From:	"Richard C. Osterhout" <rcoster@*****.NET>
Subject:	Re: Levels of expertise
Date:	Tue, 24 Aug 1993 12:52:20 -0400

On Fri, 20 Aug 1993, Joe Block wrote:

> What skill level does a character need to be considered an expert mage? One
> of my players is running a hermetic who aspires to become a Doctor of
> Thaumaturgy. What skill level should she need to have a
> Bachelors/Masters/Phd?

i agree with the levels posed by the others...8 sounds about right...but
remember that having a skill does not give you a degree...you have to get
that from a university...

that would take many years, and lots of nuyen...it also poses a slight
problem for shadowrunners...SINs

if Joe Bloe attends MIT&M, he must have a SIN, as well as probably a
student number, etc...he would also have student records...fine, you say,
i'll just have the decker go in and erase all the records....thats great!

now Joe Bloe has a nice little diploma certificate that says that "JOE
BLOE has a Masters in Magical Stuff from MIT&T"....but there are no
transcripts!!!! anyone can make a diploma...hell, i've made up some joke
diplomas myself! LaserAwardMaker from Baudville allows for very
professional looking diplomas...only someone who knows what the real one
looks like would know the difference...heck, i had someone come into my
room one day and saw one of my diplomas that said i had a PhD in computer
science from MIT....they were impressed...

a Johnson doesn't care lick spit whether a mage has a degree or not, but
if they can get the job done...if your mage wants a title, then let her
have one and suck the 8 years of educational fees out of her and make her
character 8 years older....no one will care...


now, Joe Bloe PhD Magic, goes into a corporation to pull a shadowrun...the
corporate mage meets the shadowrunners to do battle....here's an
interesting hook...


does the corporate mage know Joe Bloe??? did they go to school together???
since Joe has a PhD, did he teach classes??? they might have even been
roommates and friends!

i would be inclined to think that someone with a masters or higher in
magic would be a very high profile person, especially to the fellow magic
students and teachers of the school...you can erase information records,
but you can't erase the people who know you (well, you can, but that's a
different thread :) ) ...


personally, if i had a character that went to college and later became a
shadowrunner, i would first get some plastic surgery, have a decker erase
any records and transcripts on me, and NEVER mention about my title or
degree...after all, being subtle makes for a good SHADOWrunner...



....(stepping of the soapbox...)

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| rcoster@*****.net Currently in Baltimore, MD |
| Richard C. Osterhout but hope to be home in |
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