If you're following the "Aragorn was only sixth level" idea in a modern setting, how would college degrees be defined?

[a-d]

Question
If you're following the "Aragorn was only sixth level" idea in a modern setting, how would college degrees be defined?
Associate's
Bachelor's
Master's
Doctorate

Problems
The number of ranks you can attain.
L1: 4
L2: 5
L3: 6
L4: 7

L5: 8
L6: 9

Most people's Attribute bonus
-4: Not many
-3: A couple
-2: Fair amount
-1: Wide pool
+0: Most
+1: Wide pool
+2: Fair amount
+3: A couple
+4: Not many

More than half of them will be capable of earning a Doctorate or the equivalent of such a thing in their field of interest.

The Attribute bonus on top of their skill.
If 4 ranks in Knowledge Physics equals a Bachelor's, does 1 rank and a +3 Intelligence bonus mean they're just as knowledgeable as someone with 4 ranks?

And the D20 dice system.
Someone with a +4 bonus and max ranks who reaches level 4 can automatically answer any question ranking 12 or below, but having 1 rank in the same skill allows almost a fifty-fifty chance of doing the same.

A one in two chance of understanding what a cutting edge researcher idly says?

Personal
I'd thought perhaps having each set of two ranks equal a degree might work if combined with the "Skill Focus" Feat(+3 bonus to chosen skill), which would allow people to earn a Doctorate by Level 2, but...

Question
If you're following the "Aragorn was only sixth level" idea in a modern setting, how would college degrees be defined?
Associate's
Bachelor's
Master's
Doctorate

 

[Savage Wombat]

Considering how unqualified for anything some college graduates are, I don't think there's any real correspondence. Many people graduate from college as 1st level characters; some don't.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'd say an Associate's or Bachelor's degree is roughly equivalent to a 1st-2nd level NPC class like a Scribe, Sage, Alchemist or Noble.

A Master's or equivalent would be a 5th-8th level character. A Doctorate would be 11-14th level.

 

[Stormonu]

Question
If you're following the "Aragorn was only sixth level" idea in a modern setting, how would college degrees be defined?
Associate's
Bachelor's
Master's
Doctorate

I'm fond of the old ranks used by guilds and such, so this would be my ranking:

Acolyte --> 8th Grade --> 1st
Novice --> High School Graduate --> 2nd
Apprentice --> Associate's Degree --> 3rd
Journeyman --> Bachelor's Degree --> 4th
Master --> Master's Degree --> 5th
Grand Master --> Doctorate --> 6th

 

[Manabarbs]

3.5 makes it tricky to model people who are absolutely world-class at one skill or another but who aren't also incredibly resilient to attacks and surprisingly competent with a weapon compared to an average person. The way that skill ranks interact with levels and the way that levels interact with BAB and HP works great for modeling adventurers, which is what it feels most designed for, and where it matters most often, but isn't quite as perfect for modeling random NPCs.

I would say that people really going in on a focused area of knowledge are not only taking skill focus, but are maybe even taking levels of a special NPC class that boosts that.

Another thing worth thinking about is that people with very advanced degrees (or who are otherwise extremely well-studied in an area) do usually have impressive levels of knowledge in a fairly broad topic, but they typically only have truly world-class knowledge in a field that's much, much narrower than anything than what a typical D&D skill covers. For example, my own education represents a reasonable number of ranks of Knowledge (Computer Science), Knowledge (Psychology), and Knowledge (Linguistics) (not the Linguistics skill itself, which covers different things.) All three of those are much narrower than any D&D skill, and even while I'd say that I'm comfortable with those subjects, and my job requires significant knowledge in those areas, there's still huge blind spots in those fields where I don't know very much at all. Meanwhile, the stuff that forms the basis of my actual specialization is just tiny wedges from each of those areas - wedges so tiny that you'd never, ever call them full "skills". (Also, at least in the American University system, very advanced degrees generally represent having demonstrated the ability to help push the field forward, at least in tiny ways, more than just additional accumulated skills and knowledge, although those are generally required to be able to do that.) Most history PhDs I know - to use a field that has a clear existing knowledge skill associated with it - probably do have lots of ranks of Knowledge (History), but what makes them PhDs specifically is that they have an astronomical number of ranks of Knowledge (One very specific aspect of history).

