Skill Level Question...

[TheDude2371]

Okay, I'm not sure if this has been asked before, and I could be reading a lot of this wrong, I'll cop to that if I am...

 

I've been going through the racial and occupation packages in Fantasy Hero, and I've come across something concerning added Skill Levels for certain skills with modifiers.

Example, from the Dwarf package, Knowledge of Stone:

+3 to Concealment, Only to Detect Hidden/Concealed/Cunning Stonework (-1).

This addition also has a KS skill, and costs 5 points. Taking away the KS leaves 3 points.

Since the lowest level of Skill Levels you can buy and put a limitation on it is the 3-point level, shouldn't this have a base cost of 9 and a real cost of 4 or 5 (depending on how you would round it), and therefore have it cost 6 or 7 points for the addition and not 5 points? Seems to me like it's being purchased at the 2-point level, and getting modified, which goes against what the FReD states.

 

Am I reading something wrong, or is there a goof in the maths somewhere?

 

Thanks.

[Steve Long]

Those aren't Skill Levels. Those are simple bonuses to the Skill bought as part of the Skill, which the rules don't forbid you to place Limitations on. The text on, for example, 5E 26 distinguishes between the two conceptually.

 

The problem is two-fold. First, there's not much point in describing the 2-point Skill Level as applying to Characteristic-Based (and like) Skills in general. They already have their own way of buying up the roll that costs the same. It would make more sense to describe the 2-point SL as applying just to Characteristic Rolls and the like.

 

Second, the general rules about what types of (Combat) Skill Levels characters can apply Limitations to need to be expanded and detailed further. There's often a point at which it's cheaper to buy un-Limited Levels. That not only doesn't seem common-sensical, it's not conducive to proper character creation -- rather than comply with a character concept that involves expensive but Limited Levels (which cost X), the player buys cheaper but un-Limited Levels (which cost something less than X) because they're less expensive and he gets more use out of them (because they're not Limited)!

 

For example, suppose a character wants to buy +4 OCV with his XJ-12 Laser Rifle, defined as a scope (OAF). That costs (20/2=) 10 points. But if he just bought it as four 2-point CSLs, it only costs him 8 points. He saves 2 points, and no one can take his CSLs away from him! I'm the first guy to say, "go with your concept, not with what saves points," but there comes a time when that just doesn't make sense.

 

Obviously there need to be some rules on the subject of Limiting Levels to preserve game balance. Unrestricted Limiting of (Combat) Skill Levels would throw many games out of whack. But some common sense, dramatic sense, and GM's judgment need to be applied.

 

This is a subject I definitely plan to address at some length in The Ultimate Skill (in fact, I already have in some draft material I've written, which I may turn into a DH column). Another possibility, which I've discussed in TUV and FH, includes letting a character buy lower-cost SLs and treat them as if they were Limited without actually applying any Limitations to them (though that would probably be a confusing thing to do in a published book).