If you have a high proficiency in some (non-Lore) skill, can you Earn Income by teaching it to NPCs who are less proficient?
The CRB makes it a big deal to use a non-Lore/Craft/Performance skill this way;
In some cases, the GM might let you use a different skill to Earn Income through specialized work. Usually, this is scholarly work, such as using Religion in a monastery to study old texts—but giving sermons at a church would still fall under Performance instead of Religion. You also might be able to use physical skills to make money, such as using Acrobatics to perform feats in a circus or Thievery to pick pockets. If you’re using a skill other than Crafting, Lore, or Performance, the DC tends to be significantly higher.
But it seems to me that using a skill to teach that skill should always work, and moreover in a decent-sized settlement you should find potential students for many/most non-Lore skills.
So, can I use Athletics to teach athletics, or would I need Athletics Lore? Or maybe I need Teaching Lore and Athletics? Realistically I should be able to teach it with just Athletics but get lower DCs with Athletics Lore or Teaching Lore.
From a mechanics standpoint I’d be leary of an approach like this because is removes all the incentive for taking several feats and features that let you do something that’s almost exactly like this. From a role play perspective I think something like this could work, but finding students willing to pay for a a class when you’re as likely as not to be gone after a few days or it would be challenging. Particularly if you’re not in a large city.
I’d probably compromise by letting you do it but limiting the level of task you could attempt severely. Probably a level 1 or 2 for most of your career. The reasoning being that that’s the level of most of the population so that’s the level of task you can typically find. There are certainly higher level individuals who could hire you, but they’ll mostly want an extended commitment, or simply not be able to afford paying you at the rate you’re looking for. The times I would let you try at a higher level would probably be about as frequent as I let the rest of the part do the same thing with a primary skill.
That would be my way of handling it anyway.
Would you handle it differently if I had Athletics Lore instead of just Athletics?
Would you handle it differently if I had Athletics Lore instead of just Athletics?
The lore skills are all supposed to be narrower than the normal skills, so I don’t think there really would be an athletics lore. Depending on what you were wanting I’d probably name it sports lore, or something like that. To avoid confusion with the pre-existing skill if nothing else.
Other than that, yes. The job availability would go back to normal and you’d be rolling your lore skill. What the job would be would depend on the skill name, but I could easily see betting on games, getting day jobs around the local industry. Things like that.
Part of most of the lore skills seems to be knowing how to turn them towards a profit. Some might be harder depending on the regional needs and thus have a lower level, but as a general thing.
The key statement is "In some cases, the GM might let you use a different skill to Earn Income through specialized work."
Imagine that your human gladiator barbarian comes to a small town and offers to teach Athletics to the townsfolk. If I were the GM, then I would ask you to say a few words and make a Performance roll to Make an Impression with your Impressive Performance feat. If you succeed, then you can use an Athletics check to Earn Income by teaching NPCs. The duration of the job depends on the size of the town, a town of 1,000 might give 60 days work. A critical success on Make an Impression will give more customers for a longer-lasting job.
Imagine instead that your human laborer fighter arrived in a small town and talked to the Captain of the Guard about training his guards in advanced wrestling techniques. I would have you roll Earn Income immediately. On a regular success, the captain would say that your wrestling skills seem too ordinary, but he knows a local tavern that could use a bouncer for 30 days at (level-2) income. On a critical success, the fighter gets a 30-day instructor job at (level+1) income.
Trying something unusual has risks and rewards associated with it. Good preparation, such as learning Impressive Performance, can reduce the risks.
If you are teaching a skill to somebody else, any money you make is from the person being taught. That person is probably poorer and lower level than you are, so how much can you get them to pay you?
@Lightwire, Mathmuse: fair enough. Thanks!
@David knott 242: Plenty of people make a good living teaching people better off than themselves (or teaching their kids). When you can't manage that, you make it up on volume.
Academia Lore, IMO, covers teaching. The actual subject wouldn't matter. Being skilled in a subject doesn't really translate into a skill in teaching that skill. On a similar situation, I think this is how you'd have to learn a language.
Most of the section covers physical skills used like as a performance. You could try to use Athletics in the same way to do a 'strong man' act or use could try manual labor [demolition, work that requires ladders and climbing like roof work, porter, ect].