[v2.2]Cascade skill issue

[Kilgs]

I keep bumping my head against an issue in Cascade Skills. This would be for v2.2.

Do you add ranks to the different cascades before/during/after character generation?

Example:
Bob goes into law enforcement in first term. He receives
-Small Arms (Pistol)/2
Now, this should also give him Small Arms (Rifle)/1 according to the rules.

Second Term, Bob then enters the Army and receives
-Small Arms (Rifle)/2

If we add the Cascade level at each stage, Bob would have…
-Small Arms (Pistol)/2
-Small Arms (Rifle)/3 (1+2)

I assume since Pistol is higher than Rifle at the time of adjustment, we don’t add a +1 to Pistol also.

Third Term, Bob decides to increase Small Arms (Rifle) to /5
-Small Arms (Rifle)/5
-Small Arms (Pistol)/3 (2+1)

That gets really confusing. So how do people do this…?

[StainlessSteelCynic]

I believe it works as follows but I just can't remember exactly: -
Once the cascade skill reaches half the value of the parent skill you don't add the two different scores anymore. It's no longer a cascade but a skill in its own right. That is, once Rifle Skill equals half the value of Pistol Skill, you no longer cascade Rifle from Pistol but treat it separately.
So for example, if the Pistol score was 6 and Rifle with both the cascaded value and any additions was 2 there's no problem. Once the Rifle score equals 3 without any cascade additions, it becomes a skill in its own right and is no longer treated as a cascade.

[Legbreaker]

You forget about the controlling attribute until the character generation process is complete, then add the final skill points to the controlling attribute (which itself may have changed due to age or secondary activities).

Cascade skills are simply half of the main skill rounded down at all times. If you add points directly to the cascade, then you're improving from that point. Once the originally lower cascade skill (say pistol) is twice the originally higher skill (in this case rifle), then the original rifle increases as the cascade.

In other words, sharing points between the two skills is simply throwing at least half of them into the toilet - focus on one and the other will follow.

[leonpoi]

I've always been confused about this one and it seemed strange to have such a complicated rule for these cascade skills.

For what it's worth, I simplified with a house rule that if a character has a skill point in a cascade skill then every skill in that cascade gets a 0 skill (i.e. can avoid the unskilled penalty). I've therefore really just treated cascade skills as separate skills.

[Legbreaker]

It's really quite simple. Half the higher skill is the default for the lower skill. Placing skill points in the lower skill screws things up a little, but not by much.
V2.0 is the same, but you don't take the extra step and add the controlling attribute to the skill points.

[atiff]

Originally Posted by leonpoi

I've always been confused about this one and it seemed strange to have such a complicated rule for these cascade skills.

For what it's worth, I simplified with a house rule that if a character has a skill point in a cascade skill then every skill in that cascade gets a 0 skill (i.e. can avoid the unskilled penalty). I've therefore really just treated cascade skills as separate skills.

IMO, that's not a house rule, that is a core rule. The book says:

His level in all other subskills is half his level in the overall skill, with fractions rounded down.

If SA (Rifle) = 1, the SA (Pistol) = 1/2 rounded down, = 0 skill

Note this also means if someone had no skill in any of a cascade (e.g., Medical), and then learned by observation to take one of the cascades to 0 (e.g., Med (Trauma Aid) ), then the Diagnosis and Surgery would also have 0 skill since 0/2 = 0

And I agree with Leg on the rest

Andrew

[atiff]

So to resolve this:

Example:
Bob goes into law enforcement in first term. He receives
-Small Arms (Pistol)/2
Now, this should also give him Small Arms (Rifle)/1 according to the rules.

Correct

Second Term, Bob then enters the Army and receives
-Small Arms (Rifle)/2

If we add the Cascade level at each stage, Bob would have…
-Small Arms (Pistol)/2
-Small Arms (Rifle)/3 (1+2)

Correct

I assume since Pistol is higher than Rifle at the time of adjustment, we don’t add a +1 to Pistol also.

Correct in essence. I say this is because Pistol = 3/2, round down, but that is lower than current (2) so leave it at 2.
(Now what if Pistol 2, Rifle 1, and then added 5 points to Rifle? (US basic training + 1st term Marine Sniper). Then Rifle = 6, and Pistol = 6/2 = 3.)

Third Term, Bob decides to increase Small Arms (Rifle) to /5
-Small Arms (Rifle)/5
-Small Arms (Pistol)/3 (2+1)

Close - Rifle goes to 5. Then:

His level in all other subskills is half his level in the overall skill, with fractions rounded down.

Rifle is the new specialty, at 5. Pistol is 5/2, round down, = 2

[Kilgs]

I think Atiff's post is accurate all the way until the end. Pistol does go to 3. Once I laid it out linear-fashion, it made more sense. It works like this...

1. Small Arms is a Cascade.
2. You have to choose a specialization (or have it chosen for you) when you buy the skill. All the other skills in that cascade are 1/2 this level. This Specialization is his Small Arms score.
3. BUT... if you raise a skill that is not the Specialization, it is separated for the extra levels, it does not raise the Small Arms score but the specific specialty score.

A character who receives a cascade skill
must decide on an area of special interest from
among the subskills covered. From then on
his skill level in the chosen specialty skill is the
same as his level in the overall skill. His level
in all of the other subskills is half his level in
the overall skill, with fractions rounded down.

Sometimes it is possible to receive a skill
in a cascade other than the one the character
has already chosen as his specialty. For example,
consider the character above with
Small Arms: 3, specializing in Pistols. If hethen
goes through basic training he will receive
Rifle skill. The Rifle skill received adds to
his Rifle skill only, not his overall Small Arms skill,
thus giving him Small Arms (Pistol): 3 and Small
Arms (Rifle): 2 (1.5+1 = 2, rounded down).
However, if this extra skill would cause his
Rifle skill to exceed his overall Small Arms skill,
then his overall skill will go up, and Rifle will
become his new specialty.
In either case he will have to keep separate
track of his Rifle and Pistol skills from then on.