Feral World: Suspicious of Machine Spirits

By LOTRDan, in Only War Rules Questions

Quick question, mostly to shut my players up. We have a new regiment from a feral world. They are also grenadiers. This means they know Tech-Use as a skill, but as Feral Worlders they get -10 to the skill unless they are trained in it. Trained means the +10 advance right, not just knowing about it?

My one player argues that the sentence "Feral world characters suffer an additional -10 penalty on Common Lore (Tech), Medicae, and Tech-Use Skill tests unless they are trained in the skill." is unclear. Claims that the "additional" refers to the -10 you get from not knowing the skill. I'm skeptical, but I thought I would ask.

LOTR_Dan

Since Grenadiers trains them on that Skill the penalty should not apply. I think...

Your player is almost entirely correct. The -10 adds to the normal -20 for using a skill untrained.

Trained refers to the second of the four skill levels, as you note correctly. However, in the description of Suspicious of Machine Spirits it's not written as Trained, but merely as trained, which should mean that it doesn't refer to this specific term. Hence, you're trained in a skill as soon as you have the first skill rank. The use of "additional" is another point in favour of this interpretation, as you take no penalties if you have a skill at Known.