Has anyone created new skills for their game, or been in a game where new skills were created? What are the skills, and how were they worked into the game?

I think when you create a new skill, you have to consider what Careers and Specializations would have that skill as a career skill. And then what? Replace one of the existing career skills for it?

I don't find the game lacks for any particular skill that is unaccounted for. But I would like to hear about created skills that other GMs and players have introduced in their games.

I haven’t created a new skill. IMO, that’s a very daunting task when it comes to trying to ensure that game balance is maintained.

I am trying to create a new force power, and that has been challenging enough for me.

I thought of 2, but haven't implemented them yet. I think the file can be found in my dropbox link in my sig. One I really elaborated on, but the other I skimped on. My muse abandoned me.

Honestly just haven't felt the need, so many are so broad there doesn't seem to be much of a reason.

How would you handle knacks, or special fields of study?

Say you have a player whose background would indicate he knows a lot about the Jedi, the Jedi Order, Lightsaber techniques, and Force powers. Like, he's made studying the Jedi a passion. But mechanically, the next guy over with the same Intellect and Knowledge (Lore) has the same chance of knowing the same information.

Or say you have a guy whose concept includes being totally handy with throwing knives, but claims to have never shot a blaster pistol before in his life. Both are covered under Ranged (Light), but mechanically he's just as good with guns as he is with knife throwing, and vice versa.

Would/Should these be new skills created for these characters? How would you handle that?

I had a player who wanted to create specific skills for himself. Gourmet cooking was one, as was the space-violin. I explained that they could be covered in other areas, depending, but he really wanted to be good at those very specific things.

So I guess that could actually be a fun route encouraging fun character quirks. Tell each player that they can have one rank in a hyper-specific area like those. I know that for this player, it encouraged him to find ways to use those to further the goals of himself and the party.

I use a custom skilled called Archery (universal career skill) for use with the Corellian bow in Suns of Fortune, just so people won't have to build up both Ranged (heavy) and Ranged (light) to use the different arrows. Other than that I haven't seen the need so far.

As long as the player is not trying to use that skill all the time I think it should be okay. Of course you can just put it as something in their backround that will add a boost die when they use a knife instead of a blaster? You would have to change it so the boost does not add everything a boost would add. So say it only helps if they roll 1 specific side of the boost die, otherwise you are giving them a boost die all the time with no specific reason.

Basically you have to be aware of the player trying to meta game the system. Meaning they are just trying to roll better dice without spending the xp.

How would you handle knacks, or special fields of study?

Say you have a player whose background would indicate he knows a lot about the Jedi, the Jedi Order, Lightsaber techniques, and Force powers. Like, he's made studying the Jedi a passion. But mechanically, the next guy over with the same Intellect and Knowledge (Lore) has the same chance of knowing the same information.

Or say you have a guy whose concept includes being totally handy with throwing knives, but claims to have never shot a blaster pistol before in his life. Both are covered under Ranged (Light), but mechanically he's just as good with guns as he is with knife throwing, and vice versa.

Would/Should these be new skills created for these characters? How would you handle that?

Setbacks or Upgrades to someone who hasn't shown an interest in focusing or mentioning it in their character background.

Say you have a player whose background would indicate he knows a lot about the Jedi, the Jedi Order, Lightsaber techniques, and Force powers. Like, he's made studying the Jedi a passion. But mechanically, the next guy over with the same Intellect and Knowledge (Lore) has the same chance of knowing the same information.

I would do that as Knowledge (Lore), but his particular area of study would give him boost dice with regards to anything specific to the Jedi.

Or say you have a guy whose concept includes being totally handy with throwing knives, but claims to have never shot a blaster pistol before in his life. Both are covered under Ranged (Light), but mechanically he's just as good with guns as he is with knife throwing, and vice versa.

I would do that as Ranged [Light], but give him setback and maybe upgrade the difficulty if he were to try to use that skill with Blasters. Anyone can pick up the blaster and try to use it, but it does take talent and/or training to use it well.

Would/Should these be new skills created for these characters? How would you handle that?

I don’t see a need to do these as new skills specifically for these characters, but you could certainly do them that way.

