If you are completely untrained in a skill you have a minus 3 on your roll. That moves your "must roll" number to 11+, assuming no characteristic modifiers. If you have level 0 in a skill, you get no modifier, which makes your "must roll" number 8+, a much easier roll. (41% vs 8%)
Skill rolls are ranked from "Easy" to "Formidable", which range from +6 to -6. Most example skill rolls range from Routine (+2) to Difficult (-2). Skill rolls are also ranked by how long it takes to make the check. You can make a roll harder or easier by taking less or more time to make the roll, with a DM or +/- per step up or down the scale. You can also do an "Aid other" via task chains, which add a DM based on the effect of each task in the chain to the next roll. This doesn't help as much as it should
MTU errata. Instead of it ranging from -3 to +2, the full effect of the roll is added to the next roll in the chain
Some skills have specialties. Taking a level in a skill with a specialty normally gives you level 0 with the other specialties in that skills.
The skill list:
- Admin
- Dealing with paper pushers, but not with legal issues
- Advocate
- Dealing with legal issues
- Animals
- A very broad skill, ranging from simple riding through Veterinary, with a side of farming
- Athletics
- This is a more important skill than it's name would reflect as one of it's specialites (co-ordination) is used for throwing weapons in combat
- Art
- This covers all creative arts, acting, dance, holography etc
- Astrogation
- Plotting jumps. Vital for ship based games. Jumps don't happen until you pass an Astrogation check
- Battle Dress
- This is one of the few skill you simple have to have to use something and is not rolled vs much in game.
- Broker
- Vital for traders.
- Carouse
- Yes, there is a skill for being a party animal
- Comms
- Aside for the obvious communications uses, it's also used for electronic warfare rolls
- Computers
- Using, programming and hacking computers
- Deception
- Lie, cheat and steal
- Diplomat
- Fun fact, it's harder to greet the Emperor than it is to negotiate a peace treaty
- Drive
- Ground based vehicles
- Engineer
- Space ship repair.
- Explosives
- Making things go bang with out hurting your self
- Flyer
- Aircraft and Grav vehicles
- Gambler
- Having this skill lets you add 1 to your cash mustering out rolls
- Gunner
- Spaceship weapons
- Gun Combat
- Rifles, pistols, lasers, that sort of thing
- Heavy Weapons
- Any thing bigger than a small arm, to include the PGMG/FGMP things
- Instigate
- Forensics etc.
- Jack of all trades
- A special skill. Each rank in it reduces your unskilled penalty by 1. Level 0 and more than 3 levels in the skill are useless. This skill can't be learned in game play and cost 5x normal cost if using the point by system. It's very powerful
- Language
- Speaking, reading and writing a language other than your native language
- Leadership
- Primary use is to increase initiative in combat
- Mechanic
- Fixing things that don't require the Engineer skill
- Medic
- Ranges from battle field first aid to surgery and long term care
- Melee
- Smacking people or monsters upside the head with various things.
- Persuade
- A more informal version of diplomacy
- Pilot
- Flying spaceships. Aircraft is covered by flyer
- Recon
- Seeing things that are either hidden or out of place
- Remote Operations
- Controlling drones, robots and the like
- Science
- This is divided into Physical, Life, Social and Space sciences, each of which has their own specializations
- Seafarer
- The water version of Drive
- Sensors
- Reading data from electronic sensor devices
- Steward
- The care and feeding of High and Middle passengers
- Streetwise
- Yo, keeping it real
- Survival
- Keeping it real in the woods
- Tactics
- Covers board games to major fleet battles
- Trade
- Knowing how to produce a good or service.This is the exception to the rule that if you have level 1 in a specialty you have level 0 in the other specialties.
- Vacc Suit
- Knowing how to wear a vacc suit
- Zero-G
- Knowing how to move in micro gravity and using a grav belt
Sounds as though they took a hard look at the Little Black Books (where the basic chance to hit in combat was an 8+) and extended that without the overhead of the task systems that bred in DGP material and infected later iterations of Traveller.
ReplyDeleteI still dislike the idea (which I think also dates back to the LBBs) that "untrained" is different from "level zero". I don't mind separating the two states, but I'd much rather make level 0 the untrained state, level 1 basic familiarisation or a rather ungenerous default, and level 2 some actual training...
Heh, I remember the FGMP-15. "You don't need to be in battle dress to fire it!" "Why... would I not be in battle dress?" Yeah, we were kind of munchkin in those days.
The programmer in me likes the "your level with the skill is your modifier with the skill" aspect of level 0 vs level 1 with a skill, but I can see where some on else might be a bit confused with or not liking the 'there being a difference between "no skill" and "0 levels with a skill"' system.
ReplyDeleteOn character sheets that don't have all the skills listed, I normally just have the write the skill name down when they have 0 levels in it, then add a +1 etc when they get ranks.