More on the skills tonight, I suppose, since I really want to write something tonight. Progress on separation of the skills went by rather swiftly, but imagining how it would all work together is taking a bit of work. But here's the basic concept.
For the most part, I'm keeping the "Perfect 10" idea I had for the General Skills. It lends itself well, and it makes me think that maybe I might have a good thing going. Now that I've looked at what I've done, there's been some reconsideration on the level cap thing for the general skills. If I put a cap on it, perhaps it will be 20, and there are a few reasons for this (assuming I want a cap at all).
Based on some NPC drawings I did up, a good "villain", or at least one for this particular game, has a fairly high base for magic-based skills. Using this as a litmus, I decided to ponder difficulties and the benefits for taking points and specializing in certain areas. For instance, Mind Control, a specialty of the Advanced Spell Control skill.
Basically, any spell that falls into usage by this are things that take either little effort, or take preparation. A few of them might be usable at will - for example, Mind Control. Of course this all will eventually tie into making Willpower rolls, which is good, but as a base, I wondered how many ranks it would take to destroy or create memories in a person's mind, based on previously-written DCs, under the new system. Using one of my villains is a great way to test this.
As written, and by preparing to use the rules I set forth, in order to perform such a feat, it could take approximately 6 character points to achieve this level of mastery - and in fact, this could even be enough to allow total domination of a strong-willed creature. Here's how this works out.
For every CP you spend, you gain two skill points. For every two skill points, you can spend one on a Specialty. Specialties grant you a +2 bonus to their respective field. For example, Mind Control grants you a double bonus for that particular use of the skill. So, with 6 points, that gives you a total of 12 skill points. That's 8 ranks, and four specialties, which when added up, gives you a +16 to Mind Control (if you decide to take it all four times, mind you). Depending on your ability, this could mean that you can either remove someone's memories, create new ones, or just dominate them outright (subject most likely to a Willpower roll, of course).
That seems rather excessive, however - a powerful ability for only 6 CP spent. Of course, all of that progression is difficult to swallow in a single gulp. So either something is very wrong with my DC tables, or I need to adjust how skills works. Perhaps the main issue is that the DCs appeared fine when I was only dealing with a die roll for these skills. But when you are guaranteed the maximum result, it makes things considerably more difficult.
On the other hand, however, if we make the Difficulty for resisting Mind Control equal to the caster's Advanced Spell Control skill (which in the above example is 16), most people should be able to resist that - even the average Joe ought to have a decent chance at resisting that, since the average Willpower for any given person should be 7-9. Now, this only gives the normal person (or even PC!) a 30% chance of resisting the effect of what could essentially be a total mindwipe. This is both good and bad, because it gives a player few options at resisting an extremely powerful effect, while at the same time not entirely trivializing an extreme amount of specialization.
Of course, it also means that for only 6 CP, you are pretty much given the license to go fuck around with people's minds free-range. With only a one in three chance of failing, odds are in your favor that you will win - even better since your Magic skill will inevitably increase the difficulty. If the average Magic score grants a +3, then there goes any chance you ever had of resisting an effect.
I think that some DCs need to be reconsidered in light of this. Most effects should have their ability shifted up by at least five points or more. This way abilities will require more progression (another three skill points, which translates to two more CP), and which promotes a more balanced approach to increasing the power in one's arsenal.
Now, the negatives: This means it can be pretty easy for an enemy to be able to dominate even the PCs, which is a very bad thing. Of course, since the only thing that really sets a PC above any normal person is their choice of skill arrangements and Advantages, it can be difficult to find a good balance to this. Willpower was originally meant to be one of the few stats that was extremely difficult to increase - particularly due to the influence of Corruption playing a major part in the system.
Perhaps certain effects should be shifted up even further, to make purchasing the ability to control another person even more demanding. More consideration will have to occur on this point, and I think I have gotten away from the main topic at hand, which was that skills have new specialties available to them.
Some skills will allow abilities that can be used by a character, both inside and outside of combat. Such abilities include being able to create computer viruses, cast special spell rituals (summon SUV anyone?), or even the creation of magical items. I'll get into that some other time, but magic items are rare and should remain so - after all, they are very powerful and time consuming to make. We're talking days for something simple, weeks or months for something most players would consider "useful". But again, that is a topic for another time, the important thing is how this impacts skill progression.
Some skills have many specialties, some of which now affect certain attributes that are otherwise difficult to increase. Athletics has specialties which allow you to increase Health, Fatigue, Speed, or even your Stamina. Feats of Strength can now be used as a good determination of what kinds of objects a character can lift - and if they deal any bonus damage when throwing them at someone (or something!). Similarly, some specialties may in fact have their own branches of even further specializing. In the case of enchanting magic items, perhaps you can spend a point to lessen the time it takes to create an item.
Perhaps another 'fix' to this is to have the initial 'rank' of certain Specialties do nothing more than grant access to an ability, instead of also granting a +2 bonus to it. That would require 3 additional Skill Points in order to attain the same amount of power, while at the same time not overpowering the initial rank of a specialty. You can be a Jack of All Trades, but you will suffer as a result. But likewise, a well-rounded character will be more versatile than a one-trick pony.
A lot of things to consider, and I've taken up enough time typing this. I'll sort through it later.
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