SKILLS Specialities, Talents, areas of knowledge, expertise, occupations and professions
Specialities are skills in FASERIP RPG (FASERIP RPG rulebook, pages 20 to 24). They are described as Specialities or Talents interchangeably in the description on page 20 and either word can be used. More generally a Speciality is an area of knowledge or set of skills which give a +1RS bonus on a class of rolls.
The emphasis in the FASERIP RPG rulebook is very much on combat and action, but there is no reason at all why Talents should not include professions, qualifications and street level occupations.
Rather than simply gearing up a character for battle with the Specialities chosen, try also choosing Specialities which reflect the real background of the character. A character might have Talent: Student or Talent: Taxi Driver because that is who they are and what they do. Likewise few criminals in a big city will have the Acrobatics Speciality, but some might have Parkeur or Drug Dealer. And the normal jobs which provide the Average Wealth of a typical adventurer can all be Specialities as well: Journalist, Doctor, Attorney at Law, Politician, School Teacher, Engineer, Test Pilot, Delivery Driver, Bicycle Courier, Field Guide, Homemaker, Dentist, University Lecturer, Author, Private Eye or anything else.
Some of these Talents listed above overlap with existing Specialities as listed in the FASERIP RPG but the emphasis is what makes the difference. A Test Pilot is much more able to deal with unfamiliar controls seen for the first time than someone with Pilot speciality. And there are many types of Pilot with separate qualifications anyway. Likewise, a Politician, with a Wealth roll to pay for some lunches, can effectively use temporary extra Contacts to gain information. It’s all in how the skills are used, and that makes for roleplaying opportunities.
For superhero characters, the details are everything. They bring the game to life. And there should always be many different ways to solve problems in the game. Especially in modern comic book stories, and the streaming shows based on them, peaceful ways to fight crime sometimes have a far greater effect than a simple slugfest. Not always, but often enough so that it should matter what non-violent Specialities are at the disposal of the player characters.
If a player has a special area of interest or is very focused on solving mysteries during play or on the specifics of weapons or some similar preoccupation then it would make sense for that player’s character to have a Speciality reflecting this. That way the player knowledge can feed into the character’s Talents. For example the player who does most of the sleuthing should definitely have the Investigation Speciality or the Private Eye Talent or something similar.
One Excellent way to create Talents for a character is to simply think about the person's background and go from there. A forty year old man who was a US Marine but then did a college degree would logically have USMC Talent, which would cover not all weapons but the specific weapons of a Marine as well as military discipline and other quite surprising skills. He would then also have a Speciality based on his college studies or if he was more of a general student who didn't go on to make use of his degree maybe he just has Talent: College Student. Once you think in this way the skills of a character become very logical. It is up to the gamemaster to see that skills get a good workout in play.
With Karma penalties for not fulfilling local obligations properly or for getting entangled with the law "soft skills", ie non combat or action oriented skills could have Incredible importance in play.
SKILLS AS POWER STUNTS - INDEPENDENT SKILLS
Based on feedback, FASERIPopedia players are playing with skills too different but equally exciting ways. The first group are simply applying the RS bonuses from skills to ability rolls. Since FASERIPopedia, for example in AGENCY, has very high bonuses for skills, this has a massive impact on difficulty.
The second type of playing group is splitting Skills (Talents, Specialities) off as though they were independent of their statistic - so for example a skill that they decide is based on Strength begins with a +1 RS to Strength. However if that skill is improved by +1 RS it now has its own rank, equal to the Strength rank when it was first chosen or rolled - and now develops independently whether the character's Strength rank has temporarily or permanently changed or not.
This is very exciting!
This is a clear variation within FASERIPopedia, with no wrong answer. It resolves into whether players want a robust full skill system or the typical FASERIP bonus system, and whether they want the AGENCY style skill ratings or a more simple "+3 RS to Horse Riding rolls" approach.
CLARIFICATION
FASERIPopedia states that without further modification powers AND skill begin at Terrible rank. This could have been clearer - skill begin at Terrible because the abilities begin at Terrible.
