Skill cap?

[Ackehece]

So, if a situation develops where you need someone with an truly out of the ordinary skill level, that is not totally ruled out. What skill level in Engineering would you give Scotty on Star Trek, along with Carousing and Brawling Skills of a high level?

"The ScottyFactor is a factor you apply to your real initial time estimation of how long it will take to accomplish a task in order to give a figure to management.
The original source for this was in the movie Star Trek III, when Kirk asks "Mr. Scott. Have you always multiplied your repair estimates by a factor of four?" To which Scotty replies, "Certainly, Sir. How else can I keep my reputation as a miracle worker?"
In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Scotty is horrified to learn that Geordie has given accurate estimates to the captain. "How are ye going to get a reputation as a miracle worker?" he asks the somewhat confused Geordie.
When you apply this to your work, start with the number of hours you think it will actually take, and multiply by 4. Report this number to management, and then negotiate. Let them forcefully beat you into lowering the number, but only down to around 2 times your real estimate.
When you finish slightly ahead of time (always longer than your real initial estimate, rarely twice as long), everyone will be pleased."​

https://youtu.be/8xRqXYsksFg

https://youtu.be/t9SVhg6ZENw

 

[Ulsyus]

but T5 is not MT so that rule need not apply :coffeesip:

So there is no limit to the number of skills and skill levels a character can learn/develop/maintain in T5?

 

[The Pakkrat]

There is no limit to the number of skills, skill levels, knowledge a character can attain. The progress is very slow, on the rate of one level per game year. Knowledges of things like homeworld, Career, or other time-sensitive knowledge can degrade over time. What a character knows now can be passed up as technology plod onward and upward. Your Jump Drive Engineer from a TL 10 world can still be baffled by TL 16 jump drives.

With skills such as Athletics, physical Stats can be improved. With the Teacher skill, a character can learn an entirely new skill taught. It takes about the same time as normal Experience progression, but it works.

Things balance out.

 

[Ulsyus]

There is no limit to the number of skills, skill levels, knowledge a character can attain. The progress is very slow, on the rate of one level per game year. Knowledges of things like homeworld, Career, or other time-sensitive knowledge can degrade over time. What a character knows now can be passed up as technology plod onward and upward. Your Jump Drive Engineer from a TL 10 world can still be baffled by TL 16 jump drives.

With skills such as Athletics, physical Stats can be improved. With the Teacher skill, a character can learn an entirely new skill taught. It takes about the same time as normal Experience progression, but it works.

Things balance out.

So a character can pick up Fighter-1 Beams-2 (two knowledge specialisations and one generalisation) and though he may not pick up a laser weapon for years has no skill atrophy, but knowledge of the world he spent eight years, two terms, on will diminish at a rate of 1 level per four years?

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Yeppers.

So a character can pick up Fighter-1 Beams-2 (two knowledge specialisations and one generalisation) and though he may not pick up a laser weapon for years has no skill atrophy, but knowledge of the world he spent eight years, two terms, on will diminish at a rate of 1 level per four years?

Indeed. Laser weapons don't change much but world are living things that constantly change, hence the Grand Surveys and Census.

Also only Knowledges have caps last I checked.

 

[Ulsyus]

Indeed. Laser weapons don't change much but world are living things that constantly change, hence the Grand Surveys and Census.

Also only Knowledges have caps last I checked.

It's not the laser weapon that may change, but the individual's skill in using the thing.

My point with using those examples is that marksmanship is a skill which will degrade over time just as much as any other activity that is learnt but not practiced. I reckon that some particularly high levels of skill require constant practice to maintain, and would atrophy at a rate decreasing rate after the initially high level of skill was lost. It seems to me that this would apply to physical skills more than knowledges. All that said, it's been a long time since I had to apply that sort of consideration to a character.

 

[Ackehece]

It's not the laser weapon that may change, but the individual's skill in using the thing.

My point with using those examples is that marksmanship is a skill which will degrade over time just as much as any other activity that is learnt but not practiced. I reckon that some particularly high levels of skill require constant practice to maintain, and would atrophy at a rate decreasing rate after the initially high level of skill was lost. It seems to me that this would apply to physical skills more than knowledges. All that said, it's been a long time since I had to apply that sort of consideration to a character.

When was the last time you rode a bicycle. skills like that don't atrophy, the body does (and that is simulated during aging rolls)

as a wonderful example related to marksmanship :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVdqxkHd2RQ

 

[Tim Soholt]

Also only Knowledges have caps last I checked.

See the table bottom left on page 114 of T5.09. Skills are capped at 15.

 

[kilemall]

When was the last time you rode a bicycle. skills like that don't atrophy, the body does (and that is simulated during aging rolls)

as a wonderful example related to marksmanship :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVdqxkHd2RQ

This is a big reason why I am good with characteristic as base roll concept- skill and natural talent can make for a legendary ability, as age progresses the edge can wear off but skill can still make them surprisingly potent., and a raw talent can be good, but not as good as the skilled.

 

[robject]

It's not the laser weapon that may change, but the individual's skill in using the thing.

Yes. But it does include tech skills that "move with the times".

Aging effects do reflect this to a certain extent, but it's definitely not a simulation of skill degradation.

As a referee, I will and do impose a "lost your edge" disadvantage on a particular player's skill, if I think it's important to the game, and it could result in great fun, and the player is willing to run with it, but it's purely based on a judgement call. Any more intrusive rule I could think of would start to feel either like simulation or RuneQuest. T5 has enough content.

 

[Ulsyus]

T5 has enough content.

That's a very fair call.