Forums of the Megaverse®

Some skills require prerequisites before they can be taken. Examples from BTS1: Psychotherapy requires Psychology, Pathology requires Chemistry, Surveillance Systems requires Basic Electronics or Electrical Engineering. Examples from BTS2: Surveillance Systems requires Basic Electronics or Electrical Engineering and Computer Operation and Literacy for high-tech systems, Crime Scene Investigation requires Biology, Chemistry, Chemistry: Analytical, Advanced Mathematics, and Literacy, and Medical Doctor requires Biology, Pathology, Chemistry, Basic or Advanced Mathematics, and Literacy.

Do you enforce this requirements? If so, do you allow similar skills to substitute, say Chemistry for Chemistry: Analytical?

If adding new skills, would you add prerequisites for similarly difficult skills?

Yes, there are skills that should have a Pre-Requ skill(s). The preReq. Skill should really be an accurate prereq. rather than "watching some tv/movie/online stream show' and basing the PR Skill off of that. The problem is that cost real money to reasurch what skills take what PR-skill(s).

As for a 'CSI: field operative' skill....I would make Photography one of its PR skills.
A 'CSI: Lab tech' skill would need a science based skill to indicate their specialty.

If you want to tweak the specific prerequisite skills required for some stuff no one's going to give you much guff, particularly if the number of skills stays the same. There is a potential exploit involving characters which have a skill which grants them the prereqs by extension. One example is the Lemurian Experimenter in the "official" article in the Rifter; the skill Marine Biology grants a few other skills such that it's easy for that OCC to snag Medical Doctor on top of whatever other science stuff. Outside of Mathematics skills this generally doesn't have a large effect.

I feel great about them.

thorr-kan wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2024 5:57 pm Do you enforce this requirements? If so, do you allow similar skills to substitute, say Chemistry for Chemistry: Analytical?

If adding new skills, would you add prerequisites for similarly difficult skills?

Yes, I enforce requirements (and those requirements can IINM change between setting books). If the skill is a default package skill (like an OCC or MOS or skill program) that omits requirements in the package (and in cases like MOS not in the OCC) they will receive those requirements for free (minimum skills if they have options like Basic Electronics vs Electrical Engineer) as an example if the skill normally requires a Math skill but that is not part of the package they will get the math skill for free.

No, I do not allow substitutions. Though it should be noted some skills are flexible in their requirements and those requirements could change between settings (IINM).

If adding new (homebrew) skills I can see adding prerequisites when necessary. I could also see adding prerequisites if I were to make "special skills" more widely available.

Yes, requirements are enforced.
Substitutions, not usually allowed. That said, I don't agree with some of the prereqs in the books and would like to see them updated.
Homebrew, yes, would add prereqs where appropriate.

As ShadowLogan says, I apply the rule from RUE pg 299...

RUE pg 299 wrote:If an OCC or RCC starts off with a skill that normally has a pre-requisite skill(s), assume that the character has the pre-requisite skill as part of their training.