[Torg] Improving Attributes in play: Edges

[Sam Frazier II]

>>> > Ah, well there would be an Advantage for that actually which 
>>> > allows you to learn things at a cheaper rate.

>> And a Disad for the poor audial learning. The one should offset the other.


Yep. The nice thing about Adv is that most of the time they can be negated to become Dis. Negated isn't the best verb, but you understand.

>> Read again. While my count is off (darn it, I'm having a lot of trouble
>> telling when a skill is bolded with that font - hey, wait, if I blow up the
>> PDF to 200%... - though I've got no idea where I got 21 from, my figures now
>> show 34) yours is far, far off. Note that only bold-face italic skills
>> cannot be used untrained, from that list. As I already pointed out, the
>> figure is higher for skills that are more difficult to use unskilled - the
>> bold-face non-italic skills.

*blink* ok my numbers are wrong too, Meh.

>> Really? So how many characters have you seen with both Ayslish magic and
>> Egyptian magic?

 
Actually I've never seen someone with Egyptian magic, though I have seen those with Ayslish Magic and Occult. Martial Arts and Unarmed, melee and Maneuver. I would chalk them up to the equivalent.

>> Then you may well have some characters who have gotten their skill adds
>> cheaper than they would under the standard rules. You'd have to add it up to
>> be sure.

>> > Actually the balance isn't in question.

>> Yes, it is - just not PC/NPC balance. It's the balance of one type of
>> character against another.

 
I've added the characters possibilities spent on skills 4 times in the past 3 years thanks to new characters entering the game (I like to make sure the new characters aren't under or over skilled), and it works just fine. The players who spend their possibilities like they are eating candy don't have as many possibilities spent into their skills. Those that use them less efficiently have more, but not as many as the one who knows exactly when to spend a possibility and why. Yes I have one Master (not Guru so KS Jim has nothing to fear *wink*) in my group. My novices learn much from way he plays.

Most of the characters are quite balanced. If you put them up against each other, it would largely depend on what cards they had in their hands or what die rolls occurred. 

> Faith and Focus: See Lava Storm, Earthquake, Banish 
> etc....Miracles are not all pre-post-support fight like 
> sooth, inspiration, bless, etc

>> Nor did I claim so. The purpose of Faith and Focus is to allow the character
>> to channel the power of his god into miraculous effects on Earth. The fact
>> that some of those effects are useful in combat is secondary. However, it
>> remains a fact.

*blink* I'm sorry but you stated rather clearly:

<clipped from Travis Message a few messages ago>
... I was referring to skills whose purpose is combat - melee weapons, unarmed
... combat, dodge, fire combat, that sort of thing. Faith, Focus, Reality and
... such are skills whose primary purpose is other than combat
<clip done>

I'm telling you Faith, Focus, Reality, Martial Arts, Magic, Psionics are such skills whose primary purpose is to produce an effect. How that effect is used....combat, non-combat is moot. If you don't believe so, fair enough. Difference of opinion. Their effects are not secondary as you claim. Their effects are the primary. The deity, mythral energies, mental power, Ki, etc are focused through the character. The effect, just like the effect of the gun, grenade, punch, are the primary purpose.

*shrug* 

If you disagree with that, well. We just disagree.


>> "Combat is the primary purpose of this skill" is not logically equivalent to
>> "this skill is my primary combat ability", too.

 
*blink* didn't think we were nitpicking this detailed. The purpose of a skill, for any reason, is to get the desired effect. So depending on the character those two statements could be equivalent. Ahh, the fun Star Wars "...certain point of view..." *shudder*

Honestly I agree with your statement those aren't logically equivalent, but I'm not going to pick apart each skill and categorize it between the two above statements. Skills (of all types) provide an opportunity for an effect (from whatever source) to occur. Combat, Interaction, Creation of SPX, etc. 

I'm curious, do you consider Intimidation, Trick, Test, etc to be combat skills?

SDF II