Before we start I want to set out two core concepts.
- These rules are based around No Profession.
- Characters will only be buying skills once. (Thereafter training and experience will take over.)
So I am quite happy with the RMU cultures rules and free skills ranks. I do think that GMs should tinker with the ranks both number and distribution to fit their game and play style but apart from that I am cool with cultures.
The biggest bone of contention is the category cost vs individual skills costs.
The individual skills cost for professions is rather moot if you don’t have professions. The hang over is that I can see why people would want to differentiate their characters.
I don’t want to go down the Training Packages route which of course would put a ‘skin’ or ‘build’ over the top of the No Profession.
The No Profession has the nice feature of being able to choose where to place your professional skill bonuses. That guarantees that each player can customise their character.
The best solution so far is Intothatdarknesses variable skill costs.
So there is a standard skill cost progression which I assume will not change again. So I am think that in each category each player may reduce one skill cost by two steps and one skill by one step.
I was concerned that assigning skill costs up front may mean that should a future skill be introduced that characters are then unfairly penalised. I am thinking about RM2 and when Two Weapon Combo was introduced in RoCoII.
On the other hand if the players are only adjusting two skill costs in each category they are not actually locking themselves out of any skill.
This solution also solves another potential problem. The default number of DPs had has been increased from 50 to 60 but the No Profession profession is less efficient than most others so I have been upping the number of DPs 70. Now if each player can reduce the cost of their preferred skills that will redress that balance between the inefficiency of the No Profession and the off the peg professions.
RMU Skills
I like the RMU skills and I like the way combat expertise works. On the other hand I don’t like passive skills and passive bonuses. In all versions of RM each and all skill has been optional and I cannot see any real reason why I cannot simply drop the skills I don’t like, or more the case of redefining the skills. Just dropping the passive skill bonuses solves a lot of my issues.
So I think with just those two house rules I am good with the RMU skill system.