How Do You Handle Skill Specializations?

[Eduardo]

How do you handle skill specializations in TNE and T5?

Somebody with History-6 can have 3 specialties in that field, 1 for every 2 levels in History. Would they be handled as cascade skills with a -1 DM and thus increase every time your History level goes up, or would they just be at level 2 for each specialization and have to be increased seperately? Can specializations be at higher levels than the main stat?

For instance, say you have reached History-2, and decide you wanted to specialize in the 2nd Imperium. Would you still be at general History-2, with the 2nd Imperium at a DM-1, or would you have to wait until you get your 3rd point and use that for the 2nd Imperium; then be at skill 2 for the general and 1 for the 2nd Imperium, or, would you be at History-3, with a DM -1, for a 2 level in the 2nd Imperium?

Does this make any sense? LOL ...

 

[aramis]

Make sense? yes, save that there is No "T5" in any real sense yet.

TNE used Level/2 not level-1 for cascades.
Specialty was picked at reciept; outside that specialty was half-level. Additional levels could be spent either in new specialty (which is then separated) or on raising extant specialty.

 

[Eduardo]

Originally posted by Aramis:
Make sense? yes, save that there is No "T5" in any real sense yet.

TNE used Level/2 not level-1 for cascades.
Specialty was picked at reciept; outside that specialty was half-level. Additional levels could be spent either in new specialty (which is then separated) or on raising extant specialty.

Meh, my example wasn't very clear, now that I read it another day. The -1DM was supposed to be half of 2.

Anyway, I was fiddling with the way TNE handled Linguistics as a cascade. But, I haven't worked that out quite good enough. I like the legal specialties over on Freelance Traveller as well, so I'm working on specializations system for those, too.

Anyways, so, you have history 4, and one specialization for that, so, General history-2 and Art History 2, with the general history of 2 divided by 2, for a +1 bonus to art history, or, no bonus at all for the general, just treat them as seperate skills of 2 each?

Or, just have a history-4, with art history at 4 divided by 2, for a skill of 2, or two seperate history specializations at 2, or two specializations at 1, from dividing half the main history-4 by the number of specializations, and using these as a bonus to the history roll, and a minus for rolls out of the fields of the specializations?

Just rambling here, I won't get time to mess with it till this weekend, anyway. But, any ideas along these lines would be helpful. The latter uses up less skill points than treating them all as separate skills.

Actually, shifting the difficulty level in or out is also an option that can be used for gaming a specialization, rather than screwing with dice roll and asset mods, now that I think about it.

 

[aramis]

How I'd do it:

4 levels gained:
any of the following would work
History 4 = Art History 4, all others at 2
History 4 = Art History 3, Boston History 2 (1+default), rest at 1
History 4 = Art Hist 2, Bost. Hist 2, Chicago Hist 2, rest at 1
History 4 = Art Hist 1, Bost. Hist 1, Chico. Hist 1, Delaware Hist 1, rest at 0.

Under MT, I have allowed specialized skills to be taken, for double value in tasks in field.
FooSpec serves as foo 0