| This skill requires specialization |
Default: DX-4 or IQ-4, depending on the controlling attribute
Hobby Skill (DX or IQ/Easy) is part of a field of study that has little to do with adventuring or making a living – but people study them nonetheless. Actual skills cannot be learned as hobby skills.
Examples: juggling, kite flying, needlepoint, and origami
On a practical level this is just a place holder for Easy skills that don't seem to have an adventuring application out of of very circumstances and serve as a way to flesh out a character
Alternative Version][]
Hobby Skill is a nigh useless or extremely niche skill that covers some aspect of your background that isn't well covered by another actual skill, if a use does come up that could be served by another skill, you might be at either a -4 penalty or have some level of vagueness in your results (GM's call). Optionally, taking a very narrow, specialized Hobby Skill, say Hobby Skill (Poker), means they essentially have the skill Gambling (Poker), but cannot make rolls at skill -2 for gambling with other games as they simply don't know those games at all.
Example: Hobby (Comic Books) could be used to determine if a comic was worth a decent amount of money, but not any sort of exact amount, that would better be served by Connoisseur (Comic Books). However, Hobby (Comic Books) could be used to recognize that a specific set of circumstances were being acted out by a killer to mimic a comic book character, thus allowing the adventurers to either predict the next steps or give clues to the killer's identity.
Classic Hobby Skills[]
In Classic many skills labeled "Hobby" are actual skills in 4e.
Examples (taken from Classic: Who's Who 1, Classic: Who's Who 2, and GURPS Update)
|
Classic Hobby Skill |
4e Skill |
|---|---|
| Billiards (Hobby) | Games (Billiards) |
| Hobby (Bibliophilia) | Literature or Connoisseur (Literature) |
| Hobby (Darts) | Sports (Darts) |
| Hobby (Food and Drink) | Connoisseur (Food and Drink) |
| Hobby (Politics) | Politics |
| Javanese Dance (Hobby) | Dancing (Javanese) |
Note[]
This is not the same as having an adventuring skill as a hobby.
See Also[]
Reference[]
- Basic Set pg 200