2013 Character creation questions
 

I have a couple of questions about character creation. Maybe someone here can help.

Qualifications. How do you pay for them? Do you have to pay for surgery separate? How much does it cost? If you have surgery, do you have the same skill in medicine? How come there not separate skills?

Background skill points before age 18. The rules say you get 9 + Cognition. The character generation sheet says 6 + Cognition. Which is correct?

Dumb question. Are bonuses and modifiers the same thing?


Thanks,

Michael

3 of the Cog from the 9 + Cog has to be on Language which is doubled (IE ENG - 3 x 2 = 6 or competent level) ... basically it works out to 6 + cog that you get to spend


I have to look up the other to see how they do the surgery. But I think you have to buy the main medication then buy the surgery separate.

Think of a qualification as an option that increases the number of things you can do with a skill. In the case of the Surgery qual:

Medicine skill: basic first aid and general practice.

Medicine skill + Surgery qualification: basic first aid, general practice, and invasive procedures.

In all cases, a qualification costs 3 skill points. Those aren't added to your skill value for the skill. So if you have 9 points in Medicine and you buy Medicine/Surgery, you still have 9 points in Medicine. A qualification doesn't make you better at any given task - rather, it gives you a broader base of knowledge.

In some cases, it's simpler than dividing the skill list into "basic skills" and "advanced skills" and then sticking skill prerequisites on the advanced skills. In other cases, the qualification isn't useful enough to be a full skill, but it represents knowledge or proficiency that every practitioner of the basic skill shouldn't have.

The rules are correct. 9 + COG.

No. "Modifiers" includes both bonuses and penalties.

- C.

Modifiers
 

What confused me is that you can only have a number of bonuses as you have dice to role. So would a bonus be light spending extra time on a task?

A bonus is anything that increases your TN. Tables 3c and 3d (both on p. 73) show sample bonuses (+) and penalties (-).

- C.