Has anyone seen where you actually acquire the advanced skill Medicine? I did not see it on any of the career sheets, but it is definitely listed in the skills section. Also listed in the healing section. Is there some mechanic or sentence I missed on how to obtain it? Thanks!

Purchase at creation or as a non-career advance? thats pricey though, 4 to acquire and 4 to train...

I'd probably add it to the barber-surgeon career in my game.

I don't see that you missed anything. It isn't part of any existing career. Dollars to donuts it's available in a career found in the Adventurers Toolkit.

Boris Hochloff said:

I didn't think so, as I've been devouring the books ever since I received the set. And you're probably right about the Toolkit containing a career that (hopefully) will allow training of the skill .

An advanced career will probably have it, as mentioned. But as of now, it's good that Medicine is so costly to obtain; it fits the setting. This is also true of literacy; a character has to be Trained in the advanced skill Education (not just acquire it!) to be literate.

Mordenthral said:

orly?

did not catch that!

Mordenthral said:

Good point. Definately think it's much better that these skills be rarer than most are used to in a standard 'medieval' RPG. Their rarity will make them that much more powerful for the PCs that gain them.

Mordenthral said:

I'm not sure that is right, although I agree by the RAW, it does appear that way. Personally, i think that is poor choice of words on FFG's part, and it really means that acquiring the skills confers basic literacy.

Take another statement about advanced skills, where on page 16, it says advanced skills cannot be attempted untrained. If untrained is the opposite of trained, then actually that would mean you couldn't used an advanced skill until you have bought it twice and increased it to trained.

This is clearly not the case and in fact the section in which the untrained statement is contained, goes on to explain that advanced skills can be used once acquired. Therefore untrained is the opposite of acquired.

Therefore personally, i think "training" and "untrained", are (poorly chosen) general terms for referring to first acquiring and then increasing a skill to the trained condition.

Having training in a skill does not mean you have to have the skill trained , you merely have to have acquired it.

pumpkin said:

I think this may be carried over from 2ed and DH.

It's true that in 2ed you cannot attempt an advanced skill unless its trained. If you "acquire" an advanced skill in 2ed it's only because you trained it. I am tempted to interpret the rules the same for 3rd. In that if you spend an AP to buy an advanced skill you automatically get it trained.

In DH there are some times where a character can use an advanced skill "untrained". In essence making it a basic skill.

To recap:

Basic can be used untrained.

Advanced cannot be used untrained.

Acquired = Trained

But I could be wrong on this. I am not 100% certain on these new rules.

I think you're right; the wording is just poor.

If you 'acquire' the Education skill you are literate, though the description uses the terminology 'training.' If you actually do become Trained in it, you will get an Expertise dice on Education checks.

Ok...I've changed my mind on "acquired". I now think that "acquired" means that you can use an advanced skill as a basic skill. Similar to how in DH some characters can gain treat some advanced skills as basic.

Under SKILLS & EXPERTISE (core p 16) they explain the difference between basic, trained, and acquired. These are three separate paragraphs leading me to believe that they are completely different statuses. And again under creation (p 30) it illustrates the difference between acquired and trained .

Now where I get fuzzy is on advancements. Under the creation section (p 30) it states that a "skill can only be trained once" and "[if the player trains] an advanced skill it is acquired, not trained". So if we change the word "train" for the word "advance", that is to say "a player advances a skill when spending an advancement point". When a basic skill is advanced it becomes trained. When an advanced skill is advanced it is acquired.

So using that logic a basic skill can gain training level 1 (rolling a single expertise dice) and advanced skills can only be acquired (so you can make a skill check with them, but you cannot train them) at rank 1.

It creates the bizarre situation where a starting character who isn't a High Elf can't begin the game knowing how to read.

Some of us have decided that when they say "training in Education grants basic literacy" they mean the initial training of the skill which would actually just be "acquiring it."

Katsue said:

How is that bizarre? I think a high illiteracy rating is keeping in common with the game setting.

I agree with Mord, training and trained are two different concepts in the rule book. Trained is a specific level allowing the rolling of one or more expertise dice. Training is the spending of advancements (either AP or CP) on a skill.

zelbone said:

I'm OK with illiterate starting characters. But, and I realise this isn't your reading of the rules, my reading of the rules is that a starting character who isn't a High Elf can't read. Even if they're a university student who has acquired the Education skill.

Katsue said:

Well then maybe you should switch to my reading of the rules.

Seriously though, I do understand (and agree at least in principle) what you are saying, which is why I have interpreted the rules how I have.