Skills in the FATE system

[ducere1315]

Has anyone noticed that with the skill list as is, if you have more than say 25 skill points, most of the characters start to look a lot alike in their skill sets?

I realize that the skills presented are not a definitive list, they are influenced in their flavor by the character's aspects and such, and also differentiated by the stunts attached to them.

It's just curious that most sets of characters will have 50% or more of the same skills to varying degrees if you don't go outside the box of tools from the main game.

[Wordmaker]

Yeah, this is true. I've never seen a problem with it, really. In my games, I prefer characters to be distinguished by their personalities and personal stories rather than their abilities. Certainly, characters should excel in areas important to their concept, but a PC is far more than the sum of their skill points. I think FATE's all about the importance of character development and story over base abilities, so it reflects that in its mechanics.

[Becq]

I'm not entirely sure what you mean.  If you mean that, for example, almost everyone will have the same skills somewhere on their character sheet (ie, most have Athletics, but some at 1 and others at 5) then yes, that's absolutely true.  In fact, all characters have *all* skills, though a number of them will have them at Mediocre (0), and by convention we just don't bother writing those skills on the character sheet.  And there's a world of difference between someone with a Average (+1) Guns skill and someone with a Superb (+5) Guns skill.  Well, more of an underworld of difference, in the former's case... 

Remember also that in this game, even starting characters are fairly exceptional people.  This is escpecially true at the "submerged" power level, but even at the "feet in the water" power level characters are described as "enhanced mortals" who can "do stuff that even the best of humanity cannot (but only barely)".

[Lanir]

Depending on the playstyle the group chooses, you can have very different sorts of skill lists. The three example characters from Baltimore for example are quite different when it comes to skills but in some groups a character like Maya would be considered quite a bit less than ideal with Mediocre (+0) in every attack skill. A lot of the people I've played games with in the past liked level systems so if I ran a DFRPG game for them I'd expect almost every character to have a fairly decent rating in skills like Guns, Athletics, Endurance, Weapons/Fists, etc.

[mostlyawake]

Well the block strength, even if they overcome it, should detract from their total shifts of power for that one thing that punches through it.

So you do a block of 10.

Bad guy shoots 15 points of fire at you.

5 get through, and you have to dodge it at a 5 instead of a 15.  Honestly, I don't know if this still hits if it's actual weapon rating is 15 or 5, but I think it's the higher of the two.  Still, your dodge roll is much easier!

[Arcteryx]

Remember also that in this game, even starting characters are fairly exceptional people.  This is escpecially true at the "submerged" power level, but even at the "feet in the water" power level characters are described as "enhanced mortals" who can "do stuff that even the best of humanity cannot (but only barely)".

I just want to point out what a valuable point this is to remember - especially for the GM. Keeping your eye firmly on "what's normal mortal" vs the "exceptional mortal" really helps in the narrative - sometimes the fact that your PC is exceptional when compared to the rest of the world gets lost in the face of everyone else in the party and the supernatural toughies they are facing.