Topic: What would you say are the most essential skills?

[Tolen]

This is sort of an informal poll.  I'm working on something, and I was wondering what the group at large thinks are the most needed skills a 1st level pc needs ranks in. 

What makes a character survivable, playable and competent?

In this case, profession matters not.  I'm assuming of course Body Development and Power Point Development are high on that list, plus spell lists for magic users.  What else?

Edit: Of course, weapon skills rank up there as well...

[markc]

 IMHO it very's a lot depending on the profession. Also it is important to have various types of professions in a party each having access to skills that are cheep to buy with DP.
 I think each profession has its ares to shine and at lower levels they need to focus on these areas.


MDC

[ironmaul]

"Stunned Maneuvering" for any character that's in the front line of battle.

[rdanhenry]

First Aid is good if you plan on looking for trouble. Maybe some awareness skills so you can find it before it finds you. Actually, just about any type of campaign will reward awareness skills, although which ones are better will vary. Somebody in the group really ought to have some Influence skills, even if it's pure dungeon crawls. If you're doing political or urban campaigning, they become even more vital. Stealth is widely useful. Stalking and Hiding do the job, although for some spells may be preferable. Someone should have Attunement and someone should be able to Read Runes unless it is a low magic setting (maybe even then). Some craft or technical skill that allows an honest living is good, if only so you can back up your facade as a decent, hard-working soul. Riding or driving if you intend to travel may be important. Languages: the PCs should all share a common language and some competence in the group with all the tongues of the region would be helpful. Climbing. Swimming. Lores - which ones depends on the campaign, but it is always better to know what you are dealing with than to be without a clue. Outdoor environmental skills if you are going to be in the wilderness. Weather-watching or spell-based substitute is useful even in a rural setting.

Ideally, for the best mix of skills and spells, the characters in the group will be created together, and the players will know what kind of campaign is coming. If they all min-max for combat and enter an investigative-political scenario, they'll be in trouble. Same if they prepare for wilderness survival and criminal investigation, only to enter a series of dungeon crawls. Profession does matter. The campaign matters. What other characters in your group have matters. In a dungeon, you don't need everyone to be good at disarming traps. But you sure want to have somebody who is.

[DangerMan]

IMO the "Adventurer" training package in SR gives ranks in what might be considered the most basic skills needed. BD, weapon, swimming, climbing, first aid, attunement, observation and alertness.

When designing a character I think in terms of abilities which the character should cover in some way:

- movement (climbing, sprinting, swimming flying, long door etc)
- perception (observation, alterness, various spells)
- combat (weapons or magic)
- sort of speciality, which makes him/her stand out from the crowd (healing, knowledge, influence, subterfuge, divination etc)
- and lastly; "flavour". This could be anything not neccessarily directly "useful" which gives the character some depth, e.g. an instrument or a craft.

[Tolen]

Thanks, Guys.  I'm looking for a set of 'baseline' skills.  A set that most characters take, regardless of profession, plus of course what specific professions might take to round them out.

Also, I wasn't looking so much for "should take", as much as "I usually take".  I suppose I could have been more clear about that.

So right now, I'm looking at:
Climbing, Swimming, Alertness, Perception. 
Weapons and Armor for fighter types, Power Points and spells for casters
Stalk/Hide, pick locks and traps for rogue types.

I completely forgot First Aid.  Thanks, rdanhenry.

What I'm trying to cobble together is a training package of sorts, a kind of 'default' package that covers most of the basics with a small number of discretionary picks to round out the character.  So if most PC's end up with alertness, Climbing and Swimming, they'd then get a few points to buy spells or pick locks, depending on the profession they are going into.  This is to make it easier for new players to build a character.

