Instruction

What a worthless skill. What GM makes people roll learning checks from an instructor to learn new skills.

So I'm modifying it.

The Instructor and the Student.
The Instructor must have as many ranks in the skill as the student wants to learn or more, and must have more than 3.

The instructor rolls an instruction test, with the TN being the new number in the skill the student wants to learn.

For every success, the skill costs 1 less point of good karma to learn, minimum of 1. As long as the instructor generated at least 1 success, the student can learn the skill using the greater of his or the instructions attribute to decide cost also, making skills much cheaper to learn by an instructor.

Example: Todd wants to learn etiquette from Bob. Todd has 6 ranks, so Bob must have at least 7 ranks of etiquette. Bob rolls an instruction test TN 7. He has 4 ranks in instruction so rolls 4 dice. 1, 4, 7, 9. This is 2 successes, so when Bob learns the next point of etiquette it costs him 2 points less of good karma. What's more, Bob can use the higher of Todd or Bob's charisma to determine whether the skill costs more (for going over the charisma score) than normal, allowing characters with low stats to learn skills from instructors at a much cheaper rate!

Now the kicker, unless the DM wants to give away discounted skills, this is a PC only skill, meaning the players must spend their own karma learning instruction so that they can give each other discounts on upgraded skills. Player A can learn etiquette, while B learns stealth, and C learns pistols. As long as they all also have instruction they can teach each other the 2 skills they didn't learn at a karma discount! Everybody wins!

(As long as there's at least 2 people with instruction. Ah, the prisoner's dilemmah!)

Another use for Instruction

Perhaps you want to use a skill and aren't there. You can give someone step by step instructions on how to do something as if you were there (over the radio, phone, etc). Make an instruction (4) test. For every success, the "student" can act as if he has 1 rank in the skill you're trying to teach him to do, with a maximum of your ranks in that skill. If the character already has the skill, this overlaps, does not stack.

Great for helping someone land a plane, disarm a bomb, etc while you are not present. Not good for teaching them how to swing a sword or shoot a gun, since the test only applies to the one roll, they don't "hold" the skill.