Topic: Question About Specialist Skill Progression

Does anyone have enough play experience to tell me how quickly Specialists max out their skills?  I'm thinking of using the Common Tasks system (and James's lovely encumbrance system) in my game but I'm also planning on using the Mentzer Companion set.  I want to know if I should do something to slow the rate of Specialist skill advancement.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Question About Specialist Skill Progression

I had a 3rd level thief, er specialist, in my game before he died precipitously recently, and we have a 1st level henchman.  I found that they took a lot of search, tinkering and find traps at first level, giving them each a 50/50 on most die rolls.  It was nice having thieves that didn't suck.  The moment we got out of the dungeon, and stealth, languages and climb came into play, they saw the need to start diversifying; I'm not worried about overloading in a regular game.

In a megadungeon like Nightwick Abbey, I guess there's the risk they overspecialize unless you explicitly warn them you'll have situations requiring the skills of well-rounded specialists.

The companion set question is tough though... I'd still keep the projected campaign arc as 1-10 or 1-12 levels like B/X or WFRP, and just integrate the companion rules earlier; allow dominions earlier, use the war machine.  I really hated when Mentzer came out and thief skills, that were scaled for lower levels, suddenly had to stretch to level 36 and B/X level thieves took a big hit.

Re: Question About Specialist Skill Progression

The "problem" of overspecializing isn't really a problem as much as it's a reflection of what they are experiencing.

Early on, you might diversify, since you aren't sure what you'll be doing.  If you keep encountering a varied amount of situations, requiring a different set of skills, each time, they will continue diversifying.  If they end up needing some skills more than others, they will naturally enhance the high-usage skills at the cost of less proficiency in low-density skills.

It's just personal nature.

Dennis Higgins, The Higgipedia.
So mellow, he's probably not REALLY a grognard.

Check out Gaming All Over The Place: http://gamingallover.blogspot.com/

Re: Question About Specialist Skill Progression

poolboy wrote:

The "problem" of overspecializing isn't really a problem as much as it's a reflection of what they are experiencing.

Early on, you might diversify, since you aren't sure what you'll be doing.  If you keep encountering a varied amount of situations, requiring a different set of skills, each time, they will continue diversifying.  If they end up needing some skills more than others, they will naturally enhance the high-usage skills at the cost of less proficiency in low-density skills.

It's just personal nature.

I wasn't really asking about over specialization as much as what happens when I allow the Specialist to level up to 36.