Capping Hits by Skill Rating, Previously: Random Idea Options

[farrenj]

Just had a random idea pop into my head so I thought I'd post it and see if it was a common idea, uncommon idea, stupid, worth thought, whatever.

I was glancing at another thread when the issue of the skill ratings came up. Hmm.. as I type this I think this was one of the suggested alternate rules in the SR4, limiting hits to whatever the skill rating is?

If you do that, there is a definitely a difference between a skill rating 3 person and a skill rating 6 person. And, of course, remembering the rule that spending edge allows you to ignore hit limitations.

[Jaid]

make it skill rating + 1 is the cap... untrained folks need to have at least a chance to accomplish something.

it does make high skills really valuable, but it also devalues low rating skills.

[Glyph]

The system already rewards hyperspecialization as it is. If you do use it, I would use the optional rule from the book, limiting hits to skill x 2 (or 1 if defaulting). This lets someone with a skill of 3 potentially get 6 hits, which is about right, since 3 is considered to be professional level.

[Eleazar]

Wow, you really need to title this better. When I looked at this title I thought it was a new spell idea. I could definitely see a trickster type having a spell like that in their repertoire.

[deek]

There was a huge thread comparing the skill X 2 vs. skill + 1 cap. Based on all that discussion, skill x 2 would be so rarely encountered, you really don't even need the cap.

All of that pointed to the direction of using skill + 1 as the cap. I've been using that for over a year and honestly, it works really well. I'd highly recommend it for anyone wanting to play a game that focuses more on skills.

The only thing to keep in mind is that you will sometimes find there to be two caps, e.g. spellcasting skill vs. force, so it has been our practice to go with the lower of the two.

[noonesshowmonkey]

That is my preferred method of handling skills as well.

The Skill Rating hits cap was a little harsh so I have used Rating+1.

It has been excellent.

Defs need a better subject title for this. :)

- der menkey

"Certainly there is no hunting like the hunting of man and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never really care for anything else thereafter."
~ Ernest Hemingway

[Dashifen]

I changed the thread title to help people know what they're getting into and to improve searchability later on.

[farrenj]

[Tarantula]

Wouldn't capping skill at rating x 2 mean you couldn't default? rating = 0. 0 x 2 = 0. Hits capped at 0?

[Eryk the Red]

Unless you also said that those without the skill have a hit cap of 1.

[Glyph]

Yes, hits are limited to one if defaulting in that optional rule, as I previously stated.

If you introduce Skill +1 as a cap on hits, be aware of all of the changes it will make. For combat, both neo types (combat sense adepts) and tanks will benefit from an attacker's hits being capped. People with high dice pools will probably call shots much more often, since hits over a certain amount will be wasted anyways. Skills will probably be taken fewer and at higher ratings. People with boosted Attributes, like sammies, will find that they are equally effective in situations with lots of negative modifiers (glare, movement, etc.). Some skills with lower thresholds will be impacted far less than skills with higher thresholds. Dice pool boosters such as kinesics or synthcardium will be less valuable. In some ways, it might discourage versatility of skills, since a skill of one goes back to being worth very little, and a player might not think a peripheral skill is worth the cost it would take to get it up to a decent level.

If you use the lower cap for mages (skill vs. spell force), it won't really affect them that much, until they initiate and start getting higher Magic/casting higher Force spells. The cap is meaningless for spell defense, which uses skill rather than skill plus Attribute, making spell defense more effective against spellcasting.

Finally, note that Edge will have a much greater effect in the game.


Personally, I think the best way to make skills more important is to use Frank's house rules on skill costs. I like the changes in SR4, but one of the casualties of the conversion has been the skill monkey. The guy in SR3 who had 50 points' worth of skills is the hardest to port over into SR4.

[Buster]

I just don't think the hits capped by skill rating houserule is realistic. I've seen plenty of times where a smart kid consistently has better ideas and produces better work in quicker time than someone who's supposedly highly trained and highly skilled. Entire TV shows are built around that premise taken to the extreme (Pretender, Dougie Howser).

And as already said, it makes luck (Edge) the most important "talent" in the game. It's just a needless complication that isn't realistic or enjoyable. Just my 2 :nuyen: