[ooc]Traveller T20 - Full

[Wilphe]

Edit: Actually not quite, on second and third readings, but that's what we've been doing, so will continue to do for this campaign.

The place in the T20 manual that implies that class and profession are seperate during prior history appears to just be wrong - and therefore class does equal profession. If everyone is happy with the way they've built their characters at this point, however, I see no point in going back that far to change it. If there are casualties, we'll tackle this issue then, unless people want to change it now.

(Note to self: go to FLGS and see if second printing of T20 is better-edited than first.)

Check what it says on page 39, 45 and 51 under "multiclass restrictions". That you can only multiclass into Army/Marines/Navy whilst working in the service in prior history would seem pretty fair evidence that xp from working a term can be spent how you like* and that you do not have to take the class to be working it.

*Subject to class restrictions.

 

[Douane]

Wilphe,

perhaps you can clear something up for me.

I've been thinking on the system of prior terms and from what I've seen so far, I ask myself a question:

A Merchant prior term gives you the chance to earn more money, an academic one might earn you EDU, the military paths gives you the best ability to earn XP (promotions, XP,bonus, medals). Why should One ever choose a different one, if I can choose my classes regardless of prior terms?


Thanks,

Folkert

 

[Maerdwyn]

Check what it says on page 39, 45 and 51 under "multiclass restrictions". That you can only multiclass into Army/Marines/Navy whilst working in the service in prior history would seem pretty fair evidence that xp from working a term can be spent how you like* and that you do not have to take the class to be working it.

*Subject to class restrictions.

*re-reads those, plus considers the possibilities of taking the education track, whch provides XP without any class attached, and decides Wilphe is right.* Cool. No Harm, no Foul, as we say in basketball.

 

[Wilphe]

Wilphe,

perhaps you can clear something up for me.

I've been thinking on the system of prior terms and from what I've seen so far, I ask myself a question:

A Merchant prior term gives you the chance to earn more money, an academic one might earn you EDU, the military paths gives you the best ability to earn XP (promotions, XP,bonus, medals). Why should One ever choose a different one, if I can choose my classes regardless of prior terms?


Thanks,

Folkert

Argh!

You want an objective analysis to see if they are all balanced?
Frack.

Um, this might help people who don't have the book as well.

Academic:
Cash average: 15,400
Material: +1 SOC; L M H Passage. Gun, Labship
Decoration?

Army:
Cash average:
12,400
Material: L M H; +4 in stat bonus (Int, Edu, Soc) Weapon
Decoration/Promotion?

Barbarian:
2,100
L, H, Blade, Nothing
Promotion?

Belter:
43,000
L, M, H +1 Stat (int), Sekker (Ship) TAS, Weapon, Nothing
Cash bonus?

Marine:
16,000
+5 Stats (Int, Edu, Soc); L, H, TAS, Weapon
Decoration/Promotion?

Merc
12,400
L M H; +3 Stats (Int, Edu). Weapon, Merc Cruiser
Promotion/Cashbonus?

Merchant
29,400
LMH, TAS, Weapon +2 Int, Free Trader
Promotion/Cash?

Navy
20,000
L, H, +3 Stats (Int, Edu, Soc) Weapon, TAS
Promotion/Decoration?

Noble
87,000
H, Weapon, TAS, Yacht, Nothing
Promotion?

Professional
41,400
L, H, +2 Stats (Int, Edu), Weapon, Gold Watch, Vehicle
Promotion?

Rogue
41,400
L, H, Weapon, Vehicle, +2 (Int/Edu), Nothing
Cash bonus?

Scouts
35,700
L, H, Weapon, +4 (Int/Edu), Scout Ship, Nothing

Traveller
80,000
H, Vehicle, Weapon, TAS, Ship, Nothing +2 (Int/Edu)





Any class can get an Xp bonus, not with equivalent ease or danger thorugh, which is a seperate matter.

 

[Maerdwyn]

Wilphe - that is helpful, thanks.

Douane is right, though, to point out that the military classes will get, on average, a lot more xp - since the promotions are relatively easy rolls to get, and are accompanied by not only additional benefit rolls, but also by 2000xp, each and are in addition to the xp that may be gained by decoration and the regular xp bonus that the other classes get. That's not trivial in a level-based game like the d20 system.

 

[Douane]

Argh!

You want an objective analysis to see if they are all balanced?
Frack.

SORRY!

I had more or less meant to gather an opinion from someone who had actually seen the whole system. (And didn't want subject Maerdwyn to another round of complaining, whining and "Old-man" tales by me. )


Let me explain my position/point of view (hopefully) a bit better:

I'm an old geezer who started with Classic Traveller's "You want to play a Scout? Go through the Scout tours of duty and you have the scout "class".(Also usable in reverse.)". T20 changed this to "There are many kinds of Scouts. You go through the Scout tours of duty to be one, though what kind of scout (=class) you are is up to you." This makes much sense due to "many kinds of" argument. So you can now play a Scout pilot (Scout terms and Scout, Traveller or Navy classes), Scout first contact specialist (Scout terms and rogue class) or Scout troubleshooter (Scout terms and one of the military classes). But certain combinations don't seem viable to me. Why play a Scout with actual Scout levels when Navy or traveller gives you better skill points to buy necessary skills with?

That's from starting with the terms and defining your class later.


The other way round: "I want to play the scout class. Hmmm. I can go through Scout prior terms, but why bother? Military prior terms give me much better XP due to more opportunities to earn them (promotions [also good for mustering out benefits] and medals), Merchants terms allow me to gain a lot of money due to their cash boni and academic terms might very well increase my EDU. So these really sound like better choice.

This disassociation between classes and prior terms bothers me somewhat and from what I had gathered, the only limit/defence to this would be roleplaying reasons.

The list of benefits you kindly typed out (Many thinks for doing so! I had been really interested to see how they were translated into T20. ) alleviates this concern somewhat, as most terms have one thing or another going for them and the mustering benefits do differ. But somehow a bit of uneasiness remains.


Please don't take all of this too seriously, as there is probably too much of an "old-gamer-with-a-different-system" syndrome involved.


[EDIT: Please excuse my bad english. It's late, but I wanted to get my apology to Wilphe out for burdening him with that list.]


Thanks everyone!

Folkert

 

[Seonaid]

Great comic, Wilphe.

 

[Seonaid]

Thanks, Maerdwyn. BTW, I love Rule 0.

I had 1 term of Academic, then 1 term of Traveller, then 4 terms of Academic. I don't remember what I got for mustering out, but it would be nice to be able to keep the High Passage (if that was part of it), since I used it in my history. From my scribbledy-gook notes, it looks like all I got for mustering out is Cr2000, but I could be wrong (and I'll check the past posts later, if things change).

 

[Maerdwyn]

Thanks, Maerdwyn. BTW, I love Rule 0.

I had 1 term of Academic, then 1 term of Traveller, then 4 terms of Academic. I don't remember what I got for mustering out, but it would be nice to be able to keep the High Passage (if that was part of it), since I used it in my history. From my scribbledy-gook notes, it looks like all I got for mustering out is Cr2000, but I could be wrong (and I'll check the past posts later, if things change).

A lot of that academic time though was spent in University, rather than in the Academic profession. Unfortunately, don't get mustering out benefits for university time.

That said, you're still in better shape than you were in.

No high passage, but with a Cash Benefit roll of Cr60,000 you can buy one and still have quite a bit left over. or if you'd prefer, we can say you received two benefits, a high passage voucher and Cr50000.

 

[Seonaid]

It's all good. I'll update my character sheet to reflect this.