Alternate Base Mechanic

[Havard]

Here's an attempt at a more strealined base mechanic for AiF:


Base Mechanic: Roll d% below Characteristic /5 + Education Area + Level

In this version, Education Area (Skill) adds +20 per level of training. Most Education Areas can be taken up to 3 times for a total of a +30 bonus.

WHAT THIS MEANS
The biggest change from the original system is that Education Areas are now a set bonus number instead of a percentage/fraction of a characteristic. In general I think it would also mean that Characteristics become less important compared to Education.

Thoughts?

-Havard

[NeonNecromancer]

I'm not against this change, but I feel it would require changing pretty much everything since the Courses of Instruction aren't really built around being "skills" as we like to think of them. Many of them are really class analogues, and their rules don't really match with this (heck, they don't even match with with each other most of the time).

As an example, completing Jeweler would now instead of allowing you to "ascertain the value of any gemstone or jewel", will now just give a +20 to an INT or KNO roll to do so?

[Havard]

I'm not against this change, but I feel it would require changing pretty much everything since the Courses of Instruction aren't really built around being "skills" as we like to think of them. Many of them are really class analogues, and their rules don't really match with this (heck, they don't even match with with each other most of the time).

I see what you mean. These are just half-chewed ideas at the moment so the changes are not set in stone.

A few things I would like to see:

• Simplifying the maths. 75% of a number between 1-100 means that someone of my own limited maths skills need to pull out a calculator. A bonus added to a fraction of the Characteristic is something I can deal with.
  
• Streamlining. Different Education Areas involve different mathematical formulas. Some have 3 levels, while others have just one. I'd like to see a more unified system for these so it would be easier to learn.

The Education system reminds me a bit about character generation in Traveller though. This is not something I would like to lose.

As an example, completing Jeweler would now instead of allowing you to "ascertain the value of any gemstone or jewel", will now just give a +20 to an INT or KNO roll to do so?

Good point. I would actually like to keep these specific effects of the Education Areas. Maybe it could do both though?

-Havard

[NeonNecromancer]

Actually been thinking about this a bit more since I've finally re-read it completely a few times now.

The current items in Courses of Instruction follow these rules:

• The courses are clearly divided into skills and professions (apprenticeships).
  
• Each course represents a single level of a skill.
  
• Each one has its own, discrete set of rules (there's no common set of rules, this is what you were trying to fix).

Right now the only skills that have multiple "levels" are the various Weapon Use skills. To make them conform to AiF's own rules, they should be broken up into How to use a bow I, II, and III, with the times adjusted to 20%, 50%, and 100% respectively. This is a relatively minor change and I am going to make it in the Restatement doc, I think.

The one rule change I think I'd like to add, but would be a major overhaul, would be to define professions as a collection of skills, with any bonuses from the profession turned into a skill. This could streamline a bunch of stuff, but would change the skill system a lot. Blacksmithing for example would be defined as Physical Training I, Crafting (blacksmithing), Appraisal (horses), Appraisal (metals), Guild Membership (Blacksmiths). Jeweler would be Appraisal (gemstones), Crafting (precious metals), Guild Membership (Jewelers). Armorer would be Crafting (weapons), Crafting (armor), Appraisal (weapons), Appraisal (armor), Guild Membership (Armorers).