However, making them a character-specific skill, I don’t think you need to worry so much about balance or what careers would normally have access to them, etc…. It would be a lot easier to say that the player(s) in question just write “Knowledge (Jedi Lore)” and “Ranged (Light, Knives)” on their character sheets, and no one else in the game needs to worry about either of those.

Trying to add a new skill that could/should be applicable to everyone in your Universe, I think that would be a lot harder to try to balance properly. So long as you keep them unique to specific character(s), I think you have a great deal more freedom.

How would you handle knacks, or special fields of study?

Say you have a player whose background would indicate he knows a lot about the Jedi, the Jedi Order, Lightsaber techniques, and Force powers. Like, he's made studying the Jedi a passion. But mechanically, the next guy over with the same Intellect and Knowledge (Lore) has the same chance of knowing the same information.

Or say you have a guy whose concept includes being totally handy with throwing knives, but claims to have never shot a blaster pistol before in his life. Both are covered under Ranged (Light), but mechanically he's just as good with guns as he is with knife throwing, and vice versa.

Would/Should these be new skills created for these characters? How would you handle that?

Following the protocol for what is already in the game, positive effects are best represented by conditional boost dice. Look at some of the Talents, like Physical Training, Stalker, or Shortcut, that's all they do. Those are "knacks" if anything is.

Likewise, negative effects are best represented by setback. So maybe your knife-thrower gets a boost die, so long as he accepts the setback for blasters. Or maybe, after a rank of training, it's a wash.

I think if you go too far and overthink it you can easily unbalance things. The game doesn't codify super specific conditions, but it doesn't need to because you have access to the boost/setback mechanic. However, you can already Aim twice and add two boost dice to any shot, even a bog-standard untrained human can easily hit something at short range, and will likely hit at medium. Somebody with 4 Agility will have zero problems with any weapon. Tossing in more boost dice because they are a super-awesome circus-level knife-throwing genius that never shot a blaster just skews things too far IMHO. I might allow the boost die until they take their first skill rank.

Someone would have to have a REALLY good reason for a new skill. So far, no one in my game has even asked. They know it's an uphill battle with me as a GM, though. Not because I'm a hardass or anything. They just know all the logic people have presented in the messages above mine (and probably below) because I've had DECADES playing with them and they've heard me say it all.

There are plenty of skills one can add to the game and not worry about what Careers/Specializations should have them. Think about all the various possible Knowledges that someone might have due to training or education or just plain boredom, heheh. Shadowrun did this where the players were encouraged to buy up knowledge based skills to help round out the characters. So, someone might have Knowledge (Correlia) due to having spent a lot of time in the system, or Knowledge (Holonet stars). No reason the character has to be limited to just the few in the books that have Talents or other abilities tied to them.

The only new skill I've ever considered is one for Language. I know the game pretty much says that everyone understands everything for ease of simplicity but that never sat well with me. I would likely make it a class skill for all Careers and award players a number of Languages at start based on their Intellect plus whatever their native tongue is.

The only new skill I've ever considered is one for Language. I know the game pretty much says that everyone understands everything for ease of simplicity but that never sat well with me. I would likely make it a class skill for all Careers and award players a number of Languages at start based on their Intellect plus whatever their native tongue is.

Which doesn't really make a lot of sense. Intellect really has nothing to do with the ability to learn languages. There are kids in Africa that know 50 or more languages while kids elsewhere only know 1 or 2. So it is less about smarts and more about exposure.

The only new skill I've ever considered is one for Language. I know the game pretty much says that everyone understands everything for ease of simplicity but that never sat well with me. I would likely make it a class skill for all Careers and award players a number of Languages at start based on their Intellect plus whatever their native tongue is.

Which doesn't really make a lot of sense. Intellect really has nothing to do with the ability to learn languages. There are kids in Africa that know 50 or more languages while kids elsewhere only know 1 or 2. So it is less about smarts and more about exposure.

It's the best Characteristic that fits in this game. I don't think Presence, Willpower, or Cunning are any better fits. However Intellect is tied to things like Knowledge and as such I figure it's close enough for what I need. In this system Intellect seems to represent learned skills and learning a new language is definitely a learned skill.

The only new skill I've ever considered is one for Language. I know the game pretty much says that everyone understands everything for ease of simplicity but that never sat well with me. I would likely make it a class skill for all Careers and award players a number of Languages at start based on their Intellect plus whatever their native tongue is.

