Character Specialties

Character Specialities are particular, exceptional talents or skills, possessed by only a fairly small percentage of Characters in the game. Very occasionally a Character might join your Organization already possessing a Speciality, but more likely it's something he didn't know he would be especially good at, he just develops and masters the talent while in your employ. The problem with most unknown Specialities is that these will never usually become known until that character is placed in a situation where his Speciality is suddenly of use, so at any one time it's entirely possible you might have several characters in your employ all having unknown specialities. Some specialities will never be discovered for this reason alone. A speciality might be virtually anything, ranging from running a particular racket superbly, to developing and mastering a special technique of use in some way to a criminal organization. In essence, there is a Speciality for virtually every action in the game where exceptional talent might make a difference. Where a character's Speciality is useful in a particular situation this will automatically be taken into consideration in preference to his ordinary Skills & Abilities. It is also possible for a Character to specialize in something very similar (or even identical) to an existing Skill or Ability, even though his apparent Aptitude in that particular attribute might not seem anything special. In such a case he has developed a unique talent, a personal way of doing things, which surpasses the methods generally used. For example, a good shot with a revolver or automatic pistol (high 'Marksmanship' Skill) would normally extend his arm and raise the weapon to eye level, then aim & shoot. A Specialist marksman might be able to aim & shoot accurately without first either extending his arm or raising the weapon to eye level - much like the expert gunslingers of the Wild West - with the obvious advantage of extra speed in a life-or-death situation. Specialists are in every other way the same as all other characters in the game, they just have one particularly useful talent which sets them apart and makes them that little bit more valuable to your organization. Specialists are a fairly rare breed, so treasure them if you're lucky enough to have one or more in your employ.