CKG - Secondary Skills question.

[Melkor]

Just a quick question (and some follow up notes) on the Secondary Skills from the CKG:

Normally, character's add their level as a bonus to any Siege Engine check made which falls to a Class Ability or Race Ability they possess, and normally, you do not add your character level to a check that involves a class / race ability you don't have.

For example, in our games, if a character was swimming against a strong current in a storm, and the CK made him roll a SIEGE check - he would probably get to add his level to a Strength check in order to succeed because there is no specific Swim skill or ability that falls under another class or race ability....It's just a general check.

Now, assuming that the rules from the CKG are used for Secondary Skills, and the character is a "Mariner," then Swimming would likely fall under the category of an ability he/she might have as a Mariner. That being the case, does it make sense to not allow that character to add level to his check, and instead, simply give him a +1 to his roll?

That would mean that no character in the game should reasonably be allowed to ever add his level to a check for Swimming - even a character who would reasonably have the skill as a Mariner - wouldn't get to add his level, only the +1.....And this means that no matter how many levels the character gained, he would never get better at any of the skills related to Mariner.

Does that seem logical, and if so, please explain why?

Thanks!

[Bowbe]

The most basic answer is "yes". You already have the answer to your question! Remember that 99% of the CKG is pure "suggestion" that you may use for your campaign as you see fit. I have (had) players who continually forget that all they have to do is ask the question. "Can I do this". If it sounds plausible then quite frankly it is! That is the beauty of C&C and THAT is where (we as fans of the game) need to focus our explanations of "how it works". C&C doesn't rely on a rule for every damned thing under the sun! If you have a character (or NPC) who is a sailor/mariner whatever as a side occupation then it could easily be presumed that climbing, swimming, fishing, and general maritime buggery are all "at level" type attribute checks.