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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7245092" data-attributes="member: 42582">"Should" here just means "will, given the probabilities on the tables". By introducing a Special Duty line on the charts, I increase the number of skills per term (accept for later edition Scouts, who get two skills per term by default - ie more than the Scouts would in 1001 Characters, which (I'm pretty sure) reflects the earlier approach where Scouts get fewer skills because they don't have commissions or promotion). As I explained in the OP, this was a deliberate choice; and, as I said in the OP, I like the PCs it led to.For my part, I don't think the characters we rolled up are overpowered. One noble has Bribery-1, Air/Raft-1 and Gambling-2 (one full terms plus one "failed survival by 1" term). The other has Pilot-1, Leader-1 and Jack-o-T-1 (one term, then failed re-enlistment).The 6-term merchant has Jack-o-T-3, Vacc Suit-1, Eng-1 and Steward-1, and then picked up one weapon skill in mustering out. That's not a particularly long skill list, and is notably strong only in the Jack-o-T.The Diplomat has Liasion-1 (an automatic skill), and then 1 level also in eight other skills in the course of 3 terms. Without special duty, that would be 5 skills (4 for terms, 1 for position). 3 extra skills at expertise level 1 is not going to break the game - what it does is yield expertise in areas (Carousing, Recruitment, Interrogation) that didn't exist in the orignal rules.The pirate has an automatic skill (Brawling-1) and then 5 skills in 3 terms; the naval character has 8 skills in 4 terms (which is what a Traveller Book Scout would receive for 4 terms served).Of six characters, four have one skill each with more than one level of expertise (Gambling-2, two characters with Gun Cbt-2, and Jack-o-T-3).These aren't overpowered skill totals: looking at the Mercenary characters in The Sable Rose Affair, for instance, 7 out of 10 are 34 or older (ie 4+ terms), and even the two 26 year old (ie 2 term) characters have 12 skill ranks each, and one of those has one skill (Grav Vehicle) at level 2.As far as your comment about "long terms", the characters are ages 22, 24, 30, 30, 34, 42: ie 1 term, 1 + a half term, two at 3 terms, one at 4 terms, and one (of the six) at 6 terms. Looking at the Rogues in Supplement 4, 8 of the 40 have 6+ terms, and 18 of the 40 have 3, 4 or 5 terms. Only 14 (ie about 1 in 3) have 1 or 2 terms. That is a profession with a 6+ survival number and a 5+ reenlistment requirement.I don't see any evidence that the characters we generated have atypically long terms or strikingly high skills (either in breadth, or in level of expertise). What we do have is enough to cover a range of bases in play (operating the ship, dealing with officials, dealing with the shadier side of things, and driving the ATV). The actual experience of play showed this to be a nice, well-rounded set of characters. Each brought something distinctive to the situation, including some nicely incongruous mixes - like the engineer/medic also being the guy who is best at dealing with bureaucracy; the somewhat bitter, long-serviing merchant who's seen it all (Jack-o-T-3) also being the one who knows how to prepare and serve a meal (Steward-1); the one-term noble who seems a bit of a wash-out being the pilot; etc. And there's more of this to come up, like the Diplomat/spy being the ATV driver. The only character close to one-dimensionality is the pirate, and even he has Vacc Suit-1, which has the potential to throw him into some unexpected situation that doesn't involve him being a heavy bruiser.Not snarky, but condescending. You seem to be projecting some issues you have coming out of some other debate about Classic Traveller PC-gen, rather than engaging with what I actually posted.</blockquote>

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