Fwurg

[Mercury]

I'm looking to create a new skill, and I have a generic cloud of what I want, but I'm having trouble giving it a proper shape and outline, so I'm hoping someone can help me settle it down (or perhaps can point out to me why its stupid)

So we have a skill Athletics, which is briefly described as "Provides bonuses to running, climbing, swimming and basic jumps.". However, there exist other sports beyond Athletics events. Specifically I'm thinking soccer, grav-ball, golf, that sort of thing. Where athletics is about strength and endurance, combined with some technique, these sports have far more technical requirements with precision and coordination. Notably, they also affect more than the users own body, but affect other objects in the world being manipulated with speed and precision.

The skill might also include things like juggling which require precise hand-eye coordination, though that depends I suppose on how things take shape, and I can see it being used when throwing a lightsaber or a grenade for example.

As of yet, I have neither been able to name the skill, so note that the "balls" title is not meant to imply that this skill would only work with balls. It could work with other stuff too.

I have a feeling I'm onto something here but I cannot quite complete the thought. Can anyone help me condense this cloud into a less container-filling state?

[Fedor]

Perhaps:
Lob, pitch, chuck, launch, hurl, heave, propel, fling
or
cast, heave, slinging, catapult, toss

[Brend]

If we go with the "throwing and catching small objects with precision and speed", I would suggest the word "Pitch".

Given that this kind of skill is more of a specialisation of an attribute, this seems to be a conceptually different skill from either the basic skills or specialist skills. With the change in how Force Level applies to untrained basic skills (i.e., your Force Level is halved) we might have created the opportunity for a new type of skills that represent well-honed natural abilities. We might name this category "core" or "inate", and using them untrained would not impose a penalty. Athletics might be a good fit to move into this category.

[Elmer]

I certainly agree that athletics are more of rough motor skills, while something like pitching are fine motor skills.

The addition of a natural ability set of skills might be interesting (where incidentely something like the 'perception skill' we talked about in a different thread might become once again interesting for discussion. Sadly I cannot find the thread any more.)

[Mercury]

I was working on a proposal for how "Core" skills might work, but I cannot find the rule where it says taking checks in basic skills with no ranks halves your force level. Where is this listed? All I can find is this:

There are two types of skills: basic and specialist. Basic skills are things that can be performed by anyone, even if they do not have dots in them. Specialist skills require at least one level to be able to perform them. For example, you cannot slice a computer system without the Slicing skill. - Skills

[Brend]

It's in the Taking Checks section on the general Jedi page.