Topic: Racial skills

[OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol]

I'm creating a Major Greater Spider NPC. Aside from the usual RM2 issues when working with "monster" races (which stat bonuses to give, how to match the creatures' stats --foremost OB and DB-- and its level, how to match its spellcasting abilities, etc.) that I was somehow able to solve (more or less…), I was wondering about which options are the best when it comes to racial skills. For instance, let's consider one has a winged or mermaid race. Obviously, any member of such races would know either the "flying/gliding" or the "swimming" skill to a correct level, regardless of his profession. How would you solve this issue?

I can see five possibilities:

• Give a fixed, low, cost. For instance, all members of the winged race have a 1/3 cost in "flying/gliding",
• Give a cost divider. For instance, "1/4" so a profession with a cost of 9 now has a cost of 3… but a profession with a cost of 1/2 still has a cost of 1/2,
• Give a skill bonus. For instance, all members of the race has a +20 bonus to "flying/gliding",
• Give a profession bonus. For instance, all members of the race has a special +3/lvl to "flying/gliding",
• Give a fixed number of ranks. For instance, all members of the race start with five ranks in "flying/gliding".

The counterpart to this question is what to do with skills in which said race is absolutely bad? The thing is then that the first three solutions have counterparts (high cost skill, cost multiplier and skill penalty) but the last two do not, at least not easily implementable ones (a negative skill bonus? Negative ranks?)

So, what would you do, or how did you actually manage it?

[OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol]

…that being said, even though I found solutions (because I had to!), any input from fellow GMs about how to solve the monster-to-NPC conversion issues are welcome. So, I'm creating a Major Great Spider (C&T) NPC, with the ability to shapeshift into a human being (well, she looks like one, at least, since her internal alchemy is hardly human…), giving her a full character sheet, with stats, a profession, skills, etc.
How would you go with it?

There are many (many!) issues.
First, the level. Since RM2 creatures' levels are absolutely not tied to either their OB, HPs or spellcasting abilities (some creatures have a low level, yet an absurdly high OB, some are the opposite, some know spell lists to a higher level than their own, some to a way lower level, not to mention weird PPs calculation sometimes above 3 PPs per level), it's very hard giving one an actual level when giving it a character's sheet.
Then, the profession. Because of the above, regardless of the profession you give a creature, many things are very wrong when you compare the result to the basic C&T creature. Too many or not enough HPs, PPs, spell lists, etc. Spell-using professions have it even worse with the basic C&T creature sometimes having spell lists from at the same time base spell lists (from several professions even!), open and closed lists from different realms!
At last, the stats. It's just a nightmare to give racial stat bonuses, even with the help of the RoCo. VI.

Anyway, so, I used the spider hengeyokai in the OC as a basis, and altered the bonus stats with the help of the RoCo VI, since in my opinion the spider hengeyokai are more based on the Greater Great Spiders rather than the Major ones. I also gave her a level lower than the basic C&T one, to compensate with the fact she'd, as a character with a true profession, actually have more spell lists. Etc.

How would you do, if you were in my position?

[Spectre771]

I can see five possibilities:

• Give a fixed, low, cost. For instance, all members of the winged race have a 1/3 cost in "flying/gliding",
• Give a cost divider. For instance, "1/4" so a profession with a cost of 9 now has a cost of 3… but a profession with a cost of 1/2 still has a cost of 1/2,
• Give a skill bonus. For instance, all members of the race has a +20 bonus to "flying/gliding",
• Give a profession bonus. For instance, all members of the race has a special +3/lvl to "flying/gliding",
• Give a fixed number of ranks. For instance, all members of the race start with five ranks in "flying/gliding".

The counterpart to this question is what to do with skills in which said race is absolutely bad? The thing is then that the first three solutions have counterparts (high cost skill, cost multiplier and skill penalty) but the last two do not, at least not easily implementable ones (a negative skill bonus? Negative ranks?)

1 - A cost of 1/2 is also feasible if it were something 'natural' to a species such flying for winged species or swimming for a mermaid species.  In RM2, the Leader Profession has 1/2/2 for Leadership.  Of course, there is always 1* or 2* cost representing the amount of time/dedication the character could devote to improving the skill.  In the past, when I tried to make a new profession, I tried to avoid the 1*, 2* costs, but that was profession based, not species based.  For a flying species, 1* or 2* seems more appropriate.

4 - For a skill that is a defining characteristic of the species, even a +3 is not that high of a representation of that ability.  The +20 from item 3 is far more beneficial as it would equate to nearly 7 levels of +3 bonus.

As you probably guessed, I'm a fan of the low cost skill.  It gives the decent flexibility at character creation.  I would definitely lean towards 1/2/2 or 1* for skill cost because it's intrinsic to the species.

[netbat]

Just out of curiosity, why would you treat a creature who can shape change into a human differently than a human shapechanging into a creature? I would assume that in such a case the only things the creature would need to develop skills for differently would be those things that are tied to the shape rather than the individual(the dragon may have to develop 1-H combat broadsword as a shape changed human but spell casting is the same either way.)

[OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol]

Just out of curiosity, why would you treat a creature who can shape change into a human differently than a human shapechanging into a creature?

Actually, I treat it the same. It's just that a creature not having much stats and no skills, there's little to do in the latter case compared to the former.
That being said, it's for a meta-level purpose: because my human-shaped Major Greater Spider  is to become a NPC who joins the PCs with them not knowing she's a Major Greater Spider. As such, her having a normal, NPC, character sheet (complete with an illustration, and all) that my players may see (but not read, obviously) and so that I can act exactly as if she were a normal human NPC, with a profession, stats, skills, equipment and everything would help maintaining the masquerade. Whist I do trust my players' experience not to meta, people are people and it's hard to completely roleplay the fact your character doesn't know a matter you as a person know. That, and accidents happen, so a player may accidentally read her "monster" sheet if she had one, or her "incomplete" NPC sheet if she didn't have one as "complete" as any other of my NPCs and wonder why, making him, even subconsciously,  more suspicious of any of her "abnormal" behaviours rather than dismissing them as part of her personality.
So the more I can pretend and act as if my human-shaped Major Greater Spider is an actual human being, the better!
Yes, before you ask, she's to become a major (pun not intended!) NPC, and a fundamental part of the PCs team (for the next years to come), so I'd like any suspicions they may hold toward her to be due to me roleplaying her, rather than any other hints. I mean, the Reveal is planned as part of the campaign and, depending how their respective relations evolve, she may become a major ally and factor to defeat the Final Boss… or THE Final Boss herself!

…that and I love creating NPCs, so any challenge is actually welcome!