Author Topic: Similar Skills Questions  (Read 727 times)

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Offline Elrich Maltah

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Similar Skills Questions
« on: June 26, 2022, 11:17:33 PM »
The options for similar skills in RMC2 definitely added to the potential complexity of running characters in RM2, even though they did try to simplify it as much as possible with fractional conversions for various categories of skills. However, there are a couple question marks that remain for me that I haven't been able to figure out.

The first is the third page of Similar Skills Table 11.3 on p.112 of RMC2. There's a note that was cut off during typesetting that reads: "* These skills must be judged as being 'Similar' by the GM on a per case basis, due to the ...."

The skills that were marked with an asterisk on that page include Camouflage, Directed Spells, Magical Languages, Magic Ritual, Spell Mastery, Transcend Armor, and Crafting.

I haven't been able to determine what those skills have in common that would reveal a potential ending to the sentence that was cut off. Do you suppose it had something to do with the skills' different specializations, somehow?

Also, in RMC6 p. 113, there is Table 12.2 that gives an expanded list of similar skills, but this time lists direct bonuses given for having a specific skill in a similarity pairing. The problem is that the list, as read literally, seems to indicate that a negative bonus is earned.

For example, having Anthropology gives a -40 to Appraisal (specified by culture), and having Channeling and Magical Rituals give a -20 to each other. Is it correct that the similarity bonus would be negative, or was it another typesetting error, meaning the hyphen was not meant to be a minus sign, but rather indicated a type of column separator? Keep in mind that Athletic Games is listed as giving a -40 bonus to Body Development, but there is a specific note that says "Bonus gained is a percentage bonus to currently developed hits." To me, this means that it would be "Hits x 1.40", clearly making it a positive bonus "gained" despite the presence of a negative sign.

This type of skill relationship seems to have been abandoned for later editions of RM, so I don't have any other direct material to compare it to for hints. Any thoughts about this?

Offline Hurin

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Re: Similar Skills Questions
« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2022, 09:58:02 PM »

I haven't been able to determine what those skills have in common that would reveal a potential ending to the sentence that was cut off. Do you suppose it had something to do with the skills' different specializations, somehow?

Yes, I think it is that each skill has a specialization, so you have to take each specialization on a case-by-case basis rather than applying similarity to each wider skill within the category.

Quote
Also, in RMC6 p. 113, there is Table 12.2 that gives an expanded list of similar skills, but this time lists direct bonuses given for having a specific skill in a similarity pairing. The problem is that the list, as read literally, seems to indicate that a negative bonus is earned.

For example, having Anthropology gives a -40 to Appraisal (specified by culture), and having Channeling and Magical Rituals give a -20 to each other. Is it correct that the similarity bonus would be negative, or was it another typesetting error, meaning the hyphen was not meant to be a minus sign, but rather indicated a type of column separator? Keep in mind that Athletic Games is listed as giving a -40 bonus to Body Development, but there is a specific note that says "Bonus gained is a percentage bonus to currently developed hits." To me, this means that it would be "Hits x 1.40", clearly making it a positive bonus "gained" despite the presence of a negative sign.

This type of skill relationship seems to have been abandoned for later editions of RM, so I don't have any other direct material to compare it to for hints. Any thoughts about this?

This is explained on p. 86, as part of the Universal Skill System. In this system, the actual bonus for any given skill is the higher of:
--The skill bonus of the specific skill
--The skill bonus of the similar skill with the corresponding penalty.

The example given is of someone who has +60 in Woodcraft and +5 in Appraisal (Wood). Since these skills are similar, the character's bonus in Appraisal is now +40 rather than +5. Appraisal is similar enough to Woodcraft that you can use your skill bonus in Woodcraft -20 as your Appraisal (Wood) skill bonus.

That further illustrates the point above of course, too. You couldn't for example use Metalcraft to gain the same similar skill bonus in appraising wood. You have to assess the similarity of each specialization on a case-by-case basis.
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Offline Elrich Maltah

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Re: Similar Skills Questions
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2022, 02:56:16 PM »
Thanks for catching that section. I had missed it completely.  :-[

The more relevant note for me there is just below that, since I'm not currently worried about the USS: "Please note that this use of fixed modifications differs substantially from the system of similar skill ranks from RMCII 4.1. Such modifications are more appropriate for the Unified Skill System."