IMO they're a little overpriced unless you plan on using them a lot. If you have a decent library, and are willing to get skill ware installed, it's a great way to quickly add flexibility to a character. IMO they're probably best for roles like combat (for noncombat characters) or high mobility, as both of those can use a lot of active skills. They're also good for bot RCers or Jammers, as using a lot of bots can require more movement or piloting skills than normal. They do swap out easily, so I could see a character with a big library or multiple skill ware implants having a huge amount of flexibility in skills. I'm not 100% sure how useful that would be in practice though.

I rule that skillware overides your skill rating. Running a infosec skillsoft of 20 on a character that normally has 60? Well you are now stuck with 20. Not something you want to do most days. It is simpler than doing a whole bunch of math each time you reassign your skillsofts. Mind you, I rule that you can reassign skillsofts in 1 turn, so there isn't a whole lot of reasons for having skills less than 40. I would rule that running multiple skillware implants is not possible. It would mess with your brain too much. Actually, if you don't mind a screwy mind, I might allow you to get more skillsofts running on a character, assuming the drawbacks were intense enough. Or how about the stories about skillsofts of 60 and what "hidden extras" they have. Some stories say that they might be brain patterns torn from another person, and sometimes their habits shine through as the skillsoft wasn't properly pruned... Imagine running around with skillsoft blades 60 for few weeks, but then you find out you've been stalking someone during that time, or that you have a few obsessive moments written in your diary, or something worse... Knowledgesofts? That is what I call skillsofts for knowledge skills (I might look for a better name). Doesn't come up often. I rule that they are skillsofts that can go up to 80, and can have up to 200 points at a time. Does not conflict with skillsofts.

I rule that skillsofts can be scaled down at no extra cost. A rank 40 skillsoft can run as a rank 20 skillsoft. I think it saves trouble if they can do that.

Wait, I hadn't considered that. Would having a fixed number of skills affected work better than points split between skills? I don't really see very many outcomes beyond having 2 rank 40 skillsofts and the rest of in another skill because you can't do something better. Would 3 ranks 40 skills work well for most people?

Skillsofts aren't too much of a big deal as long as you keep in mind what they can and can't do, and plan encounters accordingly. The important points: *Hard cap of 40 per. *Only 3 active at a time. *Can be hot-swapped, but not instantly. *Do not stack with existing skills. The cap of 40 and non-stacking are probably the most important things to take note of. Remember, these are percentage dice and that skill value is your target number. Unmodified, a skill of 40 will fail more often than not. Now, cheesing up some complementary skills and assist bonuses can probably pump that to 70, but anyone who's played XCOM knows that's nowhere near a sure thing either. Have some negative difficulty modifiers on there offsetting that? Good luck, buddy. What this means is that nobody is ever going to become a maestro by downloading a Performance skillsoft. Skillsofts allow people to fill gaps in their abilities with something that is just a tad better than defaulting, and as long as you set difficulty modifiers appropriately nobody is going to be walking all over a campaign with them. With expectations sufficiently deflated, just what are they good for? Well, like I said: filling gaps. Your smooth-talking lawyer doesn't know which end of a gun goes boom, and you're about to drag him into a warzone? Slap some combat skillsofts in him. He won't be Rambo, but at least he won't be shooting his eye out either. Now, a big reason I'm fond of them is because I love me some infolife characters. It's an archetype I really like playing and the half-price nerd skills are a sweet deal, but they come with a hefty downside: double-cost social skills. I'm a cheapskate, I take to "double-cost" like a vampire to garlic. My infolife characters are straight up autistic. Fortunately for me credits are cheap. 5CP of skillsofts can save my 10 SAV, penny-pinching self 60CP each that I can put somewhere else, for the low, low price of [s]my soul[/s] being capped at 40 forever. Well, 40 plus a complementary bonus from Knowledge: Psychology. I'm no Face, but at least I can pass a Turing test. Plus I find the idea of running a subroutine with access to a Psychology textbook to handle my social skills to be very appropriate for an AI.

