Because [i]Eclipse Phase[/i] is a d% roll-under system, it's pretty easy to compare it to BRP, or more specifically, [i]Call of Cthulhu[/i]. Now, the EP Core states that modern-day average aptitudes is 10, while transhuman average is 15. Conveniently, most stats in CoC average 10.5. Further, CoC characters have on average 400 skill points to put into skills. If we ignore for a moment that in CoC you don't get your stat as a baseline for every skill, this means a modern-day human being can be statted up using 70/75-ish aptitude points and 400 CP for us on skills. The transhuman average, meanwhile, would have +5 to everything based on aptitudes, of which INT and EDU are the ones that provide skill points; 20*EDU an 10*INT, for a total of 150 extra skill points. This adds up to 105 aptitude points and 550 CP for use on skills.

What a specific value in Eclipse Phase means is at times unclear. 20 is supposed to mean a basic operator's proficiency, but the listed examples include a high-school diploma (2-3 years of near full-time work, building on a body of knowledge learned through about a decade of education), a driver's licence (between less than a year and 2 years of regular training), and a gun permit (no training at all, depending on location) The same applies to a skill-level of 40, which is "basic professional certification", and includes a college diploma (3-5 years of part time to full time education, depending upon location), and army rifle certification (half a year of training, depending upon the army) The US Army Field Manual notes that taking a good shooter and training them to be a cold killer is a lot harder than taking a cold killer and training them to be a good shooter (paraphrased), yet being a marksman (60) is as difficult as getting a PhD (which takes, oh, three years or so?). [i]NPC File 1: Prime[/i] has an Arms Dealer sample NPC. This NPC has 75 in using submachines guns. This means they have "had unique innovations or insights". Likewise, the sample Assassin NPC, the kind of NPC that's supposed to represent an assassin your players might run across? They're a "system-renowned authority" on the use of sniper rifles, knife fighting, the art of shadowing, and dealing with criminals. The generic body-guard has invented (or dismissed) unique martial arts techniques (Grappling 70). Perhaps more importantly, because Aptitudes are added to skills, the average character starts at a quite high level when sleeved in a morph: the average transhuman (15-ish COG) sleeved in an Exalt? The equivalent of a high-school diploma in Physics and Chemistry, Mathematics, History, their mother tongue, and one more language (fair enough, I have that), [i]and[/i] Biology, Economics, Psychology, Computer Science, Theatre, Art, Music, [i]every single branch of sport[/i] and all languages, spoken or dead, [i]including neo-Cetacean[/i]. (This is the fault of the defaulting-rules! You can't default [i]ancient Sumerian[/i] if you only speak English, let alone Japanese!) To further illustrate my point, I'll attempt to build an Army Medic. Melissa Stephenson enlisted in the army some time before the fall, where she learned basic firearms competency in small-arms, grenade launchers, anti-tank missiles, vehicle-mounted weapons, throwing hand-grenades, fighting with a bayonet and hand-to-hand fighting (Kinetic Weapons, Seeker Weapons, Gunnery, Throwing Weapons, Unarmed Combat, Fray @ 40, Blades (Knives) @ 30). She also learned to drive cars and trucks while under fire (Pilot: Groundcraft @ 40). The military also trained her in the use of maps, moving stealthily and commanding a squad (Navigation, Infiltration, Profession: Squad Tactics @ 40), and, after all, she was going to be an army [i]medic[/i], so she has the required knowledge (Academics: Biochemistry, Academics: Biology @ 40), as well as years of experience as a paramedic (Medicine: Paramedic @ 50). So far, I've spent 375 points building Melissa Stephenson. Melissa comes for Alsace-Lorraine, and hence speaks German as her native tongue, and also speaks English and German fluently (Language: English, Language: French @ 50). At high-school, in addition to Biology, she also studied chemistry, mathematics, literature, history and theatre (Academics: Chemistry, Academics: Mathematics, Academics: Literature, Academics: History, Art: Theatre @ 20) That's 475 points. Which is about 75 points shy of 550 points. But Melissa isn't a transhuman! She's baseline like you and me! So instead of an average of 15-ish to all aptitudes, she has an average of 10-ish. So that's 5 more CP for the 21 skills I just gave her! Which puts her at 580 CP, building a modern-day army medic. I'm pretty sure I'm not too off the mark for how many CP the average person can be built with. :P

I shall admit to not knowing anything about what it entails to be an army medic... ^_^; However, if I try to build her as a generic soldier, i.e. without the medicine skills, but instead a person who drives a Light Utility Vehicle, I'd imagine they'd have many of the same skills and thus ends up at about 390 skill points at least. Not to mention they might be trained in maintenance of their vehicle! (Different armies train their soldiers in different things. In the Norwegian army, arctic warfare is commonplace [and unavoidable half the year!], while in other armed forces, it's a specialty. For the record, I mostly guessed as to what a soldier might be trained in, but the US Army, which conveniently lists what recruits are trained in on their website, notes they're trained in the use of grenades, rifles, anti-tank missile launchers and machine guns. And wikipedia has an image of US Army recruits training with bayonets. And the Australian army has recruits run around in the field with plastic replica guns with fake bayonets on them, according to their website. So at least one army trains their recruits in the use of several kinds of weapons.) With regards to the hyperlinguist trait, it only reduces the time it takes to learn the language, and the REZ, not how many CP it costs. And it also gives a +10 bonus to languages you don't know. Which means that if you have the hyperlinguist trait, and invests 5 CP in, say, ancient Sumerian, you'll have skill-rolls for that at 20-ish, while a language you [i]don't[/i] invest any points in, like Iroquois, you roll against 25-ish. (15 default +10). The rules can, at times, be amusing. (Also, if you manage to get 40 INT and Hyperlinguist at the same time, you can read any language you don't know like you were fluent in it.)

Hey, for all I know, the US Army considers firing a rocket once as training their recruits with the AT-4!