Lucius

Re: Jokes
 

Source

Open Mic Night at the Acroplis...
 
But seriously, folks...Did you hear about the British empiricist who told his wife she was nothing but a collection of sense data?
 
"Oh yeah?" she said. "How do you think it feels going to bed every night with a man who's got no ding an sich?"
 
I'm not kidding, I was married for ten years before I realized that my wife was all existence and no essence. I mean her esse really was percipi.
 
What'sa matter, folks? It's so quiet in here, you could hear a tree fall in the forest...even if you weren't there! Schopenhauer said there would be nights like this.
 
Kids today, huh? The other day my son asked me for the keys to the car, and I said, "Son, in the best of all possible worlds you'd have your own car."
 
And he said, "But, Pop, this isn't the best of all possible worlds."
 
And I said, "So go live with your mother!"
 
By the way, a funny thing happened on my way over here tonight: I stepped in the same river...twice!
 
Hey, the other day Plato and a platypus walk into a bar. Te bartender gave the philosopher a quizzical look, and Plato said, "What can I say? She looked better in the cave."

Lethe: There is no such thing as excess food. There are only leftovers.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
refrigerating a palindromedary

Re: Musings on Random Musings
 
was that the article aobut using chicken offal and such?
 
Pretty interesting, but I can't remember whether it was really efficient in terms of energy used. Still it has a lot of potential.
 
Now if I could talk the paper companies into being responsible and using
a) all the damned branches and such that are left after logging
and
Papyrus reeds which could be harvested a couple times a year in south and central america, and leftovers could probably be used for other biomass situations
 
and get some more support for using wheat straw to make strawboard, which is kind of like a high density particle board made out of what is now waste...
 
 
 

From a Call of Cthulhu game:
 
"Of course there's something fishy about her. There's an Innsmouth connection."
 
Next session:
 
"We thought she was fishy, but she turned out to be a red herring."
 
Lucius Alexander
 
The palindromedary notes that the smitten girl in question was a well-read herring

From a Call of Cthulhu game:
 
"Of course there's something fishy about her. There's an Innsmouth connection."
 
Next session:
 
"We thought she was fishy, but she turned out to be a red herring."
 
Lucius Alexander
 
The palindromedary notes that the smitten girl in question was a well-read herring

Re: Create a Villain Theme Team!
 
Call me Nightwolf. Hear me howl.
 
Like the new costume? As bullet resistant as the old, and flat black now with a wolf-mask.
 
Black gun too. And look at the caliber on it. Shoots mini-grenades the size of eggs. Some explode into strong gluey nets, some explode into gas or obscuring smoke, some just explode.
 
And I can fly! Nightwolf can fly!
 
But Nightwolf is for a limited time only. People will wonder where the old me went. They'll wonder what scheme or plot took me into hiding for so long. They'll eventually be clamoring for the return of the most charismatic villain ever to show up a swell-headed so called hero or commit crimes of such outrageous daring as to astound the world. Then I'll make my comeback.
 
It's all part of my Master Plan.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
The palindromeday says hush, don't tell who it really is - that might spoil the Plan

Why are some line breaks preserved and some obliterated?
 
Lucius Alexander
 
Is this the palindromedary's fault somehow?

Haiku, General and Specific
 
Zeropoint -
 
Regarding your comments about haiku generally, I present two haiku I wrote for the old boards.
 
Quatrains with rhyme schemes
Stumble awkwardly, words forced;
Haiku flows freely
 
Haiku flows freely
Just enough discipline there
To make elegance
 
 
As far as using haiku to comic effect, if I am not mistaken that is part of its heritage - one of the earlier Japanese forms haiku evolved from was often used for comic poetry, or so I have been told. Also, note that even a comic poem can have something serious to say, as in this one I wrote about the Hero System that is dense with wordplay but does - pardon the expression - make a point.
 
One must count points, else
Pointless the rules, but know that
Points are not the Point
 
 
As for the haiku under discussion
 
My small son's first step
Above the swept hearth is hung
A warrior's sword
 
It is astute of you to suspect that it is not as clear and straightforward as one would at first suppose. It is both clear and opaque - that is, it speaks clearly to many people, but what it says to each tells more about that person than about the writer. It is, in a word, evocative, which is why I regard it highly as poetry. The reason I put it back out here for discussion is that there was an interesting and lively discussion going on about it before - and in fact, it inspired several other people to write their own haiku.
 
The author is Lilith Silvermane (she can be reached at lilithsilvermane@yahoo.com) so at once the assumption often made that it is a man's poem is confounded.
 
With that much context - that a woman wrote it - I wonder if anyone's view of it changes?
 
Lucius Alexander
 
Cleverly I park
My palindromedary
In the center line

Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities
 
For some reason, a memory popped into my head.
 
Many years ago, I was participating in an Air Force briefing/orientation on this sort of topic. I was paired off with a young airman and one of the scenarios we were given to discuss involved complimentary but inappropriate comments made by a male airman about a female airman's appearance. The young man wasn't seeing the problem. I asked "Would you say something like that to a woman who was your commanding officer?" He said no, and I asked why not. He said "It wouldn't be respectful." So I asked "If it's not respectful to say to your commanding officer, what makes you think it's respectful to say it to someone you outrank?"
 
Seeing the understanding in his eyes was like watching a light go on. He got it - respect is for everyone.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
regularly disrespected by my palindromedary

Beloved hero
Pariah the Restorer
Returns what was lost!
 
Lucius Alexander
 
Don't go away now
My palindromedary
Will be back real soon
 

Re: Haiku Hero
 
When I was a child
Men walked on the Moon. The Stars
Our Destination.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
The palindromedary lights the candle and turns the wheel for Neil Armstrong. What is remembered, lives.

Reminds me of the time....
 
My former wife: That's fruit bowl thinking.
 
Me: Fruit bowl thinking?
 
My former wife: Yes, you're not just comparing apples to oranges, you're throwing in watermelons and bananas and grapes and kiwi fruit
 
Lucius Alexander
 
The palindromedary thinks that sounds delicious but that I ought to include what I said that prompted the fruit bowl remark
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares
 
The Toon is a Harsh Mistress
 
LA
p

Re: The Professions of Arms The Professions of Arms
 
“The Profession of Arms is an occupation founded upon violence and death.” Lucius Alexander
 
The so-called “background skills” all too often fade into the background and disappear. A character will start with a profession skill, or knowledge skill, because it’s in a “package deal” or just because you get one free, and then that skill languishes, ignored by player and Game Operations Director alike. But “Background” doesn’t have to mean “invisible.” Indeed, an appropriately complex, realistically detailed, and above all interesting background enriches paintings, photographs, novels….and characters.
 
