Our troupe is having the scholar companion teach the turb grogs Latin.
Mechanically thr grogs get a certain number of Study points towards learning Latin.
But roleplaying, would they all learn the same amount?
Would the studious grog learn as much as the lazy grog?
If you want to go into that much detail for grogs then you can totally give differing amounts of exp to them based on how lazy or resistant they are to learning. But that is more paperwork esp for grogs than I would do.
Well, there are at least two models for this in the game rules already.
The first is that the particularly studious/particularly un-studious would logically have Apt Student/Poor Student. Which give +5/-3 to the applicable totals.
(Extending this into house rule territory, grogs with relevant personality traits that do not rise to the level of a Minor Virtue/Flaw affecting how much they learn might reasonably get a smaller bonus/penalty to the totals. Maybe equal to half the relevant personality trait? So Lazy +3 might subtract 1 or 2 from the totals.)
A second is that especially lazy students could lose time and thus experience to (self-imposed) distractions (as per the heading in the Long-Term Events chapter, core p.165 / AMDE draft p.383).
i feel like the second one is more logical. Skipped lessons, daydreaming and so forth- its probably up to the troupe to decide how much time is lost. A reasonable estimate might be a student needs to spend at least 4 hours a day learning something, and if they don't they count as missing that day- then if it adds up to a month they lose 1/3 of their xp.
If the grogs are played as PCs, I would not deviate from RAW, where all the variability is due to virtues and flaws (as mentioned + affinity + ability block etc). Players tend to want to optimise development, and would only come to abuse house rules.
If the grogs are not played as PCs, I would not want to go to this level of detail. In essence, I would leave them just as templates, to save bookkeeping.
YMMV
... and then some.
Completely agree.
For lazy student, there is the flaw "Block ability". Don't bother nitpicking further. If the grog gains only half of the XP, is it worth half a minor flaw ? Why would you go into such details.
Grogs are paid to obey: a class, a training is given, it is not optional, you go. They are privileged compared to many alternative.
Otherwise, you have the Block ability flaw.
I think at most you could give a +/-1 SQ if they make or fail a personality roll to remain studious.
That or a roll to actually take advantage of the lessons as opposed to doing something else with the season entirely...
"Sure was supposed to be learning Latin from this stuffy old guy, but I blew it off and spent my time hanging out in the woods around the covenant- +2 xp for area lore, 0 for Latin
The rules mechanically state that all characters receive the full study total, while my real life experiences suggest that not everybody avails themselves of learning equally.
Was wondering if there was an obscure rule reflecting this.
Maybe the Arts & Academy rules that the Source Quality of any Academic ability can be split between the subject and other stuff -- right off the top of my head (so maybe wrong / incomplete) those 'other subjects' are Latin, Teaching, and Artes Liberales.
I think this is the answer for troupes that want to go to that level of detail. If there are grogs the players feel should be reluctant to submit to lessons this provides a mechanism to adjust xp.
At a certain point you accept it is an abstraction.
For example. A slightly optimised Verditus could make a craft summae in their niche subject, probably level 4 quality 17. In 3 seasons of study, that's level 4. An apprentice side by side with their master hits level 4 in just over 3 years.
To think that a person reading a book for 9 months and no practical experience, will craft better items than a person who has spent 3 years watching a master craft; farcical.
We just accept books,study, XP is an abstraction that will not map reality perfectly.
Yes. RPG rules attempt simulation, but they are extremely simplistic simulations. We need to apply our own judgement to fill the myriad cracks.
So: The obscure, often-overlooked rule covering this is that the SG/troupe has the final say.
Another point is that the person who spent 9 months reading about the topic is not going to simply sit down and make something, they are going to sit down for three more months trying to make something and bringing what they read to bear on understanding the situation. Most of what they accomplish is likely to be towards the end of that fourth season as what they read is finally fitting in with what they are doing.
Compare to studying artwork made in the medium it makes a lot of sense, and keep in mind that a craftsman can leave behind a lot of artwork for people to study from.