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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Shaman" data-source="post: 2495351" data-attributes="member: 26473">Bobitron makes a good point about teamwork - it's true in any RPG of course but in a military game, it's really a part of the roleplaying experience as well.Part of working as a team means understanding the various roles the team members will play. As the tech, OD will have responsibility not only for fixing any broken sensors (per the adventure intro) but for maintaining and repairing unit equipment, finding and disarming booby traps, operating communications equipment to keep us in touch with our support, and identifying technological devices that we may come across in the field. That makes Search, Disable Device, Repair and Computer Use the four main skills the tech in this game is likely to need most often, and on which the team will be depending.While there may be a need to build something from scratch, we may be limited in what we can take along in terms of tool kits and supplies, which means Craft (electronics), Craft (mechanical) and Knowledge (technology) skills will be most beneficial in adding skill synergy bonuses - these skills don't necessarily need to be maxed-out, but in order to provide the bonus to Repair et al., you may want to consider putting at least five ranks into one or more of them. Again, you improve the chances of the team accomplishing its mission by making OD efficient at his primary role.I'm a little confused by some of the skills you selected, uraniumdragon. For example, it looks like you have four ranks in Investigate - what sorts of clues will you be looking to analyze or evidence to collect during the adventure? Research is more likely to be useful to OD than Investigate. A single rank in Tumble isn't really worthwhile in my experience - you'll rarely make the DC 15 check to use it in combat, and it doesn't provide any bonus to Total Defense (which requires five ranks).It looks like you've scattered skill points around a number of Knowledge skills as well - it might be more effective to focus on two or three, rather than trying to have a little of everything. IMX Gather Information, Research, and Knowledge (current events) generate similar results - if I have the skills ranks available, I'll usually put points into one or two of the three, maxing one if possible. Personally I'll take either Knowledge (streetwise) or Knowledge (pop culture), but not both - either one will usually add a synergy bonus to Gather Information.I'm guessing that the rank in Sleight of Hand represents some (possibly larcenous?) aspect of OD's past in East St. Louis?  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> Doc Meadows' ranks in Craft (structural) and Knowledge (theology and theosophy) are there for the same reason, representing his experience as a firefighter and a missionary - that they also come in handy for digging foxholes or gaining insight into religious issues during the adventure is just an added benefit. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:"  data-smilie="6"data-shortname=":cool:" />  I like to sink ranks into "background" skills, but what I try to keep in mind is this: am I roleplaying my character as he was five years ago, or as he is now? Finally, when assigning skill ranks and feats, I try to consider the effect of taking 10 or 20 and the DCs I'm likely to face. For example, in my first draft of Doc Meadows, his Treat Injury score was +18 - after thinking about it a bit, I realized that it was overkill, that with a +15 and the ability to take 10 under duress I could consistently hit DC 25, which means that without rolling a die he can treat or stabilize injured characters consistently even without his medical kit. That meant I could swap one talent for another and increase the HP Doc restores instead. Knowing what kinds of DCs you can hit when you take 10 or 20 can influence feat and talent selection to make your character more effective.uraniumdragon, if you find any of these suggestions useful, great - if not, ignore them completely. OD is YOUR CHARACTER to play, not mine, not Bobitron's, so make the choices YOU want to make.</blockquote>

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