Which doesn't really make a lot of sense. Intellect really has nothing to do with the ability to learn languages. There are kids in Africa that know 50 or more languages while kids elsewhere only know 1 or 2. So it is less about smarts and more about exposure.

Implying that kids in africa can't be intelligent? I mean I largely agree with your intent but that's a terrible attempt at supporting it lol. It'd make more sense if he was saying that Language would be a subset of Knowledge Education. Then by all means, children in africa would have a hard time with it (which we've understood they do not)

Language off of Intellect still makes sense, as does it being a knowledge skill. Alternatively Presence (Or even Cunning) actually makes sense as well. It is your ability to communicate with others, basically. And it depends on how someone learns best, as well as the language in question. Some of them are very logical, others are very creative. A high INT character would likely learn Binary with ease but struggle with Ryl, and vice versa of a creative character.

I guess my suggestion would be to leave the skill Attributeless and only use ranks vs Setback dice (rather than purples, since it'll never grow to yellows) as a baseline. Or use an average Attribute score of Intelligence, Cunning, and Presence vs normal difficulty rules, under the assumption the character makes use of as much of those as he can to figure languages out depending on the specific language. Unless you happen to know off hand exactly how logical or creative minded every language is. Then make it a fluid skill and apply the appropriate attribute at the time. But the averaging is a much easier idea.

The only new skill I've ever considered is one for Language. I know the game pretty much says that everyone understands everything for ease of simplicity but that never sat well with me. I would likely make it a class skill for all Careers and award players a number of Languages at start based on their Intellect plus whatever their native tongue is.

Which doesn't really make a lot of sense. Intellect really has nothing to do with the ability to learn languages. There are kids in Africa that know 50 or more languages while kids elsewhere only know 1 or 2. So it is less about smarts and more about exposure.

Implying that kids in africa can't be intelligent? I mean I largely agree with your intent but that's a terrible attempt at supporting it lol. It'd make more sense if he was saying that Language would be a subset of Knowledge Education. Then by all means, children in africa would have a hard time with it (which we've understood they do not)

Language off of Intellect still makes sense, as does it being a knowledge skill. Alternatively Presence (Or even Cunning) actually makes sense as well. It is your ability to communicate with others, basically. And it depends on how someone learns best, as well as the language in question. Some of them are very logical, others are very creative. A high INT character would likely learn Binary with ease but struggle with Ryl, and vice versa of a creative character.

I guess my suggestion would be to leave the skill Attributeless and only use ranks vs Setback dice (rather than purples, since it'll never grow to yellows) as a baseline. Or use an average Attribute score of Intelligence, Cunning, and Presence vs normal difficulty rules, under the assumption the character makes use of as much of those as he can to figure languages out depending on the specific language. Unless you happen to know off hand exactly how logical or creative minded every language is. Then make it a fluid skill and apply the appropriate attribute at the time. But the averaging is a much easier idea.

Wow, talk about completely missing the point. Intellect has nothing to do with language as language is just, first, to learn to make the sounds, then it is building up the vocab of those sounds to a more complex meaning. Children below the age of 1 learn the sounds they will use by listening to those around them. Even before a child can speak, they can recognize a "native" tongue vs a foreign sound.

Kids in Africa are exposed to more languages and more nuanced sounds due to just how many languages there are in that region. So, again, has nothing to do with Intellect. So, you are inferring something that I never even implied.

The only new skill I've ever considered is one for Language. I know the game pretty much says that everyone understands everything for ease of simplicity but that never sat well with me. I would likely make it a class skill for all Careers and award players a number of Languages at start based on their Intellect plus whatever their native tongue is.

Which doesn't really make a lot of sense. Intellect really has nothing to do with the ability to learn languages. There are kids in Africa that know 50 or more languages while kids elsewhere only know 1 or 2. So it is less about smarts and more about exposure.

It's the best Characteristic that fits in this game. I don't think Presence, Willpower, or Cunning are any better fits. However Intellect is tied to things like Knowledge and as such I figure it's close enough for what I need. In this system Intellect seems to represent learned skills and learning a new language is definitely a learned skill.

But that's the point. If they grow up in a polyglot society, then a person knowing 10, 15, 30, 100 languages has nothing to do with any of their characteristics. So, the way the designers came up with it works just fine for the system/setting, which is to assume that two people have no communication issues unless it suits the story, such as encountering a new alien for the first time.