More than most fantasy characters, fighters have tendency to start looking too much alike. If you’ve noticed that several warriors in the game all have STR 20, DEX 14 or 15, Familiarity with Common Melee Weapons, comparable combat skill levels, and a similar set of skills, these ideas about using professional skills may help you see a different face under each helm, not to mention giving warriors interesting things to do besides sword-swinging.
 
Some things these skills don’t do
As a general rule, if a situation is already covered by an existing skill, a PS: will not duplicate the other skill – although one skill may modify the other. Thus PS: Barbarian or PS: Ranger will not substitute for Survival skill, but will often be a complementary skill. At the Game Operations Director’s discretion, a PS: may substitute for a missing skill in specific circumstances; PS: Knight or PS: Cavalry might substitute for Breakfall (at a penalty) when falling off a horse, but not when falling out of a tree.
 
In some cases these skills do have considerable overlap: For example, it would seem that PS: Paladin would include everything a Knight can do. There are three ways to balance this: 1) Make the “superior” skill cost more. 2) Split the skills and make one a prerequisite, saying you cannot have a PS: Paladin roll higher than your PS: Knight, or say that a Paladin has PS: Knight in conjunction with PS: Monk or PS: Holy Man or something of that nature. 3) Assign penalties to the “superior” skill when it is used in ways similar to the “lesser” skill. After all, a Paladin has a lot more to learn, and may take a -4 to judge a warhorse or recognize a heraldic design, where a Knight would have no penalty.
 
Codes and Behavior
Another thing these skills don’t do is impose behavior. It is entirely possible for a paladin to be fallen, for a barbarian to be decadent. A PS: Knight skill implies knowledge of a code of chivalry, but does not compel obedience to it. Deviation from behavior “appropriate” to the profession will erode the skill only over a long time, if the campaign rules are such that unused skills eventually fade away. However, certain uses of the skill may be affected by the character’s behavior. A barbarian coming out of a luxurious 10 year retirement, no longer used to hardship and discomfort, may still remember how to light a fire and how to skin game, but take a -5 when trying to remain still in ambush when she finds she’s laying on an anthill. And a knight with a bad Reputation may have a hard time with uses of the skill that involve being seen as chivalrous (although he may still use the skill that way on someone ignorant of the reputation.)
 
“Just how useful are these skills in combat, anyway?”
A story from the old West relates that a gunslinger, having made an appointment with his rival to meet at sundown, was asked by a friend “why not get it over with now?” The gunslinger responded “If we go do it now, that sombrero he always wears will keep the noonday sun off his face. I’m at the west end of town, so when we walk out into the street at sunset, the sun’ll be in his eyes. He’s in the saloon already; he’ll probably be getting likkered up for the next few hours. Meanwhile, I’ll take a nap. Keep an eye out and make sure he and his friends don’t try any funny business.” Which goes to show there’s more to gunslinging than fast reflexes and hand-eye coordination. On the one hand, it seems unreasonable that a warrior’s professional skill would offer no advantage in combat; on the other, allowing a skill roll as a complementary skill to a to-hit roll turns the skill into a cheap substitute for combat levels. In fact, one could argue that such levels are a reflection of exactly this kind of expertise; knowing how to maneuver an opponent so that the sun or wind are in their eyes, not yours, so that their balance, not yours, is threatened by a stump, dropped weapon, or pool of blood. This is why a character who went “adventuring” for 6 months has more XP to spend on levels than one who spent 6 months in a dojo. But there is no reason these skills should not have limited combat effects, appropriate to their cost. For example, if an enemy gets a surprise bonus to OCV – say for trying a shield bash after 2 turns of sword swinging – a warrior might make a roll to anticipate the move and negate the bonus. Or if a PRE attack would ordinarily leave a warrior with reduced DCV, a penalized PS roll could partially or wholly negate that effect, as staying on-guard has become second nature to the professional fighter. And rules already exist to allow PS: Forward Observer or PS: Siege Engineer to add to the OCV of certain crew-served weapons. Example: A cavalryman with DCV 6 is mounted on a horse with DCV 4, and thus has DCV 4. With a PS: Cavalry roll, he can have DCV 5 for the duration of combat. If it’s his own horse (horse and rider have trained together) he can have DCV 5 automatically and DCV 6 if he makes the roll. Why doesn’t Riding skill confer this benefit? Because riding a horse is one thing, controlling it in combat is another.
 
Some things these skills can do
Perhaps the most common use of warrior PS skills will be as complementary skills. They may assist other skills, perception rolls, and characteristic rolls. Remember that a warrior skill may be complementary in one case, but not another. For example, it may be complementary to Trading when dealing in weapons, but not in jewels. Or a PS: Paladin roll may help a STR roll if it involves saving a life, but not for arm wrestling in a bar.
 
Common Abilities
There are some things any warrior is likely to know about to a greater or lesser extent, and for convenience these are discussed first.
Weapons
A warrior may be able to identify a weapon’s origin; judge its quality; know its lore if it’s a famous or unique weapon; know how to hone, oil, and otherwise care for a weapon, including culturally appropriate rituals. Of course the specifics will vary by type of warrior. Any warrior with the skill to use a given weapon will know how to care for it, but how many will recognize an apparently harmless ornament as a throwing star? Tell by their pole arms where an army unit was recruited? Know by the curved blade and sharkskin hilt that a sword was forged in the Southern Isles? Distinguish Elf, Troll, and Goblin arrows by the shape of the stone arrowheads and the fletching? These are ways one warrior can differ from another.
Armor
Warriors who are accustomed to wearing armor may, with a successful roll, cut in half the time to get in or out of armor; useful if one must prepare for battle quickly, or if one has suddenly been dropped in water. As with weapons, a warrior may maintain and even make temporary repairs to armor. Recognizing armor types, and drawing conclusions about the wearers, are also possible.
People
First of all, one warrior will often know another, regardless of type. The way one walks or stands, telltale calluses of weapon practice, and a thousand subtle clues help fighters size up everyone they meet. Often, this information is subliminal; a warrior may not be able to articulate why one person in the bar commands more wary respect than another, but he just “knows” which is the more dangerous brawler. Warrior skills also influence how others see the warrior; thus, PS: Knight could help persuade someone that the character is chivalrous and trustworthy, PS: Barbarian can be used to intimidate (add to PRE attacks) and PS: Officer can help inspire confidence in followers.
Tactics
Although no PS is a substitute for Tactics they may often be complementary. One knight understands how another knight thinks; a ranger who guards a forest against Goblins may predict how a Goblin band will react; even a lowly sailor or mercenary may recall how a successful captain dealt with a certain situation. Few PS skills are likely to be complementary to Tactics in all situations; even PS: Officer for example may be no help in a one on one battle, where PS: Gladiator or PS: Duelist may be very useful.
 
