Canon
Handgun B/R, SMG B/R, etc.

Suggestion
Weaponsmith
A B/R skill that covers the following weapon groups: handgun, SMG, assault rifle, rifle, shotgun.

-Siege

You might want to recombine the weapon skills into 'Smallarm' that will cover pistols and SMGs and 'Longarm' that covers everything else. Then the B/R skills based off them are not as silly.

Mechanic
A B/R skill that covers all the vehicle B/R skills.

Fortune: was that sarcasm? I used to be better at detecting it, but you're so bloody subtle...

Crusher: I don't like the idea of combining the weapons skills, but that's a personal bias on my part.

-Siege

Maybe just let them default to each other at +1 TN?

MacGuyver
A B/R skill that covers everything.

But requires unusual materials such as chewing gum, tin foil, and three-week-old milk.

~J

Fortune -- actually, I agree:

Mechanic: B/R car, bike, land transport

AeroTech: B/R helicopter, AV, plane

I just wasn't sure if you agreed.

-Siege

i like unifying all those various i never take them and they're not really run-specific skills like the various Firearms B&R skills into one or two skills. but then, the scope of skills really... varies, with respect to game balance over comparable depth.

and one great big vehicle repair skills does seem... overbroad, but dividing it by propulsion method seems very reasonable. wheeled vehicles, rotorcraft, ground effect, fixed-wing(jet/prop seperate??), sailboats, etc...

I was trying to aim for plausibility -- a gunsmith who can work on handguns would have the same technical skills to work on rifles, shotguns and so on.

By the same line of reasoning, a car mechanic could reasonably service cars, bikes, trucks and so on. But probably not Apache choppers.

-Siege

Why not divide the vehicle B/R's into engine type? Working on a jet engine is a whole lot different hten working on a diesel, and electric is is different then both.

Maybe Gas/Diesel/Methan B/R, Jet/Vectored Thrust B/R, Electric/Fuel Cell B/R, Nucler B/R, and Sail B/R.

But then again each engine could be used for different vehicles like Electric Fixed-Wing or Methan boat, which is completely different then electric cars.

I guess there is no clean cut way to divide B/R skills to fit.

I'll dig out my book and actually spend a few minutes on the subject and make a more coherent post tomorrow.

-Siege

I belive that somewhere in the companion it says that you have an automatic background knowledge skill at 3 levels less than your active skill.
this could be a house rule but I have a rules-lawyer for a GM so we can usually find the rule we want.

The background skill is at half the active and it would give knowledge of manufacturers and suppliers, the trade and perhaps lingo.

I use Small Arms B/R. The same as your suggested Weaponsmith skill, except that it includes anything up to and including MMGs. I see no reason to extend into B/R the game balance tool of breaking up the firearms-skills.

Fortune and sidartha have it right. It's at Active Skill Rating - 3, and it's an optional rule for GMs. See "Background Knowledge" on SR3 p. 90, last paragraph.

If you have pistols 8, with this rule you'd get 5 dice to identify the type of some pistol pointing at you and attempt to remember if it is capable of burst fire, for example. Or you get 5 dice to discuss with others the merits of different Pistols.

Background Knowledge skills don't help with B/R tests. Maybe someone could design a Skill Web, with other ways of defaulting, so if you have Pistol 6 you'd find Pistols B/R just one dot away and for B/R tests you could default to your Pistols at +2.

Alright, here goes:

Gunsmith B/R:
Covers assault rifle, pistol, rifle, shotgun, SMG and all MGs. Also covers manufacture of shells and ammunition.

Heavy Munitions B/R:
Covers Gunnery/heavy weapons except MGs, launch weapons. This covers rounds although creating explosive warheads require Demolitions.

GroundTech B/R:
Covers Bike, Car skill groups

AeroTech B/R:
Covers Fixed Wing, Rotorcraft, Vectored Thrust and LTA skillgroups

Hovercraft B/R:
This one is so unique I left it isolated

Nautical B/R:
Covers Motorboat, sailboat, ship and submarine skill groups

-Siege

Edit: As others have suggested:

Electronics: covers Electronics, Electronics B/R and Computer B/R

That sounds good, but(there is always a but) Sails and nuclear should still be by themselves some how.

