What is the most useful new skill you've come up with?

[Volar the Healer]

Without a doubt, the most useful skill our group came up with is Zero-G. There is no faster way to stop a boarding action in it's tracks than to turn off the artificial gravity when your crew is trained in Zero-G and the pirates are not.

It works well if you're boarding, also. How many characters or NPCs are trained in Zero-G?
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[Rexer]

That is awesome. I never thought about turning off the gravity.
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[Volar the Healer]

Neither does anyone else. It works until your enemies figure out what you're doing.
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[Crell Damar]

Rebel SpacOps Troopers come with Melee Combat: ZeroG as a free specialization

but yeah, good idea for turning the tides in your favor

[Loc Taal]

I like that, Volar! How did you handle the skill? Was it an advanced skill, a specialization for all the different skills, just a normal skill?

We came up with a new specialization for the Scholar skill. I had a character that had the "Scholar: Archaic Melee Combat Styles" skill. We said that for every 5D in the skill, the character would receive +1D to their Melee Combat and Melee Parry skill rolls. This reflected the extensive knowledge that the character had of all forms of melee combat. He was not only trained in melee combat, but he studied other forms that he wasn't trained in, to find their strengths and weaknesses.
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[Crell Damar]

why archaic combat styles, why not just scholar: melee combat styles?

[Crell Damar]

i don't think i've ever needed to come up with a skill... usually when it comes to whatever we're trying to do, if it's not exactly a skill, we either just use the attribute, or the skill we feel fits closest to what we're doing

[Loc Taal]

No real reason, other than that "archaic" just sounded cooler. 8) "He's skilled in the ancient art of..."
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[Crell Damar]

but you see, it doesn't make much sense if he's knowledgeable in ancient styles, and then gets a bonus when he fights some guy who uses a modern style... right?

[Loc Taal]

I think part of the reasoning was that any form of melee combat in the Star Wars universe (other than lightsaber combat) is a little archaic. You rarely see anyone in the Star Wars movies carrying melee weapons, much less fighting with them.

Also, most (if not all) modern fighting styles have their roots in a form of combat that is centuries old. I think having a thorough knowledge of the ancient combat styles that form the basis for modern styles would still give you an advantage.

But like I said, I think it was mostly just to make it sound cooler more than anything else. If you think it would make more sense to just call it Scholar: Melee Combat Styles, that's fine. I would go along with that, too.
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[Guest]

I wonder if use of the scholar:martial arts skill should give any combat bonus? The scholar skills indicate academic knowledge, not physical training. If a person studied the martial arts by watching TV and reading books he might recognize Wing Chun from Shao-Lin Gung Fu, but he wouldn't be able to do either of them.

It seems to me that it's inappropriate to use the game mechanic for specialties for a martial arts skill. This makes martial arts easier to learn than brawling. That's not right.

What do you all think?

[Volar the Healer]

Hey! that last post is mine!
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[Crell Damar]

but at the same time, if a character doesn't start with the martial arts specialization then they've got to start from square one raising it up having it possibly lower than their brawling. But, when you think about it, how many Advanced skills have you seen that aren't Technical skills, i have yet to see one that's not made by the game master

[Volar the Healer]

Huh? I'm not really sure what you're saying.

Don't specializations begin equal to an attribute? Doesn't that mean they'll most likely be higher than a general skill of the same type since the specializations raise +1D / pip spent of the starting 7D? Isn't that one of the advantages of specializations?

You're right about the advanced skills being under the technical attribute in the basic rules. But I see no limitation that advanced skills cannot be under other attributes.

So....it seems a simple game mechanic to continue into other attributes. Surely there are some knowledge based skills that would be advanced skills; Nuclear physics? Hyperspace mathematics? Wouldn't these require a serious mathmatics prerequisite?

...just a thought.
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[Crell Damar]

it only makes martial arts easier to learn than brawling at character creation, because if a character wishes to learn a martial art form after the fact, they have to seek out a master who will be willing to train them in it, at the same time, the student is only allowed to progress when the master sees them fit to, which may end up requiring other skills raised in conjunction.

i agree with you in the fact that having a scholar of a skill only shows book learning, but it says in the book under scholar that some knowledge in a field can merrit a bonus *only in certain situations* and the bonus they advise is only 1D