Specific Example PS Skills
 
PS: Adventurer
This represents the aptitudes developed by a wanderer who goes about seeking gold, glory, or glamour and excitement. It may be regarded as a default background skill for exactly the kind of person who can’t resist the urge to explore the Mysterious Hole in the Ground. An Adventurer knows much about getting into and out of dangerous situations, and because they often swap stories, may know something about a place or creature they have never personally encountered. An Adventurer is good at remembering directions, either given by another or to remember a path already trod. If literate, and Adventurer reads maps well, and can draw them (more crudely than a cartographer.) This skill can apply to anything from starting a fire to securing a rope for climbing, but usually at heavy penalties; it’s a fall-back for self-reliant people who do things because they’ve had to, but not necessarily learned the most efficient ways to do them. Even on a successful roll, the task may be done crudely or inefficiently: “Okay, it takes a few hours and a lot of sticks, but you have 2d6 arrows for your bow. They do one less damage class, are -3 OCV and double range penalties, and you can’t make any more until you kill a bird for more feathers.”
 
Examples of PS: Adventurer in Use.
Our Hero plans a trip to the Goblin Haunted Hills, but first takes a trip to a variety of inns, taverns, markets, and places where the use of PS: Adventurer as complementary to Conversation will tell him much about the Goblins’ weapons, tactics, usual numbers in a band, favorite places for ambush, etc.
Deciding to recruit some help, Our Hero uses Adventurer complementary to Oratory and by recounting previous exploits inspires the confidence of a few stout-hearted young fellows.
Although Our Hero missed his perception roll to spot the Goblns, a PS: Adventurer roll at -2 brings on the realization that this narrow pass is just the sort of place Goblins like for an ambush. (The roll would be at -5 if Our Hero hadn’t been clever enough to ask questions before venturing forth.)
The posse falls to quarreling over loot. Since this is a common situation for Adventurers, Our Hero makes a PRE attack (“Be still a moment and hear me out!”) followed by a PS: Adventurer roll to talk everyone into a fair distribution.
 
PS: Barbarian
Anyone with this skill should also have Survival, knowledge of a tribal area, and probably Tracking. A “Barbarian” is by definition “uncivilized,” that is, a member of a culture less urban, less settled, and/or less technologically sophisticated than whatever civilized culture the barbarian is contrasted with. The Barbarian is at home in the wilderness and often inspires mingled awe and contempt in more civilized people, who regard the barbarian as kin to beasts. Indeed PS: Barbarian is useful if confronting a wild animal, not to “tame” or befriend it, but to predict its reactions and avoid antagonizing it. PS: Barbarian often complements Survival, not only to represent know-how (“What do you mean, you don’t know how to make fire without flint? I’ll show you.”) but sheer toughness and fortitude, for a barbarian is used to privation. The barbarian will more readily eat raw meat, sleep on bare ground, drink bitter water from a sulfur spring, lie motionless in ambush despite crawling bugs, or whatever must be done to survive, or to fulfill whatever goals the barbarian is committed to. Barbarians are credited with superior senses, but it is more accurate to say they have wild thing’s suspicious wariness, and are more apt to trust the irrational hunch that is often the prompting of instinct or intuition. The stereotypical barbarian is a hulking warrior, but it is well to remember that horse nomads are often small, and a barbarian tribe could be Pygmies or wild Hobbits, or peaceful Eskimos. Coming from a “simpler” i.e. less specialized society, the barbarian can be astonishingly self-reliant.
 
Examples of PS: Barbarian in Use
Our Hero is being tortured for information. Ordinarily this is Skill Vs Skill, Interrogation against an Ego roll, but when Our Hero loses by 3 points, the Game Operations Director allows a roll on PS: Barbarian at -3. Then the rest of the party finally rescues the barbarian, he says “It wasn’t much worse than my tribe’s initiation ordeal.”
A party crossing a desert camps in a canyon where high walls offer shade and a few green things make it seem an oasis. In the middle of the day, while they sleep in preparation for the night’s travel, they all fail perception rolls that were made at -6 because they were dozing, except the barbarian whose PS: Barbarian was considered complementary. Thus Our Hero awakes from a nightmare in which the distant sound of rushing water is somehow terrifying. Trying to figure out what’s wrong, Our Hero makes a Deduction roll (at the default of <= 8) again with PS: Barbarian as complementary, and just knows that the canyon seems like a trap. They’ve learned to trust the barbarian’s instincts, so the party escapes just before the flash flood comes roaring down.
 
PS: Knight
Characters with this skill should also have Riding and Courtier or “High Society” and may have to meet other prerequisites. This skill may have other names in other cultural contexts, as “Ronin” or “Samurai” in Japan or “Equestrian” in Republican Rome. Ideally a knight is “noble” in every sense of the word, either born to a tradition of chivalry or a commoner formally exalted in status for courage and martial prowess.
 
PS: Ranger
Anyone with this skill should also have Survival and knowledge of at least one wilderness area or terrain type, and probably Tracking. PS: Ranger is often a complementary skill for outdoor skills. What a ranger can do depends to some extent on how the Game Operations Director defines “Ranger” for a given game, but whether they guard the king’s deer from poachers, guide pilgrims across deserts, or hunt Orcs wherever they are found, any ranger will know much about the wild and things the live and move there. Identifying animals and plants will often be automatic (no roll) if they are native to a place the ranger knows. A ranger can predict weather, up to 48 hrs in advance on a good roll. Rangers usually know a lot about the people and creatures they meet in their chosen wilderness, whether it’s the Goblins who come raiding from yonder mountain or the itinerant smith making the rounds of the local villages. Although PS: Ranger is no substitute for Navigation, a ranger has a good memory for landmarks and is seldom confused as to direction.
 
Examples of PS: Ranger in Use
Our Hero falls over, left leg gone numb. Although no wound is visible, the healer finds and removes a flint arrowhead that only becomes visible when withdrawn a handspan from the ranger’s body. Clearly, he is a victim of Elf Stroke. “I thought you said the Elves were friendly?” After making a PS: Ranger roll, Our Hero states “That’s shaped like a Troll arrowhead. Either an Elf used a Troll arrow, or a Troll has learned an Elven spell.”
 
PS: Warrior
The most “generic” of warrior PS skills, and a good default if the character’s background is vague and undefined, or varied and eclectic. It may be assumed that a warrior’s knowledge is broad but shallow. They could tell a warhorse from a palfrey, but not necessarily judge among warhorses. They would recognize the nation of a group of uniformed soldiers, and tell officers apart, but be unlikely to know the specific unit or a leader’s exact rank.
 
