Secondary Skills and Bonuses

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swest
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Secondary Skills and Bonuses

Unread post by swest »

Greetings,

I see the general principle (in RUE) that Secondary Skills do not benefit from external bonuses (with the exception of the Bonus for high IQ) like O.C.C. Skills and O.C.C. Related Skills do (p.300).

However, I am wondering if that extends to not benefiting from the Bonus received when a Skill is taken twice (e.g. +10 for taking Creative Writing twice)?

Thanks,

- s.west

EDIT: p.s. I assume that the Bonus for Skill Level does apply, based on the statement: "All Secondary Skills start out at the base skill level." (again, p.300).
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desrocfc
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Re: Secondary Skills and Bonuses

Unread post by desrocfc »

swest wrote:Greetings,

I see the general principle (in RUE) that Secondary Skills do not benefit from external bonuses (with the exception of the Bonus for high IQ) like O.C.C. Skills and O.C.C. Related Skills do (p.300).

However, I am wondering if that extends to not benefiting from the Bonus received when a Skill is taken twice (e.g. +10 for taking Creative Writing twice)?

Thanks,

- s.west

EDIT: p.s. I assume that the Bonus for Skill Level does apply, based on the statement: "All Secondary Skills start out at the base skill level." (again, p.300).


Don't have RUE in front of me, but the intent of the bonus for selecting a skill twice seems more like an internalized function to the skill vice a function of being an OCC/Other Skill or Secondary. I've always allowed it, for the very rare times it has come up.

Case in point, I would say I personally have selected Cook twice as a Secondary skill as an amateur chef who likes to try various advanced methods of cooking/baking, but am not on par with a trained chef who gets an OCC bonus to demonstrate a more singular dedication to the skill (represented in the skill bonus and that the skill only takes one skill slot).
Francois DesRochers

http://www.scholarlyadventures.com/blog [A Rifts RPG Blog]
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ITWastrel
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Re: Secondary Skills and Bonuses

Unread post by ITWastrel »

Secondary skills are not second class skills. They're just skills you picked up outside of school, and this do not get scholastic training bonuses for.

Doubled skills represent a professional quality, no matter where you learned the skill.

You may go to a French cooking school, study European Patisserie and Belgian chocolate making, then intern with Gordon Ramsey before earning your hat in a NYC bistro. Your OCC cooking skill has a hefty Scholastic bonus, and is of professional quality automatically. Effectively, the doubled skill and +10% are baked into the OCC bonus.

You might be a Georgia Auntie who feeds a church every weekend and makes a cornbread your Grandpa would come back from the dead for. Auntie didn't have the professional OCC skills and training, she earned her skill by putting in a lot of good effort, ie, buying the skill twice.

Everyone gets the +10% and inherent quality increase when they spend a full second skill slot. This mechanism only exists to make secondary skills better, as OCC skills already have that by default.
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swest
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Re: Secondary Skills and Bonuses

Unread post by swest »

I'm not sure about some of the additional detail that was provided in the two replies to my question.

So, I will restate, and clarify, the question, and then provide the answer that I think was given in these two posts.

Q: In RUE, under the Secondary Skills section on page 300, the following is stated:

      Available Secondary Skills by Category: Below is a list of skills, by category, that can be selected as Secondary Skills. No skill bonuses apply, because these skills are self-taught and do not include intensive or professional training.

    However, some Skills receive a bonus when they are taken twice. I assume that if a Skill is taken twice as an O.C.C. Related Skill, then the taken-twice-bonus would apply. Does the taken-twice-bonus apply if the Skill is taken twice as a Secondary Skill, notwithstanding the aforementioned caveat that "No skill bonuses apply"?

A: Yes.

Is that correct?
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ITWastrel
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Re: Secondary Skills and Bonuses

Unread post by ITWastrel »

swest wrote:I'm not sure about some of the additional detail that was provided in the two replies to my question.

So, I will restate, and clarify, the question, and then provide the answer that I think was given in these two posts.

Q: In RUE, under the Secondary Skills section on page 300, the following is stated:

      Available Secondary Skills by Category: Below is a list of skills, by category, that can be selected as Secondary Skills. No skill bonuses apply, because these skills are self-taught and do not include intensive or professional training.

    However, some Skills receive a bonus when they are taken twice. I assume that if a Skill is taken twice as an O.C.C. Related Skill, then the taken-twice-bonus would apply. Does the taken-twice-bonus apply if the Skill is taken twice as a Secondary Skill, notwithstanding the aforementioned caveat that "No skill bonuses apply"?

A: Yes.

Is that correct?




Yes.

The bonus from double-skills does apply to secondary skills. The "No skill bonuses apply" is ONLY applicable to the Scholastic (OCC) bonus. All other bonuses, from all other sources, still apply.
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Re: Secondary Skills and Bonuses

Unread post by guardiandashi »

ITWastrel wrote:
swest wrote:I'm not sure about some of the additional detail that was provided in the two replies to my question.

So, I will restate, and clarify, the question, and then provide the answer that I think was given in these two posts.

Q: In RUE, under the Secondary Skills section on page 300, the following is stated:

      Available Secondary Skills by Category: Below is a list of skills, by category, that can be selected as Secondary Skills. No skill bonuses apply, because these skills are self-taught and do not include intensive or professional training.

    However, some Skills receive a bonus when they are taken twice. I assume that if a Skill is taken twice as an O.C.C. Related Skill, then the taken-twice-bonus would apply. Does the taken-twice-bonus apply if the Skill is taken twice as a Secondary Skill, notwithstanding the aforementioned caveat that "No skill bonuses apply"?

A: Yes.

Is that correct?




Yes.

The bonus from double-skills does apply to secondary skills. The "No skill bonuses apply" is ONLY applicable to the Scholastic (OCC) bonus. All other bonuses, from all other sources, still apply.


the thing to remember is that some OCC's COULD give secondary skills a bonus if it were specifically spelled out.
additionally some skills explicitly give bonuses to other skills regardless of the source

to give an example the field armorer skill automatically gives the skill basic mechanics regardless of how you picked it
additionally if you picked up gymnastics as a secondary skill its not going to get any bonuses itself but if you have climbing and prowl, that it gives a bonus to then you still get those bonuses because the SKILL gives the bonus and it doesn't matter which slot you got it from as long as its allowed to be picked
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