The only new skill I've ever considered is one for Language. I know the game pretty much says that everyone understands everything for ease of simplicity but that never sat well with me. I would likely make it a class skill for all Careers and award players a number of Languages at start based on their Intellect plus whatever their native tongue is.

Which doesn't really make a lot of sense. Intellect really has nothing to do with the ability to learn languages. There are kids in Africa that know 50 or more languages while kids elsewhere only know 1 or 2. So it is less about smarts and more about exposure.

It's the best Characteristic that fits in this game. I don't think Presence, Willpower, or Cunning are any better fits. However Intellect is tied to things like Knowledge and as such I figure it's close enough for what I need. In this system Intellect seems to represent learned skills and learning a new language is definitely a learned skill.

But that's the point. If they grow up in a polyglot society, then a person knowing 10, 15, 30, 100 languages has nothing to do with any of their characteristics. So, the way the designers came up with it works just fine for the system/setting, which is to assume that two people have no communication issues unless it suits the story, such as encountering a new alien for the first time.

It doesn't work for me, as I'd rather characters not be assumed to speak all languages except for when I the GM randomly decide they don't know it. But this is a thread about what Skills a person would add to the game, and as such I'm stating what skill I would add to the game. The entire premise of the thread is to add things that may not be what the designers intended or go against how they originally set it up. Which is fine by me. I wholly admit that Intellect is not the best overall Characteristic And I know how complicated learning languages are, I currently speak 2 additional ones and learning a 3rd. But of the ones we have to choose from I feel it is better than the others. And it's not like this would be the first time. Other games have used the Intelligence score as well.

It's not a perfect fit. But it's the best fit that works for me.

The only new skill I've ever considered is one for Language. I know the game pretty much says that everyone understands everything for ease of simplicity but that never sat well with me. I would likely make it a class skill for all Careers and award players a number of Languages at start based on their Intellect plus whatever their native tongue is.

Which doesn't really make a lot of sense. Intellect really has nothing to do with the ability to learn languages. There are kids in Africa that know 50 or more languages while kids elsewhere only know 1 or 2. So it is less about smarts and more about exposure.

Implying that kids in africa can't be intelligent? I mean I largely agree with your intent but that's a terrible attempt at supporting it lol. It'd make more sense if he was saying that Language would be a subset of Knowledge Education. Then by all means, children in africa would have a hard time with it (which we've understood they do not)

Language off of Intellect still makes sense, as does it being a knowledge skill. Alternatively Presence (Or even Cunning) actually makes sense as well. It is your ability to communicate with others, basically. And it depends on how someone learns best, as well as the language in question. Some of them are very logical, others are very creative. A high INT character would likely learn Binary with ease but struggle with Ryl, and vice versa of a creative character.

I guess my suggestion would be to leave the skill Attributeless and only use ranks vs Setback dice (rather than purples, since it'll never grow to yellows) as a baseline. Or use an average Attribute score of Intelligence, Cunning, and Presence vs normal difficulty rules, under the assumption the character makes use of as much of those as he can to figure languages out depending on the specific language. Unless you happen to know off hand exactly how logical or creative minded every language is. Then make it a fluid skill and apply the appropriate attribute at the time. But the averaging is a much easier idea.

Wow, talk about completely missing the point. Intellect has nothing to do with language as language is just, first, to learn to make the sounds, then it is building up the vocab of those sounds to a more complex meaning. Children below the age of 1 learn the sounds they will use by listening to those around them. Even before a child can speak, they can recognize a "native" tongue vs a foreign sound.

Kids in Africa are exposed to more languages and more nuanced sounds due to just how many languages there are in that region. So, again, has nothing to do with Intellect. So, you are inferring something that I never even implied.

To be honest I'm not sure what you're talking about, hence why I phrased that as a question. If we're talking about "native" languages then sure, children and picking up on things is actually related to the topic. But I would assume that OP is talking about learning "foreign" languages and making checks on languages the characters are unfamiliar with. Grown adults don't learn languages the same way a 1 year old does. And even then there's a lot more to learning a language than making sounds and having a vocabulary. The biggest and most difficult part. Grammar. That part of language that people spend decades in universities learning higher and higher forms of in their native language, much less a foreign one.

