Does anybody else find it strange that the Doctor Spec under Colonist doesn't get Knowledge (Xenology), even though it states in the skill's description that this is an important skill for a doctor to have? I know doctors would be well educated and Knowledge (Education) would be developed, but I feel understanding different species biology would be more likely.

I understand that as a colonist it could be argued that you would be treating many people of a similar (own) species of the colony they are a part of, but still, you would think that Star Wars med school would have to cover a lot! I suppose you could go in-career spec with Scholar, but it's a bit much in XP just to have Knowledge (Xenology) as a career skill.

Especially as now under Consular - Healer has this as a career skill in Force and Destiny (can't remember if Medic has this as well).

There are a few careers like this. I'm AFB, but I think it's the Explorer:Scout that doesn't have Stealth, even though it has several talents that relate to it. It's not a big deal, IMHO, the way the careers are structured imposes some limits, and lines have to be drawn somewhere. You just pay the nominal extra cost, or buy a spec that has it. If it's an in-career spec, you'll break even after 4 skill ranks, and get access to a lot more besides.

Just means that you need to choose a second career that has Xenology like scholar as your doctor is becoming more a specialist than the average doctor.

I'm actually the GM, this query was raised by one of my players and I think she would rather go Politico and be a talky character rather than a Scholar know-it-all.

Interesting about Scout and Stealth, none of the players have gone Explorer so this hasn't come up, have to check that out later.

I agree that it isn't a big deal, just thought it was a little strange.

Just an additional note: I think Xenology was meant to represent a form of "anthropology" and includes human and non-human cultures and ways. There's some cross-over with the "Core" and "Outer Rim", but those are still mostly dominated by human activity.

I don't think Xenology was meant to be "biology for non-humans".

For the Explorer/Scout remember that they are mostly non-military personnel. They are more likely frontiersmen or Surveyors rather then a military spec-op path finder (That is one of the Spy builds in AoR). In other words, think more Lewis and Clark and less Ranger, Green Beret, SAS Forces. As such, it is logical that most of their skills would revolve around survival and knowledge. While some may have learned to (or been forced to) learn how to use stealth, it is not necessarily a prerequisite for the job.

I can see it being similar, for the Doctor the Xenology (and I would need to check to see if it was All alien Species, just "animal" species, or ones that could be players). Where the Doctor is a frontier type that may not have a lot of formal medial training or limited to their species (or ones that are typically encountered).

Finally, remember that this system goes under the assumption that everyone has some base level of proficiency with all skills and allows you to use ones that you have no points in without penalty or prohibition.

One of the downloadable characters for the EoE beginners game is a scout and they bought her Agility upto 4, so while she is not able to get a Triumph without spending a Destiny point she is still rolling more dice then someone who bought 2 Agility and 2 skill level is it, so is likely to be more successful more often.

If you and your players agree, you can houserule it. Switch out resilience for Xenology if you think that fits better. Or maybe some doctors only care about or specialize in treating certain kinds of species or spend all their time in one colony.

That could be an interesting story element too, if an "unknown" alien suddenly turns up at the colony and needs medical help.

Explorers with doctor spec has xenology of course, that makes sense, and a colonist doctor could take it for 5 extra per rank. The Medic specialization has xenology.

But I just thought of it, isn`t xenology all about cultures? Medicine should incorporate species physiology, shouldn`t it?

So it should make sense that medics have it, but doctors don`t. I was a medic in the norwegian army and we had a small book and some training in reading "last rites" for muslims and other religions and cultures that might die in our care or be injured and killed by us. Medics(at east here in Norway, but I think international laws of war) have a duty to treat and help any seriously injured soldier in war if they can, no matter what side he or she is on. In theory and if possible of course.

From the CRBs,

"If a character needs to...help...a member of another species, Xenology may assist him in identifying a type of injury..." (snipped to focus on relative information)

That said from a fluff side it actually makes some sense as well.

The Colonist - Doctor from EoTE is a career-spec meant for digging in and forming solid connections, so it makes sense that they wouldn't need to focus on dealing with species they don't see day to day.

The Soldier - Medic from AoR on the other hand is in the vast melting pot that is the rebellion. You never know which species is going to join your side next and need to be prepared to deal with species you've only heard of in your studies.

This.

From the CRBs,

"If a character needs to...help...a member of another species, Xenology may assist him in identifying a type of injury..." (snipped to focus on relative information)

"The difficulty for a Xenology check should be based upon both how often the acting character interacts with the members of the species in question and the relative rarity of that species."

This looks like its a suggestion to keep from having to have a Xenobiology skill. It makes sense in a mechanics way even if it's not exactly correct.

Not to mention that just because you don't have Xenology as a career skill doesn't mean you're somehow prevented from getting ranks in it. It costs you a little bit more, but you can get just as good at it as someone who has it as a career skill.

Just an additional note: I think Xenology was meant to represent a form of "anthropology" and includes human and non-human cultures and ways. There's some cross-over with the "Core" and "Outer Rim", but those are still mostly dominated by human activity.

I don't think Xenology was meant to be "biology for non-humans".

I kind of justify it this way as well. I know the scope of the Star Wars universe is vast enough to cause this line to blur a lot, but:

As a medical Doctor, you're treating people for wounds/health issues.

As an academic Doctor, you're studying insect/biological/alien organisms (alien as the literal definition - ie, a sense of the unknown, rather than how Bothans and Rodians are technically 'aliens').

Hell yeah, anthropology!

Thanks for the responses, most helpful.