Author Topic: Dual Professions  (Read 5997 times)

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Offline Cormac Doyle

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Re: Dual Professions
« Reply #20 on: August 05, 2007, 07:05:43 PM »
Sorry about the late reply - been on holidays ...

This has come up before ...

1. The character's "Profession" is not the job they do - rather, it is they way they learn ... thus a character cannot be more than one profession, and cannot change profession.

2. If you do not want to give your character crappy costs - don't pick "extreme" professions

3. there needs to be rules for rapid skill progression within certain parameters. We hope to introduce formal rules in one of the up-coming RMC titles. until then ... use the following (NB - since this is Rolemaster ... there simply HAS to be a table  ;) ) ...

- For a "single cost skill" (cost is 9, or 20, or some other single number) - this skill is so foreign to the character that even being given the best possible training and teaching cannot improve the COST of developing the skill. However, if the character is in a position to learn the skill quickly (good trainers / plenty of opportunity to train/practice/etc) they may develop more than one rank per level. See table below.

- For "split-cost skills" (cost is 3/7 or some other cost in this format, excluding skills in the following formats - 3/* or 3/3/3) - these skills are the character's most commonly used skills, and they can already develop these quickly. Given the appropriate circumstances (training/mentor/unusual opportunity), they may develop these skills even faster and develop more than two ranks per level. See table below.

- For skills with costs of #/* (#/#/# in RMSS/FRP), the character can already develop more than 2 ranks per level. Given the appropriate opportunity and training, the cost of developing these skills is reduced. See table below.

CostPer LevelPer LevelExtended
TypeNormalTrainedCost
Single (#)1(lvl*1)+1 or 5#*(ranks developed)
Split (#/$)2(lvl*2)+2 or 8#+$*(ranks developed - 1)
Multiple (#/* or #/#/#)3 (unlimited)(lvl*3)+3#*(ranks developed)*0.8

NB - the number of ranks developed is the LOWER of the two figures listed ...

* When the skill(s) learned in this fashion are part of a "Package", they incur a cost Discount (20% discount ... requires play-testing)
* When the skill(s) learned in this fashion are learned via tuition by a "master", the maximum rank "learnable" by the student is limited by the maximum rank held by the tutor. Additionally, rather than receiving a flat "package" discount, the discount received by the student is derived from the Moving Maneuver chart (Tutor rolls a tuition roll ... if they score above 100%, the amount above 100% is used as the discount. Default difficulty is Medium, buyt GM may modify difficulty for a variety of factors).

Offline markc

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Re: Dual Professions
« Reply #21 on: August 05, 2007, 11:17:18 PM »
Nice rules to play test!
MDC
Bacon Law: A book so good all PC's need to be recreated.
Rule #0: A GM has the right to change any rule in a book to fit their game.
Role Play not Roll Play.
Use a System to tell the story do not let the system play you.

Offline DavidKlecker

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Re: Dual Professions
« Reply #22 on: August 11, 2007, 04:56:40 PM »
Hmmm.... I going to have to digest what was said by Cormac.  ???

What I am going to try is staying the course with the RM system and one profession and use the training packages as the job, again as in RM. However I have adjusted a few rules in the training package.

1) A vocational package can be bought up to 3 times
2) A Lifestyle package MUST be bought 3 times. This is to show the greater discipline of training for the job.
3) The first time the package is bought, the price is discounted to 50%. The second time the price is discounted to 25%. The third time the price is discounted to 10%.
4) Each purchase allows another attempt at getting any special items, missed the last time.
5) After the third and final purchase, certain category skill costs are adjusted slightly to show that the character has acquired enough knowledge to not only perform the job but to learn more. This can never be better than what the "ideal" profession would cost. For example, if a person took a Weapon Master package, their primary category can never be better than that of a fighter.
6) Special bonus, class adjustments can also be made if appropriate. Again never better than the "ideal" profession for the package. That is a Rogue can be trained to match the weapon skills of a fighter, but in the end, the Fighter should still have the greater advantage in his profession. The Rogue may be able to match wits with the sword but the fighters tactics and special attacks should best the Rogue.

I'm going to try this and see how the sheets turn out. I already created a character sheet for myself testing the physician training package. I think I may have overdone it with the ranks.  :-\

So far I like the idea. For me I thought the old model of training packages really didn't add too much to the character to give them the identity of the package. This version definitely shows they have had the training, kinda like the character went to a trade school or learned from a highly skilled master through a serious and disciplined environment.

A couple of pratfalls:
1) what about training during the campaign? If characters start at level 3, I would imagine for the first 3 levels the package purchased should be a lifestyle package. Then during the campaign, if the player has the time to kill to learn another package, then go for it, but in some cases, some campaigns just don't give characters the time to do this.
2) How to keep things balanced between professions?

Let's hope the players like the new setup. Another way to see if the new rules pass the test. ;)
« Last Edit: August 11, 2007, 05:05:18 PM by Monk »

Offline markc

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Re: Dual Professions
« Reply #23 on: August 11, 2007, 06:29:52 PM »
Another idea is as one thing goes up another goes down. So if you are increaseing your medical skills maybe your physical skills go down. Or if you are studying both maybe your social skills go down.

IMO RM is all about the GM adjusting the system to thier game. But as you said above you have to keep balance in mind.
MDC
Bacon Law: A book so good all PC's need to be recreated.
Rule #0: A GM has the right to change any rule in a book to fit their game.
Role Play not Roll Play.
Use a System to tell the story do not let the system play you.