 

[delericho]

One thing to bear in mind is that, in the real world, the more advanced your degree the more specialised the subject. A Doctorate means you're probably the world expert on one tiny tiny aspect of your field. Outside of that field, you probably don't know too much more than people who don't have a Doctorate.

By contrast, the d20 skill system is very very granular. The Perform skill gives equal ability with all instruments in a fairly wide field, where I know from personal experience that even a tiny change in one part of an instrument can take hours to get used to. Switching from one wind instrument to another, despite some superficial similarities, is like switching from French to Italian - you might understand the grammar, but without the words it's largely useless.

So, really, to model such extremely-specialised characters, there really should be some sort of "Advanced Skill Focus" feat that gives a further +3 to checks but only in that one very-focussed area.

In which case, the average person with an Associate or Bachelor's degree is probably a 1st level Expert with slightly above average Int (say 13), maxed ranks in the skill, and the Skill Focus feat - giving a total modifier of +8. The average person with a Master's degree or Doctorate is probably a 1st level Expert with somewhat higher Int (say 15), maxed ranks in the skill, the Skill Focus feat, and our new Advanced Skill Focus feat - giving a total modifier of +9 in general uses of the skill or +12 in their area of expertise.

(And Einstein, then, would be a 5th level Expert with Int 19, maxed ranks, and a selection of Skill Focus and Advanced Skill Focus feats.)

But, needless to say, the d20 rules make for a poor simulation of reality, here the same as elsewhere. Even at 1st level, it is reasonably easy to build non-magical first level characters who can match, or even beat, world-record performances. So don't try to read it too closely.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Pshaw. Aragorn can't be sixth level; Gandalf was only a fifth level wizard!

I think the concept of "Skill Focus" and "Skilll Mastery" gets at what you're aiming for here.

 

[Minigiant]

College Degrees and similiar forms of training would be feats. Skill feats to Trained only skills on low level NPCs of NPC classes.

Because D&D tied skill to toughness via levels, increases of skill that don't make you tougher would be the only option for degrees.

 

[Morrus]

I'd use level as experience and skill ranks as training (with the caveat that D&D doesn't separate those two things well). So low level, lots of skill ranks.

 

[Celebrim]

High School Diploma: ~1st level
Bachelor's Degree: ~2nd level
Master's Degree: ~3rd level
Ph.D.: ~4th level

The above is really the maximum level attained you'd expect. Depending on the rigor of the program and the effort placed by the student, lower levels might be indicated. It would be quite possible to obtain a Ph.D. at a less rigorous institution in a less rigorous field, and be only 1st or 2nd level. This would in particular be indicated if the character's subject matter excellence was extremely narrow and confined to a single field - a sub-discipline of psychology, for example. A Ph.D. holding character who'd earned 4th level might represent a mechanical engineering student who'd learned to be a competent draftsman, machinist, weld and operate heavy machinery as well as having advanced understanding of math, statistics, physics, economics, and engineering principles. Or it might indicate a biology student who'd also had extensive field experience, that requiring learning survival, drawing, swimming, scuba, animal handling, diplomacy, and foreign languages as well as the ability to do HPLC and QPRC.

Other Experience:

MD: +1 level of Expert
Member of a criminal gang: +1 level of Rogue
Earn a Master certification in a trade guild: +1 level of Expert
For each 4 years of organized sport played at a high level: +1 level of Brute
Join Military: +1 level of Fighter
Each tour of duty served in a combat zone: +1 level of Fighter
Each tour of duty or 4 years active duty served in Special Forces: +1 level of Hunter OR Fighter
Each 15 years professional experience: +1 level of Expert
Each 15 years of hard manual labor: +1 level of Brute
Each 15 years in organized crime: +1 level of Rogue
Each 15 years hunting: +1 level of Hunter

Only one qualification can be earned at a time. If experience allows the person to qualify for multiple level increases simultaneously, choose according to the characters personality which was taken.

Most modern persons are 'civilized' 'noncombatants', which mean that compared to your usual D&D types, being 4th level doesn't make them particularly effective combatants. Exceptions are characters which have lived hard, physically dangerous, outdoor, and active lives since early childhood. Compared to medieval persons on the other hand, they have fantastically broad (if shallow) educations.