Also Intellect would be extremely important in deciphering dead or extremely uncommon languages, finding patterns and such.

I mean, there's a reason Intelligence has been the go-to stat for Language based skills in nearly every game that has them. The only times it isn't relevant to language is when a baby is learning it (and I mean, if that's a fun campaign for someone, go for it) or when a language is heavily dependant on emotions or subtle non-verbal queues. (Which from my understanding happens somewhat often in Star Wars). And even then it's still important, just other stats also become important. Some languages may even depend heavily or entirely on historical facts, that would be even more Intellect based than normal.

The more I think about this the more Intelligence actually stands out as the answer.

The thing to remember about the game is that there are essentially two "intelligence" related attributes - Intellect and Cunning.

I'd encourage reading the core books very specifically - someone with a very high "intelligence" but no education could very well be represented by a low Intellect and a high Cunning, or the clueless Professor as just the opposite.

In our Conan themed game, we also wanted language to be a thing, so we added a specific number of available languages based on one (chosen at character creation) of the two stats, to represent this very dichotomy. That way, you can have the person who studies languages, verses the person who grows up learning them on the street...

The point is, do what works for your game... but don't get too hung up on it.

Regarding adding languages to the game: I tend to want a concrete list of known languages, but my personal take is not to add an entirely new skill set, but rather to allow each rank of a Knowledge skill to also add a known language appropriate to the Knowledge.

Knowledge (Core) - would allow a language from species in the core

Knowledge (Rim) - species from the outer rim

Knowledge (Underworld) - species prominent in the underworld (Huttese would almost always be learned with Rank 1 for example)

Knowledge (Lore) - tending towards dead or outdated languages, but also could indicate languages from strongly religious cultures or prominent mystical groups

Knowledge (Education) - extremely common species or those with high technical aptitude

Knowledge (Warfare) - Warrior species

Knowledge (Xenology) - pretty much anything except your own species

Finally also add a number of free languages equal the higher of Intellect or Cunning.

It adds a level of bookkeeping (tracking known languages), but avoid the XP drain of actually adding a new skill and is flexible since most species would fit in multiple Knowledge categories, allowing players a wide range of options for their characters.

Regarding adding languages to the game: I tend to want a concrete list of known languages, but my personal take is not to add an entirely new skill set, but rather to allow each rank of a Knowledge skill to also add a known language appropriate to the Knowledge.

Knowledge (Core) - would allow a language from species in the core

Knowledge (Rim) - species from the outer rim

Knowledge (Underworld) - species prominent in the underworld (Huttese would almost always be learned with Rank 1 for example)

Knowledge (Lore) - tending towards dead or outdated languages, but also could indicate languages from strongly religious cultures or prominent mystical groups

Knowledge (Education) - extremely common species or those with high technical aptitude

Knowledge (Warfare) - Warrior species

Knowledge (Xenology) - pretty much anything except your own species

Finally also add a number of free languages equal the higher of Intellect or Cunning.

It adds a level of bookkeeping (tracking known languages), but avoid the XP drain of actually adding a new skill and is flexible since most species would fit in multiple Knowledge categories, allowing players a wide range of options for their characters.

That's not a bad method.

Regarding adding languages to the game: I tend to want a concrete list of known languages, but my personal take is not to add an entirely new skill set, but rather to allow each rank of a Knowledge skill to also add a known language appropriate to the Knowledge.

Knowledge (Core) - would allow a language from species in the core

Knowledge (Rim) - species from the outer rim

Knowledge (Underworld) - species prominent in the underworld (Huttese would almost always be learned with Rank 1 for example)

Knowledge (Lore) - tending towards dead or outdated languages, but also could indicate languages from strongly religious cultures or prominent mystical groups

Knowledge (Education) - extremely common species or those with high technical aptitude

Knowledge (Warfare) - Warrior species

Knowledge (Xenology) - pretty much anything except your own species

Finally also add a number of free languages equal the higher of Intellect or Cunning.

It adds a level of bookkeeping (tracking known languages), but avoid the XP drain of actually adding a new skill and is flexible since most species would fit in multiple Knowledge categories, allowing players a wide range of options for their characters.

Dude. That's actually really elegant.

Well done.