PS: Weapons Specialist
Specific types include PS: Swordsman, Spearman, Hatchetman, Archer, Martial Artist, Boxer, Wrestler, Sensei, etc. The weapons specialist should have spent at least 12 points on combat skill levels and/or martial arts maneuvers. This skill represents the expertise of a person who is devoted to a specific weapon or fighting style. When dealing with a favorite weapon type, the specialist will have far more accurate and precise knowledge of a given weapons’ value, utility, and quality; the lore and history of famous, unique, or magick weapons; the names, reputations, and history of warriors who use that weapon type or fighting style. By examining a weapon, the expert can tell where it was made, when it was made, and by whom; i.e. by Dwarven, Elven, or Human weaponsmith, or by specific culture, or possibly in the case of a famous weaponsmith, by individual. The specialist may also be able to detect frauds. This skill is complementary to Weaponsmith. More than other warriors, the specialist is able to judge another warrior’s fighting style, at least if it has any bearing on the specialist’s own.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
Copyright Palindromedary Enterprises 2002
 
Excess words have been removed and fed to a palindromedary

Re: The Professions of Arms The Professions of Arms
 
“The Profession of Arms is an occupation founded upon violence and death.” Lucius Alexander
 
The so-called “background skills” all too often fade into the background and disappear. A character will start with a profession skill, or knowledge skill, because it’s in a “package deal” or just because you get one free, and then that skill languishes, ignored by player and Game Operations Director alike. But “Background” doesn’t have to mean “invisible.” Indeed, an appropriately complex, realistically detailed, and above all interesting background enriches paintings, photographs, novels….and characters.
 
More than most fantasy characters, fighters have tendency to start looking too much alike. If you’ve noticed that several warriors in the game all have STR 20, DEX 14 or 15, Familiarity with Common Melee Weapons, comparable combat skill levels, and a similar set of skills, these ideas about using professional skills may help you see a different face under each helm, not to mention giving warriors interesting things to do besides sword-swinging.
 
Some things these skills don’t do
As a general rule, if a situation is already covered by an existing skill, a PS: will not duplicate the other skill – although one skill may modify the other. Thus PS: Barbarian or PS: Ranger will not substitute for Survival skill, but will often be a complementary skill. At the Game Operations Director’s discretion, a PS: may substitute for a missing skill in specific circumstances; PS: Knight or PS: Cavalry might substitute for Breakfall (at a penalty) when falling off a horse, but not when falling out of a tree.
 
In some cases these skills do have considerable overlap: For example, it would seem that PS: Paladin would include everything a Knight can do. There are three ways to balance this: 1) Make the “superior” skill cost more. 2) Split the skills and make one a prerequisite, saying you cannot have a PS: Paladin roll higher than your PS: Knight, or say that a Paladin has PS: Knight in conjunction with PS: Monk or PS: Holy Man or something of that nature. 3) Assign penalties to the “superior” skill when it is used in ways similar to the “lesser” skill. After all, a Paladin has a lot more to learn, and may take a -4 to judge a warhorse or recognize a heraldic design, where a Knight would have no penalty.
 
Codes and Behavior
Another thing these skills don’t do is impose behavior. It is entirely possible for a paladin to be fallen, for a barbarian to be decadent. A PS: Knight skill implies knowledge of a code of chivalry, but does not compel obedience to it. Deviation from behavior “appropriate” to the profession will erode the skill only over a long time, if the campaign rules are such that unused skills eventually fade away. However, certain uses of the skill may be affected by the character’s behavior. A barbarian coming out of a luxurious 10 year retirement, no longer used to hardship and discomfort, may still remember how to light a fire and how to skin game, but take a -5 when trying to remain still in ambush when she finds she’s laying on an anthill. And a knight with a bad Reputation may have a hard time with uses of the skill that involve being seen as chivalrous (although he may still use the skill that way on someone ignorant of the reputation.)
 
“Just how useful are these skills in combat, anyway?”
A story from the old West relates that a gunslinger, having made an appointment with his rival to meet at sundown, was asked by a friend “why not get it over with now?” The gunslinger responded “If we go do it now, that sombrero he always wears will keep the noonday sun off his face. I’m at the west end of town, so when we walk out into the street at sunset, the sun’ll be in his eyes. He’s in the saloon already; he’ll probably be getting likkered up for the next few hours. Meanwhile, I’ll take a nap. Keep an eye out and make sure he and his friends don’t try any funny business.” Which goes to show there’s more to gunslinging than fast reflexes and hand-eye coordination. On the one hand, it seems unreasonable that a warrior’s professional skill would offer no advantage in combat; on the other, allowing a skill roll as a complementary skill to a to-hit roll turns the skill into a cheap substitute for combat levels. In fact, one could argue that such levels are a reflection of exactly this kind of expertise; knowing how to maneuver an opponent so that the sun or wind are in their eyes, not yours, so that their balance, not yours, is threatened by a stump, dropped weapon, or pool of blood. This is why a character who went “adventuring” for 6 months has more XP to spend on levels than one who spent 6 months in a dojo. But there is no reason these skills should not have limited combat effects, appropriate to their cost. For example, if an enemy gets a surprise bonus to OCV – say for trying a shield bash after 2 turns of sword swinging – a warrior might make a roll to anticipate the move and negate the bonus. Or if a PRE attack would ordinarily leave a warrior with reduced DCV, a penalized PS roll could partially or wholly negate that effect, as staying on-guard has become second nature to the professional fighter. And rules already exist to allow PS: Forward Observer or PS: Siege Engineer to add to the OCV of certain crew-served weapons. Example: A cavalryman with DCV 6 is mounted on a horse with DCV 4, and thus has DCV 4. With a PS: Cavalry roll, he can have DCV 5 for the duration of combat. If it’s his own horse (horse and rider have trained together) he can have DCV 5 automatically and DCV 6 if he makes the roll. Why doesn’t Riding skill confer this benefit? Because riding a horse is one thing, controlling it in combat is another.
 
Some things these skills can do
Perhaps the most common use of warrior PS skills will be as complementary skills. They may assist other skills, perception rolls, and characteristic rolls. Remember that a warrior skill may be complementary in one case, but not another. For example, it may be complementary to Trading when dealing in weapons, but not in jewels. Or a PS: Paladin roll may help a STR roll if it involves saving a life, but not for arm wrestling in a bar.
 
