

Shooting a bow or hurling rocks from slings are not just a matter of basic familiarity then point and click. Remember one of the reasons the musket replaced the bow and crossbow was it was a lot faster to train raw recruits, they didn't require training from birth (note to the usual - that last bit was a deliberate exaggeration).

 

[Condottiere]

Point and click; compensating for recoil, and even that's decreasing.

Compared to a more complicated procedure for slings and bows.

Arguably, crossbows compare with muskets in that sense.

 

[McPerth]

It is interesting that the default weapon rule applies to weapons like polearms, daggers, and swords, but it doesn't apply to slings, bows, and crossbows.

See that polearms and daggers may mean bayonet training (attached/unattached respectively), so most ex-military people are likely to have some basic training on them. Sword is not so clear, though the cutlass training for the Marines may justify it...

 

[Supplement Four]

See that polearms and daggers may mean bayonet training (attached/unattached respectively), so most ex-military people are likely to have some basic training on them. Sword is not so clear, though the cutlass training for the Marines may justify it...

It's got to be more than military training, though, as Merchants, Scouts, Others, and some careers from Sup 4 get all the blade weapons as default.

 

[mike wightman]

No, player characters that select those careers get them as default.

Ever play Twilight 2000? There is a great stat/rule for coolness under fire. It is my contention that PCs get the default combat expertise because they have a great coolness under fire while the majority are average or worse.

 

[creativehum]

No, player characters that select those careers get them as default.

Ever play Twilight 2000? There is a great stat/rule for coolness under fire. It is my contention that PCs get the default combat expertise because they have a great coolness under fire while the majority are average or worse.

I agree with you on this.

However, as Supplement 4 has pointed out in the passage he referenced above, the supplement Citizens of the Imperium muddies the issue on page 11 under Gun Combat.

The issue is further mudied because of this passage on p.1:

PLAYER CHARACTERS
The characters and their generation systems given here are also suitable for use as player-characters should the referee and the players decide. They are used in just the same manner as regular characters.

So, the default of Citizens of the Imperium is that it is to build NPCs... but can also be used to build PCs. How the various pieces work together between NPCs and PCs seems, again, muddied.

As for me: The PCs are not superheroes by any means, and yeah, they are average joes. But they are also exceptional average joes. And so the default skills available to them.

 

[Supplement Four]

No, player characters that select those careers get them as default.

To which are you referring? It is clear that Doctors don't get gun combat skills as default.

 

[mike wightman]

The exceptions prove the rule...

 

[BlackBat242]

Page 10, under Bow Combat, only Barbarians can gain skill in bows. All other characters are treated as unskilled.

etc.

This one I have always ignored.

See: every archery range, SCA group, bow-hunter*, etc.

And as for "taking a lifetime to get good" - that was partially true and partially a reflection of the type of bow used (English longbows, where much of the training is actually strength building, asian horsebows where much of the training is from horseback while moving, etc)'

See: Geena Davis (actress)... at the age of 41 she took up archery as a novice - 2 1/2 years later she had earned a spot in the 2000 US Olympic Trials (at one point ranked #13 in US women, and placed #24 of the 300 women at the 2000 US trials). OK, she started in 1997 by hooking up with the US archer who won 2 golds in the 96 Atlanta games, and was taught by his coach... but still!

* My father was a railroad policeman when he decided to pick up bowhunting in the late 1960s to complement his rifle hunting. He took at least one deer with a recurve bow (without being a barbarian at all).

 

[mike wightman]

Sure, we can learn archery more quickly these days with modern bows.

And some competition archers are pretty good.

Now have them stand as a counter flight of arrows is incoming, or a squadron of cavalry are bearing down, or men at arms are about to get up close and personal.

Ther is a big difference between a 'combat sport' and real combat. I apologise if you have been in a service and been in actual life or death engagements, but until we have actually been on the receiving end for real we have no idea how we will actually react despite all the practice, training and conditioning.