GURPS Character Creation: Just the Basics! Part 6

Welcome back, Gamelings!
We're almost done creating our character!!

How super exciting is that?

Today we will focus on Quirks and some information on Skills.

So grab a snack, some caffeine, and a comfy chair.
This might take a while.

Let's start with 

Quirks...
Quirks are small, strange personality traits that are neither advantages or disadvantages.
Example: Gluttony is a disadvantage; but if you can only eat or drink something if it is the color indigo, that's a quirk.

You can have up to 5 quirks at -1 points each.
A mental quirk is seen as a personality trait and must either require you to make a decision, require a certain action, or limit your actions/ give you a small penalty.

Mental quirks, though minor,  MUST be played! If you are scared of spiders and go rolling in a pit of tarantulas, what are you even doing? The GM WILL penalize you for bad roleplaying.
Follow the rules.

A physical quirk does not HAVE to be roleplayed (although it is much more fun that way) but it does give you minor penalties in play.

Skills:
Skills are certain things you are knowledgeable in (kung fu, chemistry, cooking, etc.). Your character, in order to stand out from every other character in the game world should have a particular set of skills.

You will start your campaign with a few skills and can acquire more through training as the campaign continues! Your skills are measured in skill levels. 

Let's say that you have LiamNeeson-16 (Note: This is not a real skill...unfortunately), that means that your LiamNeeson skill is at level 16. 

(That's a pretty high LiamNeeson)

When it is time to make a move, you (or the GM) will roll 3d against the level of the appropriate skill modified for the situation. If the number rolled is less than or equal to your skill level, you succeed!
Congratulations!

But a roll of 17 or 18 is always a failure so, there's that. 

Skills (Controlling attributes):

Each skill is based off of a controlling attribute. 

There are 4 types of skill bases:
ST-based: Skills only depending on your brute strength. These are fairly rare skills.

DX-based: These skills rely on coordination, speed, and agility.
IQ-based: These skills require intelligence, creativity, and reasoning.
HT-based: These skills rely on just how physically fit you are.

Skills (Difficulty Level):

Just like in the real world, some skills take more time, study, and practice to master. The more time/study/practice that a skill requires, the harder the difficulty level is and the more points you must spend to achieve it.

Easy: These are skills that pretty much anyone can do given a short learning period.

Average: These are skills used by people every day at work, at home, in social situations, and even in combat.

Hard: These are skills that require intensive formal training.

Skills (Tech Level):

Some skills are different or evolve depending on the tech level. Those skills must be learned at your tech level or lower. (Higher Tech Level skills can be learned in game but only if you have a teacher and the skill is not IQ-based).
YOU MUST NOTE THE TECH LEVEL ON YOUR CHARACTER SHEET WITH THE SKILL!
Example: If you have navigation/TL2, you can chart the stars and whatnot... However, if you have navigation/TL8, you would just get on your phone, click GoogleMaps (or the equivalent) and use that for your GPS.

Skills (Buying):

In order to learn or improve skills, you have to spend character points... That is just the way things work. The point cost of a certain skill depends on 2 things:
The difficulty level

+
the final skill level you want to be at.

Here is a handy-dandy chart found in the GURPS Lite book to help you out!

Let's say that you are learning an IQ-based skill and your IQ is at 12. Let's also say that you wish to end up at IQ+2 and the difficulty is hard. That means that your point cost will be 12.

Skills (Defaults):
Most skills will have a default level. This is the level that you can TRY to do it if you have had no training whatsoever. If a skill has a default level, everyone can do it!
It's like an exclusive club... but with everyone... and not a club.
A skill USUALLY defaults to its controlling attribute (ST, DX, IQ, or HT) at -4 if Easy, -5 if Average, or -6 if Hard.
If a skill has NO default level, it is far too complex. It requires training!

If your skill's basic attribute is higher than 20, you must treat that attribute as a 20 when figuring out the default skill level. (Even if your character is superhuman.)
Only individuals from a society where a skill is known may attempt a default roll against that skill.
As an example, let's say your skill is snowshoeing... if you came from an area similar to the Sahara desert, you do not get to attempt a default roll. What do you know about snow?
Nothing.
That's what.
Not a darn thing.

Alright folks.
That will be it for this post!
Our next post will be the ENTIRE LIST of skills...