Common Abilities
There are some things any warrior is likely to know about to a greater or lesser extent, and for convenience these are discussed first.
Weapons
A warrior may be able to identify a weapon’s origin; judge its quality; know its lore if it’s a famous or unique weapon; know how to hone, oil, and otherwise care for a weapon, including culturally appropriate rituals. Of course the specifics will vary by type of warrior. Any warrior with the skill to use a given weapon will know how to care for it, but how many will recognize an apparently harmless ornament as a throwing star? Tell by their pole arms where an army unit was recruited? Know by the curved blade and sharkskin hilt that a sword was forged in the Southern Isles? Distinguish Elf, Troll, and Goblin arrows by the shape of the stone arrowheads and the fletching? These are ways one warrior can differ from another.
Armor
Warriors who are accustomed to wearing armor may, with a successful roll, cut in half the time to get in or out of armor; useful if one must prepare for battle quickly, or if one has suddenly been dropped in water. As with weapons, a warrior may maintain and even make temporary repairs to armor. Recognizing armor types, and drawing conclusions about the wearers, are also possible.
People
First of all, one warrior will often know another, regardless of type. The way one walks or stands, telltale calluses of weapon practice, and a thousand subtle clues help fighters size up everyone they meet. Often, this information is subliminal; a warrior may not be able to articulate why one person in the bar commands more wary respect than another, but he just “knows” which is the more dangerous brawler. Warrior skills also influence how others see the warrior; thus, PS: Knight could help persuade someone that the character is chivalrous and trustworthy, PS: Barbarian can be used to intimidate (add to PRE attacks) and PS: Officer can help inspire confidence in followers.
Tactics
Although no PS is a substitute for Tactics they may often be complementary. One knight understands how another knight thinks; a ranger who guards a forest against Goblins may predict how a Goblin band will react; even a lowly sailor or mercenary may recall how a successful captain dealt with a certain situation. Few PS skills are likely to be complementary to Tactics in all situations; even PS: Officer for example may be no help in a one on one battle, where PS: Gladiator or PS: Duelist may be very useful.
 
Specific Example PS Skills
 
PS: Adventurer
This represents the aptitudes developed by a wanderer who goes about seeking gold, glory, or glamour and excitement. It may be regarded as a default background skill for exactly the kind of person who can’t resist the urge to explore the Mysterious Hole in the Ground. An Adventurer knows much about getting into and out of dangerous situations, and because they often swap stories, may know something about a place or creature they have never personally encountered. An Adventurer is good at remembering directions, either given by another or to remember a path already trod. If literate, and Adventurer reads maps well, and can draw them (more crudely than a cartographer.) This skill can apply to anything from starting a fire to securing a rope for climbing, but usually at heavy penalties; it’s a fall-back for self-reliant people who do things because they’ve had to, but not necessarily learned the most efficient ways to do them. Even on a successful roll, the task may be done crudely or inefficiently: “Okay, it takes a few hours and a lot of sticks, but you have 2d6 arrows for your bow. They do one less damage class, are -3 OCV and double range penalties, and you can’t make any more until you kill a bird for more feathers.”
 
Examples of PS: Adventurer in Use.
Our Hero plans a trip to the Goblin Haunted Hills, but first takes a trip to a variety of inns, taverns, markets, and places where the use of PS: Adventurer as complementary to Conversation will tell him much about the Goblins’ weapons, tactics, usual numbers in a band, favorite places for ambush, etc.
Deciding to recruit some help, Our Hero uses Adventurer complementary to Oratory and by recounting previous exploits inspires the confidence of a few stout-hearted young fellows.
Although Our Hero missed his perception roll to spot the Goblns, a PS: Adventurer roll at -2 brings on the realization that this narrow pass is just the sort of place Goblins like for an ambush. (The roll would be at -5 if Our Hero hadn’t been clever enough to ask questions before venturing forth.)
The posse falls to quarreling over loot. Since this is a common situation for Adventurers, Our Hero makes a PRE attack (“Be still a moment and hear me out!”) followed by a PS: Adventurer roll to talk everyone into a fair distribution.
 
PS: Barbarian
Anyone with this skill should also have Survival, knowledge of a tribal area, and probably Tracking. A “Barbarian” is by definition “uncivilized,” that is, a member of a culture less urban, less settled, and/or less technologically sophisticated than whatever civilized culture the barbarian is contrasted with. The Barbarian is at home in the wilderness and often inspires mingled awe and contempt in more civilized people, who regard the barbarian as kin to beasts. Indeed PS: Barbarian is useful if confronting a wild animal, not to “tame” or befriend it, but to predict its reactions and avoid antagonizing it. PS: Barbarian often complements Survival, not only to represent know-how (“What do you mean, you don’t know how to make fire without flint? I’ll show you.”) but sheer toughness and fortitude, for a barbarian is used to privation. The barbarian will more readily eat raw meat, sleep on bare ground, drink bitter water from a sulfur spring, lie motionless in ambush despite crawling bugs, or whatever must be done to survive, or to fulfill whatever goals the barbarian is committed to. Barbarians are credited with superior senses, but it is more accurate to say they have wild thing’s suspicious wariness, and are more apt to trust the irrational hunch that is often the prompting of instinct or intuition. The stereotypical barbarian is a hulking warrior, but it is well to remember that horse nomads are often small, and a barbarian tribe could be Pygmies or wild Hobbits, or peaceful Eskimos. Coming from a “simpler” i.e. less specialized society, the barbarian can be astonishingly self-reliant.
 
Examples of PS: Barbarian in Use
Our Hero is being tortured for information. Ordinarily this is Skill Vs Skill, Interrogation against an Ego roll, but when Our Hero loses by 3 points, the Game Operations Director allows a roll on PS: Barbarian at -3. Then the rest of the party finally rescues the barbarian, he says “It wasn’t much worse than my tribe’s initiation ordeal.”
A party crossing a desert camps in a canyon where high walls offer shade and a few green things make it seem an oasis. In the middle of the day, while they sleep in preparation for the night’s travel, they all fail perception rolls that were made at -6 because they were dozing, except the barbarian whose PS: Barbarian was considered complementary. Thus Our Hero awakes from a nightmare in which the distant sound of rushing water is somehow terrifying. Trying to figure out what’s wrong, Our Hero makes a Deduction roll (at the default of <= 8) again with PS: Barbarian as complementary, and just knows that the canyon seems like a trap. They’ve learned to trust the barbarian’s instincts, so the party escapes just before the flash flood comes roaring down.
 
PS: Knight
Characters with this skill should also have Riding and Courtier or “High Society” and may have to meet other prerequisites. This skill may have other names in other cultural contexts, as “Ronin” or “Samurai” in Japan or “Equestrian” in Republican Rome. Ideally a knight is “noble” in every sense of the word, either born to a tradition of chivalry or a commoner formally exalted in status for courage and martial prowess.
 
