What Skills Go In the Skill Table?

[Nathan Brazil]

There are generally 6 skill tables in Cepheus and other versions of Traveller. They are

• Personal Development
• Service Skill
• Specialist
• Advanced Education (generally requires EDU 8+)
• Rank (sometimes)
• Material Benefits (sometimes)

What are the Definitions of these categories? In all these years I do not recall the first four categories being concretely defined. Implications based on the words and rules but not concrete definitions.

I am sometimes confounded by the categories and what constitutes going into a particular table.

In too many words:
Service Skills and skills found in Rank make sense.
Service Skills along with Basic Training represent what EVERY character in that career will at a minimum learn.
Skills given by achieving a Rank make sense. Characters advancing in a hierarchy sometimes have learned a few organization skills to keep maintain the hierarchy going. Military careers will lean towards Tactics and Leadership, maybe Admin and Liason. Civilian hierarchies toward Admin and Liason first, maybe Leadership or whatever your career does or SOC as an achievement of status or whatnot.

The other ones do not make as much sense to me.
Weapon Skills posssibly in Material Benefits the 2+ time I roll? Was I skeet shooting in my spare time? With my ACR?
What makes the cut between a Specialist and Advanced Education beside EDU 8+. I can understand overlaps between them and Service Skills. Why not mutually exclusive?
Personal Development: Is that what I do in my spare time? or only if it advances my career, albeit peripherally?

I am not looking to change the philosophy of the system. Just trying to understand it better.

 

[aramis]

There are generally 6 skill tables in Cepheus and other versions of Traveller. They are

Nope. Well, not in most.

Not 6. Well, not in all.

In CT & MT, it's 4 tables.
In TNE, T20, GT, GTIW, and HT, there's no random roll for skills.

In MGT, it's Personal Dev, Service, Adv Edu, and one per sub-career.

In T4, it's

1. Physical
2. Mental
3. Educational
4. Social
5. Career
6. Background

None has prerequisites

Each edition differs from the others EXCEPT CT1E/CT2E/MT - where it's

1. Personal Dev
2. Service
3. Advanced Education
4. Advanced Education 8+

MT converts a lot of skills to cascades to bring in additional skill options. Some feel that breaks it...
... I don't, but I know some who do.

Be careful with generalizations... when it comes to traveller, unless they're about jump, they're almost always flat out wrong for some edition or another.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

Fair enough. This is Cepheus Engine so let's narrow it down then. My question remains unanswered.

What are the Definitions of these categories?

• Personal Development
• Service Skill
• Specialist
• Advanced Education (generally requires EDU 8+)
• Rank (sometimes)
• Material Benefits (sometimes)

What I am trying to get at is this as an example: From a game mechanics rules standpoint, it makes no difference once in play whether my Marine received Tactics-1 from becoming a Major off the Rank table or rolling enough times on Advanced Education. But from a character's history/backstory (and chargen) it will take 2 terms/rolls minimum in Advanced Education or 3 terms minimum to become a Major to get your Tactics-1. And if your EDU is less than 8 your only option is make it to rank 3. So skill/benefit placement on the tables and what the categories mean is important.

 

[mike wightman]

Opening up 77 CT LBB1 I find on page 23 a table of rank and service skills, and on page 9 mustering out table 1 includes skill acquisition potential.

So yes, there are 6 tables that involve skills in CT, five of which you can roll on.

It's the same for MT...

In 77 CT the breakdown is:

Personal development - characteristic alteration and basic combat and social interaction skills (brawling, gun combat, blade combat and bribery appear).
Service skills - appear to be everyday skills used in a career
Advanced Education - specialist skills used in a career
AE 8+ - specialist skills requiring a high level of education
Mustering out table 1 - gun combat and blade combat can be picked up
Rank skills - social, weapon or pilot.

I have house rules that expand mustering out skill potential (multiple receipt of Traveller's or a ship may me taken as +1 in any available skill instead), and vehicle ownership (and potential skill).