Starting skill percentages

[ghost2020]

On another board someone mentioned the confusion some have with starting skill percentages.

I never knew it was an issue and always assumed it was like this...
for example
(skill) starting 40% and + 5% per level. (not counting IQ, O.C.C. bonuses, etc)
1st level 40%
2nd level 45%


Some people have said that the 5% gets added at first level.
so...
1st level 45%
2nd level 50%

So...what do you do?

I've always done the correct way the first one, where the 5% does NOT count at first level.

[Natasha]

In later publications they started to be explicit about bonuses per level by adding a qualifier along the lines of "additional level" and/or "starting at level two".

I have no problem with adding the bonus at level one; it makes sense. But I don't think that's how it actually was supposed to work despite never being spelled out (not to my knowledge anyway).

We always did it that the bonus comes at level 2. And that's how everybody I know does it. I recently considered switching since the starting percentages are abysmally low in my opinion.

[jedi078]

I've always done the correct way the first one, where the 5% does NOT count at first level.

This is the way I have always done it...

[The Dark Elf]

Yeh the first one is correct.

However, we have always added the initial bonus at level one because our consensus is that the skill percentages are too low (IMO) so we make the conscious choice to add it even though it's not by the rules of the book.

[Neo]

I've always used the first one, to do other wise makes no sense. Why would you print a base of 40% then start at 45%?

[Natasha]

Because it says "per level"; what is 1 x 5% - that's the rationale.

[jedi078]

I've always done the correct way the first one, where the 5% does NOT count at first level.

ditto. tho i can see why ppl argue about it coz its totes badly worded

That and they JUST want that extra 5% at 1st level. As if it'll make a difference when during the first strike roll of the game the player rolls a nat one to dodge and ends up with a laser beam coring a pencil size hole through there head.

Also as the GM its my game so if I say no, then the answer is no. You can either player the game the way I intend it to be run or don't play at all. The same applies when I am a player where the GM ruling overrules my opinion(s).

[Neo]

Because it says "per level"; what is 1 x 5% - that's the rationale.

I suppose if Kev had poked in per additional level this would have been cleared up.

[St. Evil]

Because it says "per level"; what is 1 x 5% - that's the rationale.

That is what I do in my game. I also use the base as an unskilled persons chance to know/do something with in reason.

[Dog_O_War]

On another board someone mentioned the confusion some have with starting skill percentages.

I never knew it was an issue and always assumed it was like this...
for example
(skill) starting 40% and + 5% per level. (not counting IQ, O.C.C. bonuses, etc)
1st level 40%
2nd level 45%


Some people have said that the 5% gets added at first level.
so...
1st level 45%
2nd level 50%



I've always done the correct way the first one, where the 5% does NOT count at first level.

If you followed the rules as written, then you're not doing it the correct way.

The rules as intended are a whole-other ballgame. Mainly because the rules were intended to work, be logical, consistent, and make some semblance of sense.

Yet the rules as written are anything but; the only thing I can say about the rules as written is that they are 'correct'.

So...what do you do?

I re-wrote the rules.
instead of a linear level-based increase, I changed it so that you get skill points and can invest them as you see fit, putting points into things you've used or are training to use, instead of "+5% to SCUBA" even though you haven't seen enough water to even drown in since the beginning of the game.

A quick and dirty version of this is to add up all the skills per level a character gets, cut that number in half, and then that's how many skill points per level they get to spend. I'd also cap spending at no more than 20% on a single skill per level, or possibly 10% per level, but you give out incentives: skills the player used often that last level gets a bonus of x1.5 or x2 investment. That is, if they put 10% worth into a skill they used frequently, then it is actually worth 15-20%.

[zor_prime1]

I re-wrote the rules.

A quick and dirty version of this is to add up all the skills per level a character gets, cut that number in half, and then that's how many skill points per level they get to spend. I'd also cap spending at no more than 20% on a single skill per level, or possibly 10% per level, but you give out incentives: skills the player used often that last level gets a bonus of x1.5 or x2 investment. That is, if they put 10% worth into a skill they used frequently, then it is actually worth 15-20%.

In the past I've done something similar. I took the sum of the applicable stats combined with a die roll (I don't remember the exact combination) and gave that number of points to the characters to use at a new experience level. I had assigned each skill a cost to level one level / cost for one additional level. So it looked like this:

Swear word inventing: base skill: 30% +5% per level -- leveling cost 2/3 (5 points to gain 10%)
Thumb wrestling: base skill: 24% +3% per level -- leveling cost 1/3 (4 points to gain 6%)
Animal sound imitation: base skill: 35% +5% per level -- leveling cost 1/2
Staring/gawking: base skill 42% +5% per level -- leveling cost 1/1
Computer mouse operation: base skill: 50% +10% per level -- level cost 3/5
Walking and chewing simultaneously: base skill 45% +4% per level -- level cost 2/4

I borrowed this from another game system. It worked well to show which skills the characters wanted to focus on. So they could spend 2 points and get the 5% for swear word inventing, or spend 5 points (2+3) to gain 10% that xp level. And if they focused on a few skills like this, logically other skills would suffer.
They could level a skill up to twice per new experience level while completely ignoring others. They generally had the potential to level each skill one level if they wanted to.

To gain new skills, I simply used Palladium's "gain x # of skills at level y" rule.

I didn't get so strict as to say that they had to use the skill so many times in that level in order to unlock the extra bonus purchase option. While it would have been a little more realistic, it wouldn't have been yet another thing to keep track of.

It worked well for our game except for one thing: I mistakenly allowed the hand to hand combat to be leveled in the same manner. I should have either not allowed it or made it astronomically expensive. Needless to say it threw the combat balance way off.

[zor_prime1]

Here is another interpretation of the rules for gaining skills and their percentages.

Interpretation 1: When you gain a new skill at say level 3, you start that new skill at the base percent level. You use the +X% for new levels beyond the ones that you've already learned. (I use this one).

Interpretation 2: When you gain a new skill at level 3, you start at the base. BUT in addition to that, you get the +X% x 2 since you're already level 3. So the player would gain new skills and automatically adjust the percentage to be the current level of the character. I had a player who LOVED to argue for the sake of arguing and he tried to sell me on this interpretation. I was disinclined to be acquiescent to his request. I could see his point about the ambiguous wording. But he wasn't the kind of person that was disunrelenting. (sorry for the triple negative. It's late and I'm feeling silly) But I still said 'NO'.