Shimmin Beg

Last year, I started having a look at skills, aiming to think about setting defaults based on stats, rather than the arbitrary numbers we normally use. In that post, the furthest I got was listing the distributions of base skill levels, and setting up some loose categories for skills based on how reliant they are on training versus innate ability. I stopped mainly due to space reasons, because now we get some massive tables.

As a reminder, I'm testing defaults based on four skill categories with their own multipliers:
* Common: x3
* Professional: x1
* Esoteric: /2
* Specialist: /10

At the moment, my calculations look like this (I’ve gone with an average of 14 EDU to allow for the fairly common age adjustments):

Skill	Default	Type	Multiplier	Requirement	Base stat	Stat average	Stat-based average	Min	Max
Accounting	10	Professional	1	Reasoning	INT	13	13	8	18
Anthropology	1	Specialist	0.1	Study	EDU	14	1	1	2
Archaeology	1	Specialist	0.1	Study	EDU	14	1	1	2
Art	5	Esoteric	0.5	Hand-eye coordination	DEX	10	5	2	9
Astronomy	1	Specialist	0.1	Study	EDU	14	1	1	2
Bargain	5	Esoteric	0.5	Personality	APP	10	5	2	9
Biology	1	Specialist	0.1	Study	EDU	14	1	1	2
Chemistry	1	Specialist	0.1	Study	EDU	14	1	1	2
Climb	40	Common	3	Muscle	STR	10	30	9	54
Conceal	15	Professional	1	Reasoning	INT	13	13	8	18
Craft	5	Esoteric	0.5	Dexterity	DEX	10	5	2	9
Credit Rating	15	Professional	1	Personality	APP	10	10	3	18
Cthulhu Mythos	0	Arcane	N/A	Mythos exposure	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Disguise	1	Specialist	0.1	Personality	APP	10	1	0	2
Dodge	20	Common	3	Dexterity	DEX	10	30	9	54
Drive	20	Common	3	Dexterity	DEX	10	30	9	54
Electrical Repair	10	Professional	1	Reasoning	INT	13	13	8	18
Fast Talk	5	Esoteric	0.5	Personality	APP	10	5	2	9
First Aid	30	Common	3	Composure	POW	10	30	9	54
Fist/Punch	50	Common	3	Dexterity	DEX	10	30	9	54
Geology	1	Specialist	0.1	Study	EDU	14	1	1	2
Grapple	25	Common	3	Muscle	STR	10	30	9	54
Handgun	25	Professional	1	Hand-eye coordination	DEX	10	10	3	18
Headbutt	10	Professional	1	Muscle	STR	10	10	3	18
Hide	10	Professional	1	Bulk	SIZ	13	13	6	18
History	20	Common	3	Study	EDU	14	42	18	63
Jump	25	Common	3	Muscle	STR	10	30	9	54
Kick	25	Common	3	Dexterity	DEX	10	30	9	54
Law	5	Esoteric	0.5	Study	EDU	14	7	3	11
Library Use	25	Common	3	Reasoning	INT	13	39	24	54
Listen	25	Common	3	Observation	INT	13	39	24	54
Locksmith	1	Specialist	0.1	Dexterity	DEX	10	1	0	2
Machine Gun	15	Professional	1	Hand-eye coordination	DEX	10	10	3	18
Martial Arts	1	Specialist	0.1	Dexterity	DEX	10	1	0	2
Mechanical Repair	20	Common	3	Dexterity	DEX	10	30	9	54
Medicine	5	Esoteric	0.5	Study	EDU	14	7	3	11
Natural History	10	Professional	1	Study	EDU	14	14	6	21
Navigate	10	Professional	1	Observation	INT	13	13	8	18
Occult	5	Esoteric	0.5	Study	EDU	14	7	3	11
OHM	1	Specialist	0.1	Reasoning	INT	13	1	1	2
Other Language	1	Specialist	0.1	Reasoning	INT	13	1	1	2
Own Language	65			Study	EDU	14	0	0	0
Persuade	15	Professional	1	Reasoning	INT	13	13	8	18
Pharmacy	1	Specialist	0.1	Study	EDU	14	1	1	2
Photography	10	Professional	1	Study	EDU	14	14	6	21
Physics	1	Specialist	0.1	Study	EDU	14	1	1	2
Pilot	1	Specialist	0.1	Reasoning	INT	13	1	1	2
Psychoanalysis	1	Specialist	0.1	Study	EDU	14	1	1	2
Psychology	5	Esoteric	0.5	Observation	INT	13	7	4	9
Ride	5	Esoteric	0.5	Dexterity	DEX	10	5	2	9
Rifle	25	Professional	1	Hand-eye coordination	DEX	10	10	3	18
Shotgun	30	Professional	1	Hand-eye coordination	DEX	10	10	3	18
SMG	15	Professional	1	Hand-eye coordination	DEX	10	10	3	18
Sneak	10	Professional	1	Dexterity	DEX	10	10	3	18
Spot Hidden	25	Common	3	Observation	INT	13	39	24	54
Swim	25	Common	3	Muscle	CON	10	30	9	54
Throw	25	Common	3	Dexterity	DEX	10	30	9	54
Track	10	Professional	1	Observation	INT	13	13	8	18

Okay. Firstly, given that human stats range from 3-18, stat-dependent Esoteric and Specialist skills are basically redundant. With rounding up, we might end up with the odd 2% in Astronomy, but honestly I’m not convinced it’s worth the hassle. I think we might as well go with Esoteric and Specialist skills staying at 5% and 1% respectively, and just have the others stat-based. Although, I suppose 4-9% for Esoteric skills is a significant range...

Secondly, Own Language at the very least is still an issue, because it’s such a spectacular outlier.

Let’s have a look at the differences between the two generation methods.

In terms of stat-selection:
* POW has ended up as the base for a single skill, First Aid. I decided that ability to act calmly and rationally was the main factor here, as a lot of first aid is pretty self-evident or common knowledge, and POW's the best stat I could find for composure.
* Most skills are based off either EDU or INT, since they’re either a matter of learning facts and methods, of problem-solving, or of deducing from observation. There’s no stat that really deals with observation or awareness.
* I ended up lumping in hand-eye coordination, awareness of body, and manual dexterity as all DEX-based
* Swim alone is based on CON. I decided that in general, this skill is more about endurance and physical fitness than ability to exert force, unlike Jump and Climb, though I'm open to persuasion.
* Hide alone is based on SIZ. Classically stealthy skills seem to use Dexy stats, but given how specific the Hide skill is, I think “how easy are you to conceal” is the major issue. There’s plenty of potential to have SIZ play into stats, but I don’t see it as a good default determiner of anything except Hide.
* Most of the EDU- and INT-based skills are those associated with high-EDU or high-INT characters, who typically have the points to buy them as well as the inclination. One possible complication is that this will give such characters a bigger advantage than usual: not only do they have the same large number of points to spend, but their costlier skills have a higher base value.
* On the other hand, characters with their higher values in other stats should also see some benefit, because with higher base values in (say) DEX-based skills, their small pool of points should stretch further. APP increases in value by its contribution to Fast Talk and Credit Rating.
* On the downside, DEX gains additional prominence as a useful stat, while STR and particularly CON remain relatively weak. I really can’t see any case for setting anything else to CON or SIZ, except a remote shot at Grapple.

Out of space again! So I'll save my analysis of the changes to skills for next time. As always, comments and feedback are very welcome.