PS: Ranger
Anyone with this skill should also have Survival and knowledge of at least one wilderness area or terrain type, and probably Tracking. PS: Ranger is often a complementary skill for outdoor skills. What a ranger can do depends to some extent on how the Game Operations Director defines “Ranger” for a given game, but whether they guard the king’s deer from poachers, guide pilgrims across deserts, or hunt Orcs wherever they are found, any ranger will know much about the wild and things the live and move there. Identifying animals and plants will often be automatic (no roll) if they are native to a place the ranger knows. A ranger can predict weather, up to 48 hrs in advance on a good roll. Rangers usually know a lot about the people and creatures they meet in their chosen wilderness, whether it’s the Goblins who come raiding from yonder mountain or the itinerant smith making the rounds of the local villages. Although PS: Ranger is no substitute for Navigation, a ranger has a good memory for landmarks and is seldom confused as to direction.
 
Examples of PS: Ranger in Use
Our Hero falls over, left leg gone numb. Although no wound is visible, the healer finds and removes a flint arrowhead that only becomes visible when withdrawn a handspan from the ranger’s body. Clearly, he is a victim of Elf Stroke. “I thought you said the Elves were friendly?” After making a PS: Ranger roll, Our Hero states “That’s shaped like a Troll arrowhead. Either an Elf used a Troll arrow, or a Troll has learned an Elven spell.”
 
PS: Warrior
The most “generic” of warrior PS skills, and a good default if the character’s background is vague and undefined, or varied and eclectic. It may be assumed that a warrior’s knowledge is broad but shallow. They could tell a warhorse from a palfrey, but not necessarily judge among warhorses. They would recognize the nation of a group of uniformed soldiers, and tell officers apart, but be unlikely to know the specific unit or a leader’s exact rank.
 
PS: Weapons Specialist
Specific types include PS: Swordsman, Spearman, Hatchetman, Archer, Martial Artist, Boxer, Wrestler, Sensei, etc. The weapons specialist should have spent at least 12 points on combat skill levels and/or martial arts maneuvers. This skill represents the expertise of a person who is devoted to a specific weapon or fighting style. When dealing with a favorite weapon type, the specialist will have far more accurate and precise knowledge of a given weapons’ value, utility, and quality; the lore and history of famous, unique, or magick weapons; the names, reputations, and history of warriors who use that weapon type or fighting style. By examining a weapon, the expert can tell where it was made, when it was made, and by whom; i.e. by Dwarven, Elven, or Human weaponsmith, or by specific culture, or possibly in the case of a famous weaponsmith, by individual. The specialist may also be able to detect frauds. This skill is complementary to Weaponsmith. More than other warriors, the specialist is able to judge another warrior’s fighting style, at least if it has any bearing on the specialist’s own.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
Copyright Palindromedary Enterprises 2002
 
Excess words have been removed and fed to a palindromedary

I wrote this a few years ago. As far as I recall, I've never posted it anywhere. Until now.
 
With the Ultimate Skill coming, and all the buzz on the board about skills now, I thought I'd go ahead and post it. By the way, I remember writing more than this, and I did intend to go on and expand the idea to the other adventuring archetypes. Who knows, maybe I'll finally do so. And if I turn up the "lost materiels" that I suspect are still hidden in my stuff in storage, I'll post them too.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
The palindromedary wonders if we'll be able to fit the whole thing in this next post....

Re: The Professions of Arms The Professions of Arms
 
“The Profession of Arms is an occupation founded upon violence and death.” Lucius Alexander
 
The so-called “background skills” all too often fade into the background and disappear. A character will start with a profession skill, or knowledge skill, because it’s in a “package deal” or just because you get one free, and then that skill languishes, ignored by player and Game Operations Director alike. But “Background” doesn’t have to mean “invisible.” Indeed, an appropriately complex, realistically detailed, and above all interesting background enriches paintings, photographs, novels….and characters.
 
More than most fantasy characters, fighters have tendency to start looking too much alike. If you’ve noticed that several warriors in the game all have STR 20, DEX 14 or 15, Familiarity with Common Melee Weapons, comparable combat skill levels, and a similar set of skills, these ideas about using professional skills may help you see a different face under each helm, not to mention giving warriors interesting things to do besides sword-swinging.
 
Some things these skills don’t do
As a general rule, if a situation is already covered by an existing skill, a PS: will not duplicate the other skill – although one skill may modify the other. Thus PS: Barbarian or PS: Ranger will not substitute for Survival skill, but will often be a complementary skill. At the Game Operations Director’s discretion, a PS: may substitute for a missing skill in specific circumstances; PS: Knight or PS: Cavalry might substitute for Breakfall (at a penalty) when falling off a horse, but not when falling out of a tree.
 
In some cases these skills do have considerable overlap: For example, it would seem that PS: Paladin would include everything a Knight can do. There are three ways to balance this: 1) Make the “superior” skill cost more. 2) Split the skills and make one a prerequisite, saying you cannot have a PS: Paladin roll higher than your PS: Knight, or say that a Paladin has PS: Knight in conjunction with PS: Monk or PS: Holy Man or something of that nature. 3) Assign penalties to the “superior” skill when it is used in ways similar to the “lesser” skill. After all, a Paladin has a lot more to learn, and may take a -4 to judge a warhorse or recognize a heraldic design, where a Knight would have no penalty.
 
Codes and Behavior
Another thing these skills don’t do is impose behavior. It is entirely possible for a paladin to be fallen, for a barbarian to be decadent. A PS: Knight skill implies knowledge of a code of chivalry, but does not compel obedience to it. Deviation from behavior “appropriate” to the profession will erode the skill only over a long time, if the campaign rules are such that unused skills eventually fade away. However, certain uses of the skill may be affected by the character’s behavior. A barbarian coming out of a luxurious 10 year retirement, no longer used to hardship and discomfort, may still remember how to light a fire and how to skin game, but take a -5 when trying to remain still in ambush when she finds she’s laying on an anthill. And a knight with a bad Reputation may have a hard time with uses of the skill that involve being seen as chivalrous (although he may still use the skill that way on someone ignorant of the reputation.)
 
