TNE chargen questions

[Fritz_Brown]

Sigg says I should just go ahead and start new topics for asking TNE questions, so here goes.

1) The stuff about skills in the Character Generation section says you get either the skill package for first term or 4 skills from the list. I didn't find a single career without a skill package (and most were 8 skill levels!). Does this jive for everybody else?

2) You are only allowed to take as many skill levels as designated in the skills package, right? But, you could take all your, say Special, skill ranks in one skill, right?

3) This generation seems a lot more benevolent than either CT or MT. Is that true?

4) Has anybody else noticed that the random homeworld generation makes for an awful lot of "Small" size worlds?

5) How stupid is rolling over your attributes for age checks? So, Ahhhnold is more likely to lose attribute points than me, a couch potato? And, a >1G homeworld hurts your CON?

6) Is every skill in a &^%#%! cluster?

7) Where did Leader and Recon go?

That ought to get things going....

 

[Zparkz]

1) I think you have it a bit mixed up. In the first term in a career you get the first term skill package. After that you get the number of skill points according to the "CFonsolidated effects of age table" on page 32.

2) Yepp.

3) Yepp.

4) Yepp.

5) I found that quite strange too. And an old fart with low stats can live on forever. I prefer to use the aging-rolls from CT/MT
You can find a version of them on my Traveller webpage (link below).

6) Almost. A few is cascade.

7) They are now Leadership and Observation

 

[ChaserCaffey]

1. As previously noted, you only get the starting skill package in a career once. After that, you pick from the Subsequent Term skills and receive a number of ranks determined by what term you're in. As I recall, there aren't any limits on how many ranks you can put into one skill on second and later terms.

2. Yep. Subsequent terms basically mean less ranks to invest, but more flexibility in how they can be allocated. Ditto for promotion and special skills.

3. Yep. As I recall, the worst thing that can happen to you is having to spend a term in a non-combat career due to an injury or ending up a prisoner. There's no death during chargen, which can be a bug if you like CT/MT but I tend to regard as a feature.

4. Dunno, haven't played with those a lot.

5. I believe the logic is that if you have an exceptional stat, that represents your character at his physical peak, which is easier to use. Put another way, if you're a couch potato, chances are you won't start getting significantly weaker until you hit real old age- in your 60s or 70s. Ahhhnold, on the other hand, is going to start coming down from his peak as soon as he can no longer spend 12-hour days in the gym, and will start losing the peak of his strength earlier- as in 30s or 40s.

And yeah, the loss of CON on heavy worlds seemed a bit wacky to me. Perhaps the designers thought that human systems might have trouble adapting to these environments, and would end up being more vulnerable to things like cardiac disease and muscle strain?

6. Yep. I think the goal was flexibility, although some of the cluster groupings seem uneven.

7. See above.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

1) I didn't make myself clear, I guess. What I mean was that the rules say that you might get a list (like the "Subsequent Term" lists) of skills that you can take 4 ranks in for an initial term. (Why there's a 4 there in the little table showing skill ranks per term.) But, not a single career has that - they ALL have skill packages. That just seemed a little wierd to me.

2-7) Thanks.

8) Is there a munchkin career? One that a knowledgeable player can exploit? (Like one with significantly better 1st term skill package?) Or, a combo of careers that will do the same?

 

[Zparkz]

8) No, but with all the freedom given in the character generating system it is possible to buy just the skills you need to kill more effektively. But the distribution of possible skill points are more or less the same for all careers. A few careers gives two skill points per term in secondary activities. I rarely allow those to be taken in combat related skills. I prefer those to be taken in hobby-related or social skills.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

So, the munchkins' (does that only apply to killing? I thought it included pilots/rogues/etc.) best option is to jump from career to career, picking up first term skill packages? That makes them easy to spot, at least.

 

[Zparkz]

I probably put it to the extreme as munchins as I have experienced them are slandet towards killing opponents.

However,as I mentioned the freedom of skill selection in a given career can be exploited. For instance I have a player in my group who has just gone through university a few times and is a killer computer programmer and has the Admin/Legal skills at almost 20. He can spin red tape faster anyone else in the Spinward Marches. When it comes to gunhandling, the only safe place is out of range for enemies and friends alike.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

What show is that from, where they note that the safest place to stand is in front of the person handling the weapon?

(TY)

 

[Badbru]

Q1 I'd have to read it again but essentially every career has a "first term in this career" skill package which is usually quite generous yes. So you'd think constantly swapping careers would be a points maximising approach to chargen, however I'm sure there is something in the rules that penalises career swapping I just can't recall what it is offhand.

Q2 In terms of skill points in a specific skill I seem to recall many of the careers saying something along the lines of "no more than 3 points in any one skill". So for an education based skill package, ie points equall to your education, which, I'll use the average 7 for example, means two skills at level 3 and one at level one, or three skills at level 2 and one at level one, or seven at level one etc etc. Never one skill at level 7, not at my table anyway.

I can't recall if it's in the rules but I never had/allowed a skill level greater than the controlling attribute. Thus Zparks player with Admin/legal 20 would need Education 10 & Admin/legal 10 for an Admin legal asset of 20 at my table. Not a likely outcome though I'll stop short of saying impossible. How old is the char Zparks? Term 1 admin legal 3, term two, of his four points he uses another 3 for admin legal 3, term three he uses all three term points for three more admin legal levels? He must look like a CT char.

Q3 If more skills and no chargen deaths equates to more benevolent then yes.

Q4 Never used them. Allways prefer to know where the char is from precisely, as do my players.

Q5 Rarely have players play more than 3 term chars thus I don't think I've ever had a player reach an aging crisis so I've barely looked at that table either. Did you read it right? maybe it's roll over on that table thus higher stats being better = less chance to roll over. That would probably be my fix.

Q6 not quite.

Q7 Leadership and observation, though check Survival Margin as it has a seemingly very generous char conversion from CT/MT to TNE which might have something to say about the recon-stealth-observation relationship.

 

[Badbru]

Q8 I seem to recall term 1 Military academy, term 2 army or marines, term 3 Special ops/forces churns out something a munchkin might be happy with. But seriously, from memory, the Military academy bonuses seemed pretty good to me. To truly exploit it, do the above then go to Hiver Technical academy!

 

[Rupert Boleyn]

Originally posted by Fritz88:

5)And, a >1G homeworld hurts your CON?

Why not? You whole body has to work harder just sitting or walking. It's like being overweight right from birth.

 

[Rupert Boleyn]

Originally posted by Fritz88:
So, the munchkins' (does that only apply to killing? I thought it included pilots/rogues/etc.) best option is to jump from career to career, picking up first term skill packages? That makes them easy to spot, at least.

IIRC the 'end chargen, start play' dice roll had a penalty if you were planning to change your career in your next term. That means that most attempts at munchkin chargen end up mustering out a bit before the player intended. How sad.