Character Proficiency System

NOTICE

The CPS system is not currently in use by the VEN or STC.

“	There are two purposes for implementing a series of proficiency ratings in addition to professions. First, it gives everyone a goal to work towards and a measure of how they and their character have improved. Second, in stories we all assume we all have the same skills and can do almost everything. Now, people will have a better chance to customize their skills and put them into perspective relative to others. In other words, this will be a very valuable source for more accurate and detailed writing. It also allows people to truly make their characters unique by building on areas of interest.	”
—Arturus

Written and Created by Riqimo and Drac based upon the Original Pilot Proficiency Ratings of Arturus and Shazam

Before You Begin

If there is something you need clarification on, or if you have questions or suggestions, please contact VENA personnel.

The Basics

The Character Proficiency System is in place in order to measure each character’s abilities. It is true that everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and CPS is here to make them known. We’ll start off with the basics everyone needs to know:

• Characteristics: Containing Body, Mind, and Spirit, Characteristics represent the innate abilities of a character. Each characteristic is rated by a level ranging from 1 to 5. A level of 1 indicated that the character is barely functional in that characteristic, while 5 levels means he can handle difficult task with relative ease
• Skills: There can be any number of skills, but the existing ones are listed Here. Skills are the various tasks and roles a member can choose to train themselves in. Like characteristics, skills are ranked in levels from 1 to 5, with a skill of 1 being fairly ineffective and 5 representing extreme accomplishment with a craft.
• Metiers: Metiers are how a character becomes truly specialized. Each Skill and Characteristic has métiers from which to choose. Each métier can be upgraded from the base of 1 up to a maximum of 5. 1 indicates no specialization in that métier, while 5 indicates expertise in that specialty. These stack on top of your base Skill value.

Starting Out

As a member of the Vast Empire, you always start out as a Trainee. There are no exceptions, no matter what your background story is. What you can do is choose skills that compliment your background story as you progress. You’ll progress by earning points to spend on the skills you want to develop. You do this by participating in missions, character development stories, getting promoted, etc. You will then be able to spend those points on any skill you wish unless otherwise specified by the officer awarding the point(s).

Say that your character is better at using a hand gun than an explosive- obviously, any points you gain you'll put toward that proficiency. If you're character is crass and oblivious to the efforts of others, you shouldn’t put the points you're given into something like Charm. Perhaps you would put them into decisiveness or strategic skills. It’s important to keep continuity between your background and your character development.

Before we go on, it’s important to know that you should think about what you’re good at writing about, not just what you want your character to do. Say you're a pilot and like writing about the Navy but you can't write about dog-fighting to save your life: perhaps reconnaissance or communications is the way to go. Not really any dog-fighting there but you still get to talk about flying a pretty cool piece of equipment.

Explanation of the System

Before you actually assign points to your Characteristics, Skills, and metiers, it would help if you understood the system. The basic structure looks like this:

Characteristics Trait

• Body: Characteristics related to physical strength, endurance, etc.
  • Metiers
• Mind: Characteristics related to intelligence, inventiveness, etc.
  • Metiers
• Spirit: Characteristics related to strength of will, etc.
  • Metiers

Skills Trait

• General Skills: The skills immediately available for training.
  • Metiers
• Naval Skills: The skills that must be unlocked through quality participation in two unit stories. They are open to all Naval members, just as the General Skills are. For Army members they are considered Background Skills.
  • Metiers
• Army Skills: The skills normall reserved for the Army. They are open to all Army member, just as the General Skills are. For Army members they are considered Background Skill.
  • Metiers
• Background Skills: The skills your character developed before signing on with the Vast Empire, or those that they learn outside of service to the VE. Any training of these, with occasional exceptions, is done through character development stories. As with any other section, contact VENA personnel with any questions.
  • Metiers

Metiers

Before we go into the Traits, it’s important to really know what métiers are.

What makes a person exceptional? How can one person be calm enough to exploit a flaw in a battle station, while another person passionately spends a decade searching for his father's killer? In CPs, that extra finesse is known as a metier.

Both characteristics and skills have their own metiers. One person may have the Body characteristic metier Strength, while another may have Endurance. For skills, metiers are specialties that fascinate your character or allow access to specialized knowledge. For example, there is a difference between a person who studies the Science skill and one who delves into cybernetics sciences.

Metiers are ranked in levels from 1 to 5. Unlike the more generalized characteristics and skills, however, metiers can only be used under specific circumstances. For example, you would not use a Surgery metier of Medical without the requisite tools. Nor would you flex your Strong metier to impress the Supreme Moff in court.

A metier is added to its parent trait (either a characteristic or skill) when used. It cannot be used with any other trait. For instance you would never add the Body metier Strong to the Charm skill.

Characteristics

The Characteristics Body, Mind, and Spirit represent the innate abilities of a character. Each characteristic has several métiers and is rated by a level ranging from 1 to 5. A level of 1 indicates that the character is barely functional in that characteristic, while 5 levels means he can handle difficult tasks with relative ease.

Remember that métiers work the same way, except that they’re stacked on top of the characteristic. So if your Body is 3 and your Strength is 3, your value for Strength is actually 6.

You can read the Characteristics section for examples of how you might design your character to be, as well as to view more information on the characteristics and their métiers.

In-Character, characteristics serve you in a number of ways:

Basic Actions

Actions requiring natural ability rather than a trained skill - breaking down a door or solving a brainteaser - are resolved with characteristics. In the case of breaking down a door, the Body characteristic would be consulted. For the brainteaser, use Mind. Suggestions for various actions involving characteristics are given at the Characteristics page.

Skill Defaults

In situations calling for a Skill that your character has not learned (you have no skill levels), you can use half your relevant Characteristic's rating (rounded up) as a substitute. This does not allow you to use any special maneuvers (like Combat Actions) with that skill. For example, a pilot with no skill in Pugilism could use half of their Body Characteristic rating, but would be unable to throw any fancy strikes. If you use this default on a specific skill over several stories, your commander may force you to spend experience points to learn that skill. For more information on skills, see the Skills section below.

Skills

Skills are the core around which the CPS runs. Like characteristics, skills are ranked in levels from 1 to 5, with a skill of 1 being fairly ineffective and 5 representing extreme accomplishment with a craft.

Each skill has several métiers to choose from, to increase the possibilities for specialization. If you use them well, it’s quite possible to have an entirely unique character with a skill-set no one else has.

Getting Started

As a Trainee you’ve only been through basic training. Because of that, you don’t have access to all Skills yet. Any points earned through actions taken during your training must go to those skills labeled as Basic Skills.

Veteran pilot wishing to acquire points for participation that took place before the implementation of the CPS (or was otherwise overlooked) should PM their request to their Commanding Officer along with a link to the relevant material. They will then analyze the material just like any other post, check with VENA to ensure it hasn't been counted already, and allot points as appropriate. VENA will keep records of what stories/posts have been counted.

Once you’ve got a mission or two under your belt you may upgrade any Skill you wish. Do not spread yourself too thin, however. He who is decent at many things is good at nothing. It’s not a good idea to choose over 5 skills unless you have already advanced those 5 to the final level you plan to.