For clarification, does the complimentary skill rule on pg 3.4 apply to specialization skills? I. E, if I'm in the boonbocks, a friend is bleeding badly and I have medical skill plus a specialization in blood loss and, say, wilderness survival or even botany, can I "know" that rubbing the sap from certain leaves on a wound can help clotting and reduce bloodloss as a -2 mod to the roll?

If I use a specialization, does the other skill have to be within one die of the base skill or the specialized skill to apply?

Also would I have a choice of forgoing the specialization bonus die and getting the -2 difficulty if the comp skill was within 1d of the base skill but not the specialization? If it were within 1d of both would I get the specialization die and the -2?

My personal call would likely be that if the comp skill was within at least 1d of the base medical skill I'd get the specialization and the -2. While that might seem powerful, hey, the old saying "knowledge is power" has some truth to it. Also if the player paid for the two skills and the specialty, I see no reason not to give him the bang for his buck if the situation arises.

Personally, I would not let you double up on the bonus. If you have skill 1 at 3d, and skill 2 at 4d with 5d after specialization, you would not get the 5d roll with the specialization bonus.

So he'd get to choose between rolling 4d with a -2 difficulty or rolling 5d without it? As you said in the complementary skill rule, at high diff levels it'd usually be better to take the -2 than the extra die. OK, as long as it's cleared up.

So, just to be clear, what about the case where the specialization is what brings the skill into a 1d difference?

Say you had one skill at 4d, and another at 2d with a specialization that brought it to 3d? Could you then get the -2 difficulty?

I'm not sure but I think the gist of greg's message was that you don't get both. In that case I'd have to let the player choose, as each one has advantages under different conditions. As greg said, at higher difficulties the -2 would outweigh an extra dice usually. At moderate difficulties maybe the extra dice is more important.

In any case, since greg's against giving both I'd say it would be either, player's choice.

Note this would be a case to look at the probability chart for a refference, which I would allow.

The complementary skill bonus applies to the skill or skills being used for the bonus, as per the rules. If you have a 3d skill and a 4d specialized to 5d, if you use the 3d and the 4d, the bonus applies to both. If you use the 3d and the 5d, it only applies to the 3d.

However, if you have a 4d skill and a 2d specialized to 3d, and the 3d and 4d can work together as complementary skills, then yes, you would get the bonus on both.

You could even have two specialized skills be complementary and if they are within 1d, get the bonus on both.

The trick is that since a specialization is narrower than the main skill, it is going to be less likely that the specialization will work as a complementary skill, or will work as one in fewer situations.

It is not that one skill is a specialized skill, it is that the specialized skill has to be applicable.

OK, initially it seemed you did not want to give anyone both bonuses, at least I got that impression. Now it seems you're willing to allow it, mostly if the skill you're using as a complimentary is within 1d or greater than the specialized skill. Ok, that's fine.

Sorry if this adds to your workload, but you asked us to try and find issues in the rules and this one just sort of came up as I was reviewing the latest draft for you.

Let's see if I have it right:

"In cases where there is a specialized skill and a complementary skill involved, if the complementary skill is within 1d of the base skill but not the specialized skill, the player may choose whether to add a die for the specialized skill or get the -2 difficulty for the complementary. He may not get both.

If the complementary skill if within 1d of the specialized skill or is higher, the player can get both the specialized skill additional die and the -2 difficulty from the complementary skill.

Note that a complementary skill with a specialization can be used with another skill with a specialization if the specializations are close enough in nature to reasonably interact at the GM's discretion."

Is that essentially it?

If what you wrote was a long and complicated way of saying "whatever skill rolls you are using to get the bonus are the ones you get the bonus on", then yes.