“Just how useful are these skills in combat, anyway?”
A story from the old West relates that a gunslinger, having made an appointment with his rival to meet at sundown, was asked by a friend “why not get it over with now?” The gunslinger responded “If we go do it now, that sombrero he always wears will keep the noonday sun off his face. I’m at the west end of town, so when we walk out into the street at sunset, the sun’ll be in his eyes. He’s in the saloon already; he’ll probably be getting likkered up for the next few hours. Meanwhile, I’ll take a nap. Keep an eye out and make sure he and his friends don’t try any funny business.” Which goes to show there’s more to gunslinging than fast reflexes and hand-eye coordination. On the one hand, it seems unreasonable that a warrior’s professional skill would offer no advantage in combat; on the other, allowing a skill roll as a complementary skill to a to-hit roll turns the skill into a cheap substitute for combat levels. In fact, one could argue that such levels are a reflection of exactly this kind of expertise; knowing how to maneuver an opponent so that the sun or wind are in their eyes, not yours, so that their balance, not yours, is threatened by a stump, dropped weapon, or pool of blood. This is why a character who went “adventuring” for 6 months has more XP to spend on levels than one who spent 6 months in a dojo. But there is no reason these skills should not have limited combat effects, appropriate to their cost. For example, if an enemy gets a surprise bonus to OCV – say for trying a shield bash after 2 turns of sword swinging – a warrior might make a roll to anticipate the move and negate the bonus. Or if a PRE attack would ordinarily leave a warrior with reduced DCV, a penalized PS roll could partially or wholly negate that effect, as staying on-guard has become second nature to the professional fighter. And rules already exist to allow PS: Forward Observer or PS: Siege Engineer to add to the OCV of certain crew-served weapons. Example: A cavalryman with DCV 6 is mounted on a horse with DCV 4, and thus has DCV 4. With a PS: Cavalry roll, he can have DCV 5 for the duration of combat. If it’s his own horse (horse and rider have trained together) he can have DCV 5 automatically and DCV 6 if he makes the roll. Why doesn’t Riding skill confer this benefit? Because riding a horse is one thing, controlling it in combat is another.
 
Some things these skills can do
Perhaps the most common use of warrior PS skills will be as complementary skills. They may assist other skills, perception rolls, and characteristic rolls. Remember that a warrior skill may be complementary in one case, but not another. For example, it may be complementary to Trading when dealing in weapons, but not in jewels. Or a PS: Paladin roll may help a STR roll if it involves saving a life, but not for arm wrestling in a bar.
 
Common Abilities
There are some things any warrior is likely to know about to a greater or lesser extent, and for convenience these are discussed first.
Weapons
A warrior may be able to identify a weapon’s origin; judge its quality; know its lore if it’s a famous or unique weapon; know how to hone, oil, and otherwise care for a weapon, including culturally appropriate rituals. Of course the specifics will vary by type of warrior. Any warrior with the skill to use a given weapon will know how to care for it, but how many will recognize an apparently harmless ornament as a throwing star? Tell by their pole arms where an army unit was recruited? Know by the curved blade and sharkskin hilt that a sword was forged in the Southern Isles? Distinguish Elf, Troll, and Goblin arrows by the shape of the stone arrowheads and the fletching? These are ways one warrior can differ from another.
Armor
Warriors who are accustomed to wearing armor may, with a successful roll, cut in half the time to get in or out of armor; useful if one must prepare for battle quickly, or if one has suddenly been dropped in water. As with weapons, a warrior may maintain and even make temporary repairs to armor. Recognizing armor types, and drawing conclusions about the wearers, are also possible.
People
First of all, one warrior will often know another, regardless of type. The way one walks or stands, telltale calluses of weapon practice, and a thousand subtle clues help fighters size up everyone they meet. Often, this information is subliminal; a warrior may not be able to articulate why one person in the bar commands more wary respect than another, but he just “knows” which is the more dangerous brawler. Warrior skills also influence how others see the warrior; thus, PS: Knight could help persuade someone that the character is chivalrous and trustworthy, PS: Barbarian can be used to intimidate (add to PRE attacks) and PS: Officer can help inspire confidence in followers.
Tactics
Although no PS is a substitute for Tactics they may often be complementary. One knight understands how another knight thinks; a ranger who guards a forest against Goblins may predict how a Goblin band will react; even a lowly sailor or mercenary may recall how a successful captain dealt with a certain situation. Few PS skills are likely to be complementary to Tactics in all situations; even PS: Officer for example may be no help in a one on one battle, where PS: Gladiator or PS: Duelist may be very useful.
 
Specific Example PS Skills
 
PS: Adventurer
This represents the aptitudes developed by a wanderer who goes about seeking gold, glory, or glamour and excitement. It may be regarded as a default background skill for exactly the kind of person who can’t resist the urge to explore the Mysterious Hole in the Ground. An Adventurer knows much about getting into and out of dangerous situations, and because they often swap stories, may know something about a place or creature they have never personally encountered. An Adventurer is good at remembering directions, either given by another or to remember a path already trod. If literate, and Adventurer reads maps well, and can draw them (more crudely than a cartographer.) This skill can apply to anything from starting a fire to securing a rope for climbing, but usually at heavy penalties; it’s a fall-back for self-reliant people who do things because they’ve had to, but not necessarily learned the most efficient ways to do them. Even on a successful roll, the task may be done crudely or inefficiently: “Okay, it takes a few hours and a lot of sticks, but you have 2d6 arrows for your bow. They do one less damage class, are -3 OCV and double range penalties, and you can’t make any more until you kill a bird for more feathers.”
 
Examples of PS: Adventurer in Use.
Our Hero plans a trip to the Goblin Haunted Hills, but first takes a trip to a variety of inns, taverns, markets, and places where the use of PS: Adventurer as complementary to Conversation will tell him much about the Goblins’ weapons, tactics, usual numbers in a band, favorite places for ambush, etc.
Deciding to recruit some help, Our Hero uses Adventurer complementary to Oratory and by recounting previous exploits inspires the confidence of a few stout-hearted young fellows.
Although Our Hero missed his perception roll to spot the Goblns, a PS: Adventurer roll at -2 brings on the realization that this narrow pass is just the sort of place Goblins like for an ambush. (The roll would be at -5 if Our Hero hadn’t been clever enough to ask questions before venturing forth.)
The posse falls to quarreling over loot. Since this is a common situation for Adventurers, Our Hero makes a PRE attack (“Be still a moment and hear me out!”) followed by a PS: Adventurer roll to talk everyone into a fair distribution.
 
