Author Topic: Some advice on skill choice  (Read 1330 times)

Offline Cadd

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Some advice on skill choice
« on: January 29, 2014, 07:12:50 PM »
In making a new character that apart from being a wizard is also a goldsmith. My idea for practical use of this in game is mostly going to revolve around declarations and assessments, and of course his foci and enchanted items will mostly be various kinds of personalized jewelry. However - thinking about skills for him I ran into a bit of trouble: Goldsmithing does not fit comfortably in either Performance or Craftsmanship, to my eyes.

At first I though "oh, of course it's Craftsmanship - this is a craft, there's no "performing" part in this!" Until I looked closer at the trappings...
Breaking, Building, Fixing. These are all really a lot more suited to "practical" crafts, repairing machinery, building houses etc. Being a goldsmith really doesn't help all that much when you try to shore up the door against some oncoming beastie trying to beat it down...

"All right, I guess it might actually be Performance then..." Well, some actually seem to fit better here, at least!
Art Appreciation - transplanted to Jewelry and other fine metalwork, sure!
Composition - This would then be the actual "making the stuff" trapping.
Creative Communication - Eehh... I don't really see how this fits what he's doing...
Playing to an Audience - Most decidedly No.

Now, I understand some trappings (or other areas of the skill) might not be appropriate for every character, especially for those skills that can have a multitude of specializations (a plumber has craftsmanship - doesn't mean he'll be able to fix the bad wiring so you can get the electric lights to work). But in this case I'm really not sure which way to go.

Looking at the trappings, Performance seems a better fit; but at the same time I think the tool use and handiwork translates better over to Craftsmanship when he tries to improvise other stuff...

Sure, I could use either as long as the GM and I agree on the limits of his capabilities, but I'd like input on which skill you people would chose for this.

Offline Taran

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Re: Some advice on skill choice
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2014, 07:40:34 PM »
Are you willing to take a stunt?  Craftsmanship with a stunt for the "art appreciation" and appraisal trappings?  Or vice versa.  Performance with a stunt for the "break building, fixing" trappings.  This might fit better.

Stunt:  Use performance to create and fix jewelry.  Add +1 to make jewellery.

Maybe an aspect would fit better.  In any case, I think Performance fits better.  jewelry is a type of art IMO and a stunt probably isn't necessary.

I see all the trappings working.
Art appreciation is knowledge and appraisal of jewelry, knowing famous jewelry and jewelers.
Composition is crafting it
Creative communication is talking about it and selling it. (maybe it modifies rapport or resources in certain situations)
Playing to an audience is knowing when best to wear it and what items are appropriate for specific types of dress and functions and displaying it. ( I could see this modifying rapport or presence)
« Last Edit: January 29, 2014, 07:46:23 PM by Taran »

Offline Haru

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Re: Some advice on skill choice
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2014, 09:10:37 PM »
I think this is a case where Profession =/= Skill.

There can be many skills that together make a profession. In this case, I think the main skills are those you already mentioned: craftsmanship and performance. Craftsmanship would be the actual creating of the jewelery, while performance would be (among other things) the design part. You could, of course, switch one of those over to the other with a stunt, if you don't want to take both skills at a high level. Depending on if you want to be more artsy or more crafty, you choose the skill you switch over.

Then again, it also depends on what you want it to do in the game. If it is "just" to make your personalized jewelery focus items, I could see 2 ways to go. Either that is totally in the narrative, you are a goldsmith wizard, and so you make your stuff. There isn't really a roll involved in doing it, and since craftsmanship isn't relevant to your character otherwise, you don't have a high skill there (while still being a good goldsmith). Or you use Craftsmanship/Performance instead of Lore when determining the power of enchanted and focus items, again determined by if you are more artsy or crafty. I wouldn't even make you take a stunt for it, you are not really better off by splitting your wizard trio of skills into a wizard quartet.

If you want to have a well running jewelery store in your background, a high resources skill would work as well. You don't play out the day to day, you just have a reasonable amount of money, as well as materials like gold, silver and gemstones at your disposal, the amount determined by your resources skill. Other skills wouldn't have to play into this, if you don't want to do other things as well.
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Offline Cadd

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Re: Some advice on skill choice
« Reply #3 on: January 30, 2014, 01:33:20 PM »
Thank you both!
Taran - you made me see the application of the other parts of Performance for this!
Haru - You made me actually choose to drop some other skills to stick both Performance and Craftsmanship in there, slightly re-imagining how he works and what he's good at; I love how thinking about personality and skills/powers can be a back-and-forth thing, finding new little quirks while deciding on the mechanical parts of a character.

The idea about moving Foci/Enchanted items to another skill even stronger reinforces the idea I always had that Thaumaturgy really wasn't his shtick except for crafting - swapping that skill makes his items carry a fair bit of potency while he'll have to work hard at other Thaumaturgy. (He will need to do that as well! Even if he's primarily an Evocator and Crafter, he's gonna need to work those rituals to get by, there's no one else to cover him there!  ;D )

Offline Taran

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Re: Some advice on skill choice
« Reply #4 on: January 30, 2014, 02:21:25 PM »
Cheers!

Changing your Lore to Craft/Perform for the purposes of enchanted items is a great idea.

Offline Cadd

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Re: Some advice on skill choice
« Reply #5 on: January 30, 2014, 02:45:21 PM »
My GM was completely OK with doing that for free; as Lore will still be an important skill for him, the extra potency of his items is offset by spreading his "needed skills" thinner.

Offline Haru

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Re: Some advice on skill choice
« Reply #6 on: January 30, 2014, 03:23:02 PM »
Glad to be of service. :)
“Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?”
― Terry Pratchett, Going Postal