I would not let nuclear training come that easy, even though it will probably never come up. I just don't like the idea of my fellow runners knowign that much about nuclear power with out a lot of trianing and a good background story, not just tat they worked in a marina during the summer as a kid.

Also Sailing is a very different animal all together, rigging (use of ropes, not VCR) of a boat is a monumantal task and only gets worse as the sail area increases.

I don't know much about hover craft, but they basically use big fans to push air sort of like an up-side-down helicopter.

Just my 2 cents.

A B/R skill doesn't cover all aspects of modifying, repairing or upgrading a particular thing.

Car B/R (by canon) doesn't include tasks involving parts of the car covered by Electronics B/R and Computer B/R.

Submarine B/R doesn't cover servicing the nuclear reactor. I'm just afraid to include "Nuclear Reactor B/R".

-Siege

I'd like to consider working with ammunition (especially manufacturing it) a separate skill though, or at least separate from Gunsmith. Also, if you really want an exact line to draw, I'd like Gunsmith to cover any personal firearm (measured more by design intent than actual use) the internals of which are similar to those of any revolver, pistol, rifle, shotgun or LMG. This would include, among other things, assault cannons, but would rule out autocannons. Damnit, putting such things to words is hard...

I thought that MGs are more or less similar in design, meaning someone who could service a LMG could service a HMG.

Whereas the mechanisms of the Panther Assault Cannon and the autocannon and similarly large weapon systems are complex enough to warrant seperate skills.

Granted, I don't have any hands-on experience with a Browning .50 caliber HMG, so it's sheer speculation on my part.

-Siege

I know that certain aspects of building and modifying cars has several skills involved, but so far the body and engine seem to fall under the Whatever B/R skill, leaving the electronics to Electronics B/R and Computers to Computer B/R, I think some were Cybernetics B/R or Microtronics B/R is required for something in there also (I don't remember what but I remember soem skill I needed but didn't have come up once while playing a very skillful rigger a while ago). So far that would leave Nuclear engines in the Submarine B/R or Ship B/R.

Yeah, a HMG has internals that are (as far as I know) quite a bit like those on a LMG or MMG. That's why I didn't mentioned anything but an LMG. Had I mentioned "with internals similar to HMGs", that could've been taken to imply that autocannons are included.

A semi-automatic small-caliber cannon is not very different from a semi-automatic large-caliber rifle. Compare Barret M82 vs Barrett Payload Rifle, or NTW-20 in 14.5x114 and 20x83.5. AFAIK, an assault cannon is still a personal firearm with internals very similar to those of a semi-automatic rifle, albeit at a far larger scale.

I've got hands-on experience with an NSV-12.7, but I've got no idea what the internals of one look like. From the way it works, I guess the internals might actually look quite unlike what LMG internals look like. But I'm not sure, better wait for word from someone who has handled the insides of those kinds of weapons (I've spent enough times with the internal organs of a LMG, but never with anything bigger than that).

In any case, revolvers, pistols, SMGs, ARs and bolt-action, fully automatic, semi-automatic, pump-action, lever-action and single-shot rifles and shotguns as well as LMGs and MMGs (GPMGs) should certainly be included, most likely assault cannons as well.

[Edit]Way to change opinions midway through a post, me! So, uhh, I really haven't got a clue what the internals of a HMG look like. They might look almost exactly like those on a belt-fed LMG, or they might look very different. All that other stuff still stands, though.[/Edit]

I'd rule that tinkering with a Nuclear Reactor requires it's own seperate skill.

It's too intense a subject to be lumped under group headings (IMHO).

Mostly because I know a guy who was trained as a nuclear tech on a sub.

-Siege

I think that submarine, like hovercraft is wierd enough to be on its own.

Then you also need spacecraft on its own.


Mmmm... skillweb. Thanks.