PS: Barbarian
Anyone with this skill should also have Survival, knowledge of a tribal area, and probably Tracking. A “Barbarian” is by definition “uncivilized,” that is, a member of a culture less urban, less settled, and/or less technologically sophisticated than whatever civilized culture the barbarian is contrasted with. The Barbarian is at home in the wilderness and often inspires mingled awe and contempt in more civilized people, who regard the barbarian as kin to beasts. Indeed PS: Barbarian is useful if confronting a wild animal, not to “tame” or befriend it, but to predict its reactions and avoid antagonizing it. PS: Barbarian often complements Survival, not only to represent know-how (“What do you mean, you don’t know how to make fire without flint? I’ll show you.”) but sheer toughness and fortitude, for a barbarian is used to privation. The barbarian will more readily eat raw meat, sleep on bare ground, drink bitter water from a sulfur spring, lie motionless in ambush despite crawling bugs, or whatever must be done to survive, or to fulfill whatever goals the barbarian is committed to. Barbarians are credited with superior senses, but it is more accurate to say they have wild thing’s suspicious wariness, and are more apt to trust the irrational hunch that is often the prompting of instinct or intuition. The stereotypical barbarian is a hulking warrior, but it is well to remember that horse nomads are often small, and a barbarian tribe could be Pygmies or wild Hobbits, or peaceful Eskimos. Coming from a “simpler” i.e. less specialized society, the barbarian can be astonishingly self-reliant.
 
Examples of PS: Barbarian in Use
Our Hero is being tortured for information. Ordinarily this is Skill Vs Skill, Interrogation against an Ego roll, but when Our Hero loses by 3 points, the Game Operations Director allows a roll on PS: Barbarian at -3. Then the rest of the party finally rescues the barbarian, he says “It wasn’t much worse than my tribe’s initiation ordeal.”
A party crossing a desert camps in a canyon where high walls offer shade and a few green things make it seem an oasis. In the middle of the day, while they sleep in preparation for the night’s travel, they all fail perception rolls that were made at -6 because they were dozing, except the barbarian whose PS: Barbarian was considered complementary. Thus Our Hero awakes from a nightmare in which the distant sound of rushing water is somehow terrifying. Trying to figure out what’s wrong, Our Hero makes a Deduction roll (at the default of <= 8) again with PS: Barbarian as complementary, and just knows that the canyon seems like a trap. They’ve learned to trust the barbarian’s instincts, so the party escapes just before the flash flood comes roaring down.
 
PS: Knight
Characters with this skill should also have Riding and Courtier or “High Society” and may have to meet other prerequisites. This skill may have other names in other cultural contexts, as “Ronin” or “Samurai” in Japan or “Equestrian” in Republican Rome. Ideally a knight is “noble” in every sense of the word, either born to a tradition of chivalry or a commoner formally exalted in status for courage and martial prowess.
 
PS: Ranger
Anyone with this skill should also have Survival and knowledge of at least one wilderness area or terrain type, and probably Tracking. PS: Ranger is often a complementary skill for outdoor skills. What a ranger can do depends to some extent on how the Game Operations Director defines “Ranger” for a given game, but whether they guard the king’s deer from poachers, guide pilgrims across deserts, or hunt Orcs wherever they are found, any ranger will know much about the wild and things the live and move there. Identifying animals and plants will often be automatic (no roll) if they are native to a place the ranger knows. A ranger can predict weather, up to 48 hrs in advance on a good roll. Rangers usually know a lot about the people and creatures they meet in their chosen wilderness, whether it’s the Goblins who come raiding from yonder mountain or the itinerant smith making the rounds of the local villages. Although PS: Ranger is no substitute for Navigation, a ranger has a good memory for landmarks and is seldom confused as to direction.
 
Examples of PS: Ranger in Use
Our Hero falls over, left leg gone numb. Although no wound is visible, the healer finds and removes a flint arrowhead that only becomes visible when withdrawn a handspan from the ranger’s body. Clearly, he is a victim of Elf Stroke. “I thought you said the Elves were friendly?” After making a PS: Ranger roll, Our Hero states “That’s shaped like a Troll arrowhead. Either an Elf used a Troll arrow, or a Troll has learned an Elven spell.”
 
PS: Warrior
The most “generic” of warrior PS skills, and a good default if the character’s background is vague and undefined, or varied and eclectic. It may be assumed that a warrior’s knowledge is broad but shallow. They could tell a warhorse from a palfrey, but not necessarily judge among warhorses. They would recognize the nation of a group of uniformed soldiers, and tell officers apart, but be unlikely to know the specific unit or a leader’s exact rank.
 
PS: Weapons Specialist
Specific types include PS: Swordsman, Spearman, Hatchetman, Archer, Martial Artist, Boxer, Wrestler, Sensei, etc. The weapons specialist should have spent at least 12 points on combat skill levels and/or martial arts maneuvers. This skill represents the expertise of a person who is devoted to a specific weapon or fighting style. When dealing with a favorite weapon type, the specialist will have far more accurate and precise knowledge of a given weapons’ value, utility, and quality; the lore and history of famous, unique, or magick weapons; the names, reputations, and history of warriors who use that weapon type or fighting style. By examining a weapon, the expert can tell where it was made, when it was made, and by whom; i.e. by Dwarven, Elven, or Human weaponsmith, or by specific culture, or possibly in the case of a famous weaponsmith, by individual. The specialist may also be able to detect frauds. This skill is complementary to Weaponsmith. More than other warriors, the specialist is able to judge another warrior’s fighting style, at least if it has any bearing on the specialist’s own.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
Copyright Palindromedary Enterprises 2002
 
Excess words have been removed and fed to a palindromedary

Re: The Professions of Arms
 
If anyone finds the materiel useful, I'd like to be credited.
 
If you want to expand on it, please share! I'm hoping you will.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
If you try to claim it as your own, "Copyright 2002 Palindromedary Enterprises" is not just a tagline.

Seasonal Haiku
 
I would have written
A haiku about Winter -
The Censor prevents.
 
I would have written
About the snow storm we had -
The Censor prevents.
 
I would have written
About the freezing rain, but -
The Censor prevents.
 
I would have written
Bitter cold, fear, danger, pain -
The Censor prevents.
 
Only ugly words
Mostly those with four letters
Do Winter justice.
 
(Insert expletive)
(Profane and obscene remark)
THAT's for the Censor!
 
Lucius Alexander
 
How many ways can
A palindromedary
Fit in a haiku?

Seasonal Haiku
 
I would have written
A haiku about Winter -
The Censor prevents.
 
I would have written
About the snow storm we had -
The Censor prevents.
 
I would have written
About the freezing rain, but -
The Censor prevents.
 
I would have written
Bitter cold, fear, danger, pain -
The Censor prevents.
 
Only ugly words
Mostly those with four letters
Do Winter justice.
 
(Insert expletive)
(Profane and obscene remark)
THAT's for the Censor!
 
Lucius Alexander
 
How many ways can
A palindromedary
Fit in a haiku?

Lucius, are you still
Out there? The Hero boards miss
Your Haiku and wit.