[yammahoper]

Perception.
Body Dev.
PP Dev.
Stalk
Hide
Influence.
Lores.
Spell List.
Weapons.
Directed Spells
Climbing
Mnv in Armor
Swimming
Languages
Craft
Attunement
Spell mastery
Ambush
Martial Arts
Riding
Mounted Combat
First Aid
Second Aid
Surgery
Disarm Trap
Pick Lock
Tracking

These skills depend on profession of course, but are the most trained in my experience.

[markc]

 I am glad Yammahapper said martial arts as many PC's forget about hand to hand combat and think they can always just use their weapons.


MDC

[Tolen]

That's quite a list there.  Anyone else?

[MariusH]

I'd say it definitely depends on profession - and also who you have in your group! Climbing may be very important - but if you have a mage with Lofty Bridge, it's not THAT important. For mages, I think generally spells are more important than most skills.

However, there is one skill that always gets back to you: Observation. And possibly alertness. Or perception, if you use that system. There's a lot to discover out there, and with a low observation skill, you'll only notice a small part of it. Nothing ruins a game session like getting to a site and discovering nothing special, despite the GM have planned this great plot - if only you had discovered that little thing in the corner over there. I'd say these percepion skills is probably on the top of my list, almost independently of profession. Other than that, it's extremely profession-dependent.

Oh, one more thing: If you don't have a healer, "use/prepare herbs" is very neat. It's expensive, though, and you really only need one person in the group to have it, so everyone will probably want someone else to pick it :-)

[Cory Magel]

My must have list...

Always...
Body Dev and Power Point Dev of course
Alertness
Observation
Riding
First Aid

Usually...
Streetwise
Tumbling
Hiding
Stalking
Duping

[naphta23]

I have to admit, I am totally flabbergasted. 

In those campaigns I took part in, it was pretty essential to constantly hone Distance Running and Sprinting - as far as I have read, those two skills were not mentioned.

On the one hand, it was really helpful for maneuverability in mosts situations, on the other hand there was most of the times the option to run away.

Are you playing without those two skills, are you using houserules or have I been doing something wrong. 

[rdanhenry]

Sprinting is an excellent choice, if you've got the sense to run away.

[Cory Magel]

Sprinting is an excellent choice, if you've got the sense to run away.

We rarely had the sense to run away.  But when we did, we used horses.

[naphta23]

Horses have the tendency to die horribly. We have been playing quite different from the typical Western movies, where nobody aimed for the horses.

Charging enemy forces are quite a nuisance and their ability to change their position quickly is a royal pain in the lower back. Unfortunately, this tactic is not a one-way.

[yammahoper]

Without a skill, running uses Ag mod x3 in RMFRP.  Since these mnvs are typically routine or light, not much more is needed (a mid result of 40 something is 100% on the routine column).

[Cory Magel]

Also, if you plan to actually run, sprint, dash, etc and you are using exhaustion points... good luck running more than a few blocks. lol

[yammahoper]

Also, if you plan to actually run, sprint, dash, etc and you are using exhaustion points... good luck running more than a few blocks. lol

This is an interesting point.

I have ran games were we kept painstaking track of exhaustion pts.  We found that allowing a "buffer" of Co mod (Co mod x3 now) in effective ext pts being used before subtracting them made for far greater durability.  Unfortuanately, its also complicated.

Still, any fast run or slower mnv can be dome for quite a ways.  Dash is dead meat in three rounds, usually two.

[markc]

 Is it in SoHK that there are rules for ignoring or 1/2ing ExP for successful Sprint or Long Distance run maneuver.
MDC

[naphta23]

Without a skill, running uses Ag mod x3 in RMFRP.  Since these mnvs are typically routine or light, not much more is needed (a mid result of 40 something is 100% on the routine column).

Good point, I have not thought of that.

On the other hand, that does not factor in any armor penalty, weight penalty or an enemy with some skill in athletics. Each and all of those three points can wreck a character's day in my experience.

We ignore ExP fractions lower than 1/2, which speeds up gameplay and is not too harsh, in my opinion. I would not dream of keeping a record measured in 1/60  ExP.