I don't know what the devs were thinking, but I could give you some insight in how I choose to interpret the rules. -Limited AIs have an active skill cap of 40. I figured that limited AIs and skillsofts have much in common (artificial skills and stuff), so I figured that it is appropriate that they have the same limits. For instance, a cap of 40 on all active skills. If I were to write new rules for skillsofts, I would refer to limited AIs first. -I look to avoid creating more math homework. By having skillsofts override skills, I create less math. An alternative interpretation, where skillsofts could be added to increase skill, such as raising a skill from 35 t to 40, would create a larger number of skills you have to account for when managing what points go where. For example, 10 points go there, 5 points go there, 3 points there (can happen)... are things you have to account for and add up at some point to ensure you are using 100 points or less of skillsofts. -There was no mention of how fast skillsofts can be changed or switched. As such, I figured that 1 action turn was reasonable because you can alpha fork, activate a backed up ego, or activate a limited AI in roughly that time frame. So 1 turn you have skills a, b, and c; the next you have skills x, y, and z. -I recently opted for 3 skills at the full 40 because that was roughly the same outcome as I had before where I had 2 skills at 40 and 1 at 20. I'm not locked into 3 just because. I'm quite open to feedback. I quite literally asked for it when I changed my mind (see my previous post).

One of the fun things about skillsofts is making them horribly betray their users. For instance, a bargain bin skillsoft works as well as the real deal for you, but the second you try to help walk someone else through something you're speaking in some untranslatable drunk Russian dialect.

This got me thinking. As skillsoft overrides your skill score, what would happen to your original score after using a skillsoft for a long period. Would it atrophy from using a different neural network? Obviously this is GM discretion, but aside for cost and the fact you could lose it later, what real downside is there for using a skillsoft?

Skillsofts should not atrophy existing skills. Quite the opposite. Having a skillsoft is like having a "teacher" for a skill, it is a set of neural skills that can be consulted at will in order to improve one's own skill in that area. Until you get up to 40 skill, then it won't help much.

Even if the skillsoft does work as a "third party", it's still doing it from inside your head. What I could see is the Character's ego altering in response to the skillsoft, either becoming dependant on it, incorporating it into it's permanaent structure, or both. Ruleswise, I'd say the character has to start buying points in the skill, either through Rez or by buying negative Ego traits to compensate, like Neural Damage or Addiction (That Skillsoft) or whatever. The exact detail's I'd leave to the player, so it feels more like an organic part of the character's growth instead of me hitting them with a nerf hammer.

I haven't decided if I favor this idea or not. The way I see it, skillsofts give players the option to use skills that they haven't learned. Perhaps they have other skills they want to master, or they don't want to invest in an exotic skill that they might only use once. You might get better mileage if you got the fast learner trait (EP Core, p. 146) or use the Deep Learning psychosurgery procedure (EP Core, p. 231). Most personal augmentations do a brief mention of how they work, opting to not go into details. Its not like the devs could give you a good explanation of how such advanced tech could work any ways. Many details are left to the player's imagination. Does the skillware bypass the player's own skills? Does it disable neural regions so they don't interfere with the skillsofts, such as the regions that govern the skill(s) being replaced? Does it integrate with the persons own neurology, so the person can intuitively feel what the skillsofts are telling the player how they should be doing things? I would argue that skillsofts are not purpose built for learning. If you are determined to learn from skillsofts, you'd probably need to figure out how to go about doing that, and it might involve skills in the field of psychosurgery and nanotechnology. I think it is a poor investment since skillsofts max out at 40. You can do better than 40.

ThatWhichNeverWas wrote:

ShadowDragon8685 wrote:

This, but be mindful that skillsofts only go to 40, so they're not that impressive. You'll want to throw every imaginable bonus at a skillsoft, especially if it's doing vital plot-stuff.

That's what Simple Tests are for :D If it's Plot critical, the test isn't for if they succeed - it's for the extent of the success and/or how much costs them.

That's not really what Simple Tests are meant for, although it is a certainly useful off-label use for them. Simple Tests aren't intended for "when the plot needs this to succeed, how well do you do/how much time/resources does it cost you to do it," they're for "you can't possibly fail, the only question is how long." Theoretically, tying one's shoes would be a simple test. Tying them in the middle of a pitched firefight would not be. Assuming anyone's shoes had laces anymore. Or non-self-lacing laces.

