Chiang-Ku skills

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Mack
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Chiang-Ku skills

Unread post by Mack »

I was noodling through a character idea regarding a Chiang-Ku dragon (England p49) when I noticed that they don't gain any skills as they level up. They're stuck with whatever they get at character creation. I checked the one NPC in that book (p108) and it appears true for him as well, despite being 9th level and an adult dragon. Same with the NPC on p146 of Fed of Magic revised. So a being with a 6,000 year life span can't learn a single skill over the course of their lifetime?

Anyone know if this was updated anywhere?

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Re: Chiang-Ku skills

Unread post by Nekira Sudacne »

Bear in mind, they start with ALL domestic skills. bear in mind that all Song and all musical instruments and all forms of dance fall under Domestic as does cooking. Meaning they already start with tens of thousands of skills being able to play every kind of music known to any species anywhere in the Megaverse along with every kind of cooking known anywhere in the megaverse, and every song ever composed. they might not have room for more...
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Re: Chiang-Ku skills

Unread post by drewkitty ~..~ »

Play till third level and learn a trade. Like Wizard, or LLW, or temp.wiz. or etc... or laser mage....or even a mudane trade like soldier.
Course you'd have to use the optional posted rules.


Note on dialog, CK magically understand/speak all languages.
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Mack
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Re: Chiang-Ku skills

Unread post by Mack »

Nekira Sudacne wrote:Bear in mind, they start with ALL domestic skills. bear in mind that all Song and all musical instruments and all forms of dance fall under Domestic as does cooking. Meaning they already start with tens of thousands of skills being able to play every kind of music known to any species anywhere in the Megaverse along with every kind of cooking known anywhere in the megaverse, and every song ever composed. they might not have room for more...

Have to admit, I never considered that interpretation. That's a significant enough ability that I believe the author would've expressly mentioned it were it intended. YMMV
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Re: Chiang-Ku skills

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drewkitty ~..~ wrote:Note on dialog, CK magically understand/speak all languages.

I don't see that listed anywhere. Can you give a page reference?
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Re: Chiang-Ku skills

Unread post by Nekira Sudacne »

Mack wrote:
drewkitty ~..~ wrote:Note on dialog, CK magically understand/speak all languages.

I don't see that listed anywhere. Can you give a page reference?


England page 49. It's under tattoos, Chiang-Ku have two Marks of Heritage that all Chiang-Ku have even if they're not Tattoo masters. Only instead of the anti-vampire one, they all have the Eye of Knowlege, which is the tattoo that magically grants the ability to speak and read all languages.

So it's not quite innate. Duration is 15 minutes per level for 20 PPE per activation which is plenty for them to keep it up as long as it's needed though.
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Mack
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Re: Chiang-Ku skills

Unread post by Mack »

Nekira Sudacne wrote:
Mack wrote:
drewkitty ~..~ wrote:Note on dialog, CK magically understand/speak all languages.

I don't see that listed anywhere. Can you give a page reference?


England page 49. It's under tattoos, Chiang-Ku have two Marks of Heritage that all Chiang-Ku have even if they're not Tattoo masters. Only instead of the anti-vampire one, they all have the Eye of Knowlege, which is the tattoo that magically grants the ability to speak and read all languages.

So it's not quite innate. Duration is 15 minutes per level for 20 PPE per activation which is plenty for them to keep it up as long as it's needed though.

Ah, thanks. I thought drewkitty referred to an innate ability.

Back to the skills thing...
When England was written, RMB was the core book. RMB has hatchlings learning a 4 additional skills at levels 4 and 8. So I could apply that to the Chiang-Ku.
Or, RUE gives dragons a pair of secondary skills at levels 2, 4, 8, 10, 15, & 20. That seems like a better progression.

The character I had in mind would be a reconnaissance / intelligence expert, which works really well with his natural abilities, psionics, and a bit of magic. He just needs an Espionage skill or two to round him out, which aren't available as the RCC is written.
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Re: Chiang-Ku skills

Unread post by Nekira Sudacne »

I think they were intended to have Standard Hatchling skill progression. If not, then they should.

Also recall that RUE gave Rouge Scholars the ability to teach skills to anyone with a committment of time for both parties. This allows long lived species like Dragons to pick up a huge number of skills if they were so inclined, Though given Dragon's procilivty to hibernation and overconfidence most likely don't learn TOO many this way.

I mean, sure, you or I could take out some loans and go for night classes in electrical engineering or Minerology if we were so inclined, it's hard to justify the time and cost though. Same concerns apply in Rifts where there is on average less leisure time and more resources spent on basic survival.
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Re: Chiang-Ku skills

Unread post by drewkitty ~..~ »

Dragons and gods page 22, withing the racial skills.
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Re: Chiang-Ku skills

Unread post by Mack »

drewkitty ~..~ wrote:Dragons and gods page 22, withing the racial skills.


Thanks, I see the reference now. And since D&G is a more recent publication than England, I'll go with it.

A bit surprised that D&G also doesn't address gaining additional skills. shrug
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Re: Chiang-Ku skills

Unread post by lather »

I'm reminded of one of the iterations of the angels/spirits of light which don't even level up their skills (although they're pretty high to start) let alone gain new skills.
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Re: Chiang-Ku skills

Unread post by Mack »

Brain moving in slow motion...

Realized earlier today that if all Chiang-Ku automatically understand/speak all languages then the Eye of Knowledge tattoo much less useful. All they gain is the 82% Literacy, which ain't bad but not something I necessarily spend one of my tattoos on.
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Re: Chiang-Ku skills

Unread post by Nekira Sudacne »

Marks of Heritage represent cultural values, not individual choice.

For Atlanteans, they really focus on Vampire-slaying culturally as an atonement for a past sin.

For Chiang-Ku, Literacy and reading to gain knowlege must be extremely culturally important, to the point that one is considered outcast if one does not have the tattoo to read all langauges.

I wouldn't waste a tattoo slot on the Heart impaled by a stake unless I thought that undead would actually feature in the game, and yet, all True Atlanteans have them, even in games set far north of Mexico where the GM has no itention of having Vampires or any undead feature. So Chiang-Ku all spend a slot on reading, even if not every individual Chiang-Ku cares about it, they can all do it.
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You can have something done good, fast and cheap. If you want it done good and fast, it's not going to be cheap. If you want it done fast and cheap it won't be good. If you want something done good and cheap it won't be done fast. ~ Dark Brandon
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Mack
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Re: Chiang-Ku skills

Unread post by Mack »

Just to muddy the waters a bit with the magic ability to understand all languages... while it is on p22 of D&G, it is not listed on p23 under the Rifts Stats section.
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Re: Chiang-Ku skills

Unread post by Axelmania »

Mack wrote:So a being with a 6,000 year life span can't learn a single skill over the course of their lifetime?

Anyone know if this was updated anywhere?

You could always go outside your normal 'new skills for new levels' guidelines using Heroes Unlimited college-learning process.

I think the amendment to Rogue Scholars in RUE sort of emulates that.
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