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Shadow_Prophet
As I said I would I emailed Fanpro for a clarification of the skillgroups, skills and specilizations and how they work together. I just got the response so allow me to pass this knowledge onto you.

QUOTE

Hi,

>There has been a ongoing debate regarding the way skills and skill groups
>work due to the rules conflicting with the example ect.

Care to forward me a link to the thread?

>Below I'm posting part of that discussion on the dumpshock forums.  The
>bolding was added by me for emphasis of the key parts.  From the way I
>have read the rules, excluding the example, you can purchase skill groups
>or you can purchase skills.  Skill groups cost less to raise, skills allow
>you the benefits of specializations.  There are two major questions, one I
>believe which is wholely false and the other I am not completely sure of
>as the rules say one thing but the example shows another.
>
>The first, and what I believe to be completely Incorrect is that you can
>have a skill group and purchase a specialization in one of its subskills
>and still maintain the skillgroup and be able to use that
>specialization.  Page 106 says you can't use specializations with
>skillgroups so to me this would be false.  This also leads me to the
>second question.

That's correct -- specializations and skill groups are not compatible. You
either take a scattershot approach (ie. a skill group) or you take a
focused approach (individual skill with specialization) -- you can't do both.

>If you improve any individual skill, as stated on page 264, the skill
>group no longer exists and are treated as individual skills from that
>point on.  However your example on page 106 shows differently.  Infact it
>shows you don't have the skill group untill you get them all back to the
>same level.  But theres nothing at all in the rules about this, and the
>rule on page 264 would, to me, expressly forbid the example.

There's not really a contradiction here -- if you have a skill group, and
you decide to improve 1 skill from that group only, then you break apart
the skill group. Simple enough.

Is the skill group broken apart forever? Not necessarily, though this is
really more of a GM decision. If the character goes through the effort of
raising all of the individual skills in that former skill group back to the
same rating, could they be treated as a unified skill group from that point
on? Sure, why not -- unless the GM decides otherwise. There's really no
benefit to doing it this way -- you pay more by raising the skills
individually than as a group.

Does this mean that a character could buy up the individual skills in a
skill group separately, get them all to the same rating, and then raise
them as a skill group from that point? I don't see why not, as long as the
GM approves it. And it's easier for bookkeeping.

The only time I would not allow this would be if the character had a
specialization in one of the individual skills -- specializations and skill
groups cannot be used together, so you could not "recombine" the separate
skills into a skill group if one has a specialization. I *might* allow it
if the player was willing to give up the specialization, sacrificing it in
favor of the skill group.

> Also with this to me a specializaton would be improving the skill
individualy and not the group so that would also break up a skill group
correct?

Yeah, if you decide to add a specialization to a skill in a skill group,
then you can no longer get the benefits of the skill group (ie. the bulk
improvement discount).

>Thank you for your time in clarifying this for us, and with your permision
>I would like to post this on the dumpshock forums for clarification purposes.

Sure thing.


:: Rob Boyle ::
Shadowrun Developer for FanPro LLC
info@shadowrunrpg.com ~ www.shadowrunrpg.com


Xenith
Seems fair enough. The clarification is nice too.
Lord Ben
Now ask him if things like smart links count towards the modified skill cap.
blakkie
So did you send him a link to the thread....as sort of a mental anguish payback for him not giving you a blow-by-blow details of how many books shipped to which distributors who supply exactly which retailers using what particular shipping method along with estimates of warehouse schedules? wink.gif
Fortune
Just how I thought it worked. I didn't think Frank was reading it properly.
Shadow_Prophet
QUOTE (blakkie)
So did you send him a link to the thread....as sort of a mental anguish payback for him not giving you a blow-by-blow details of how many books shipped to which distributors who supply exactly which retailers using what particular shipping method along with estimates of warehouse schedules? wink.gif

Yes I sent him a link to the thread.

No it was not out of payback for something I wasn't asking for in the firstplace nyahnyah.gif
blakkie
QUOTE (Fortune)
Just how I thought it worked. I didn't think Frank was reading it properly.

Frank was being FrankTrollman, pulling his munchkin lawyering schtick.
Modesitt
QUOTE ("Blakkie")
Frank was being FrankTrollman, pulling his munchkin lawyering schtick.

What the fuck is your problem? Are you physically incapable of posting in any thread without flaming him even if he hasn't posted in that thread yet?
blakkie
QUOTE (Modesitt)
QUOTE ("Blakkie")
Frank was being FrankTrollman, pulling his munchkin lawyering schtick.

What the fuck is your problem? Are you physically incapable of posting in any thread without flaming him even if he hasn't posted in that thread yet?

Flame? *shrug* Hey, i didn't bring Frank up. He earned all the love he gets.
Xenith
So do you, as I've seen. You seem to be drawn to anywhere you can be as insulting and sarcastic as possible... which would be fine if it was funny too... but it seems to lack a certain.... finesse.

grinbig.gif
snowRaven
See, there are trolls and there are trolls...

And the dumpshock forum-trolls aren't the most sophisticated of their breed... grinbig.gif

(They can be quite entertaining, however, as their kind often is...)
blakkie
QUOTE (Xenith)
So do you, as I've seen. You seem to be drawn to anywhere you can be as insulting and sarcastic as possible... which would be fine if it was funny too... but it seems to lack a certain.... finesse.

grinbig.gif

Sometimes fighting the stupid gets ugly. nyahnyah.gif

P.S. I am too funny. Occationally. wink.gif
Superbum
QUOTE (blakkie @ Sep 20 2005, 01:32 PM)
P.S. I am too funny. Occationally. wink.gif

You misspelled that on purpose. scatter.gif
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