I don't know, mostly because it's hard to think of a situation where someone would bother to spend the CP/RES to get a specialization but still use a skillsoft. For one thing you need to know a skill before you can specialize it, and the whole point of using a skillsoft is to avoid sinking points into a skill that you rarely use and/or don't need to be particularly good at. In fact, you need at least 30 points in a skill to pick up a specialization, and the +10 for the spec will put you right at 40. So, strictly speaking, could a spec apply to a skillsoft? I guess, I suppose there's not really anything stopping you, but if you've already sunk 35 CP into the skill you don't really have any reason to run the soft in the first place. As someone else mentioned, you can do better than 40. Rather easily, if you bother spending the points. The point of a skillsoft is to cover areas where you don't see any need to do better than 40, so you can avoid spending said points. They allow you to have the benefits of a hyper-specialized character while blunting the downsides (namely, the lack of skill outside of their expertise). One thing that's useful is the Skill Ranges chart on page 174 of the core book. It's a handy reference to keep players and GMs on the same page regarding what kinds of challenges are appropriate for what skill level. Note that 40 is "Basic Professional Certification". In other words, a skillsoft is just barely enough to do that skill for a living. Going back to my examples about the lawyer and the AGI, for example: let's say the Lawyer is a hell of a smooth talker, awesome social skills across the board, but wouldn't know a Mauser from a javelin. Meanwhile while the AGI is programmed with top-notch network intrusion and combat-drone control protocols, but has all the tact and personality of a howitzer. In order to be able to participate meaningfully in their counterparts' side of the game, they can both load up on skillsofts. Some Fray and Firearm skillsofts can at least get the lawyer about as combat-ready as a boot fresh out of BCT, while some Persuasion, Deception, and Kinesics skillsofts can get the AGI debating about as effectively as an intern fresh out of law school. So the Lawyer can now defend himself from run of the mill thugs, and the AGI can probably talk himself out of a traffic ticket. Additionally, each is now capable of at least performing assist actions for the other so they never find themselves *completely* useless. If the Lawyer needs to make a small army disappear he's still going to let the AGI handle it, and if the AGI needs to defend himself in court (or a war crimes tribunal) he'll still want to call the Lawyer, but at least they'll each be able to pass as competent in the other's field. Most importantly, it allows the characters to do things that professionals in those skills would consider everyday or routine, but that would be a bit beyond an untrained layman. Or in the case of a socially challenged AGI, having the social skills of a rookie Politician is more than enough to get them through everyday life and help them make friends. Also handy for Lost Generation characters. Skillsofts have harsh enough limits that you can't really build a character entirely around them. However, as long as you work intelligently within those limits they make an extremely effective supplement to any kind of specialist build. As well as a powerful DM tool to get the party through a skill check that nobody saw coming.

I would allow a specialization, so long as it did not push the skillsoft past 40 (so the skill would be 30 for everything else). I would not allow morph aptitude bonuses to this skill total for the same reason why I don't allow the ego's aptitude from being a factor. Everything else, such as equipment/software, teamwork, take extra time, etc bonuses are fair game. The max of 40 is the limit before you start using it in the real world. If you are not happy with that, keep in mind that I could be wrong about specializations and skillsofts. The Wobblycat from the Firewall book (p. 178) seems to have 2 skills that are 40 but have a specialization that pushes it 50 for various robot specific skills. It has Fray and Infiltration of 40, but its specializations pushes it to 50 for when it is using the Wobblycat robot (that it was specifically programmed to use). I don't know if it is really allowed or it was really a mistake. No AI before it ever had such qualities. It is the lone exception that I'm aware of. If the rules were supposed to allow that, I would think it would have shown up in more AIs. Edit: Then again, AIs are supposed to have a limit of 90 for knowledge skills, but I have not seen any AI from the official books have anything beyond 80. So one could rightly say that some stuff allowed by the rules have yet to be done. Maybe the only reason to not allow it is to be consistent with what has been done thus far.

That's what I think reading that.

godmoney wrote:

So when reading the Skill Artifact (morph trait) positive trait in TH pg 86. It talks about it working like a skillware system (i.e. it suppresses the ego's skill rating), but it also allows for the aptitude to be used in conjunction with it. Does that imply that aptitudes should also be used with a skillware system?

Well, that seems to imply that you can use Skillware rating + Aptitude, up to a cap of 40. IE, if you have SOM 30, you don't need Skillware:Clubs 40 to be rolling against a 40, you only need Skillware:Clubs 10. But that is... Well, the rules as written are quite ambiguous, honestly.