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Message: <blockquote data-quote="J_D" data-source="post: 1826567" data-attributes="member: 20956">I dealt with some of these issues a couple of years ago, when attempting to assemble a master list of craft and profession skills.  I came up with the following definitions:An activity qualifies as a craft only if all of the following criteria are met:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">the work is performed on some tangible, physical object</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">the object worked on is physically transformed so that it can fulfill a different function or purpose that it could not before</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">the work is done by hand, with simple hand-held tools in at least the essential transforming phase (heating or curing time that does not cause the essential transformation does not count against this).</li> </ul>An activity qualifies as a profession if any one of the following criteria are met:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">the work is provided as a service that does not produce a new tangible good</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">the tangible good worked on is only repaired or improved in its current use or function, rather than transformed (finding, gathering and/or separating goods also qualifies)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">the work is done by machinery or equipment that does not require constant (or near constant) hands-on attention or is larger or more complex than a simple hand-held tool, or the essential transforming process is dependent on some sort of chemical reaction rather than direct applied effort on the part of the worker.</li> </ul>Personally, I think that considering the Profession skill to be "something that lets you make money" to be patently absurd, because it implies that money can't be made by doing crafts and selling the products thereof.I also consider cooking to be a craft, not a profession.  Besides the fact that it more closely fits the criteria I give for a craft than for a profession, there's the precedence of common phraseology of the "cooking arts" together with the ubiquitous phrase "arts & crafts" which implies cooking is in the category of craft, plus the opinion of a professional food critic: Los Angeles Times food editor Russ Parsons, from his book "How to Read a French Fry", page 9, middle of first paragraph: "Anyone doubting that cooking is a complex art (or perhaps "craft" is more accurate) need only consider frying."I think that Profession (soldier) has nothing to do with either getting paid as a soldier or any knowledge of unit tactics at all.  Profession (Soldier) should be all about -- and only about -- the day-to-day things someone needs to know to function within a military hierarchy.  One needs to recognize rank insignia and know their order (i.e. this rank is higher than that rank), know the chain of command (i.e. what individuals are above one and their ranks), know the regulations one is bound by, know how to march in formation and in step, and perhaps know the unit composition and hierarchy (e.g. companies are made up of platoons which are made up of squads).  Battlefield strategies and unit tactics should have nothing at all to do with the Profession (soldier) skill but instead be part of Knowledge (War) from Sword & Fist or Knowledge (Tactics) from the Complete Warrior... and use one or the other of those latter skills not both, since they are the same skill under different names.  (It wouldn't be the first time that different books use different names for the same skill; does WotC not have any internal master skill list to keep things consistent?)</blockquote>

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