Phosphor [&]

part of semi-committing to specific skill spreads for each FL character is going "oh man, I can't wait to get here with [other character]" because the doctor's skills in a particular area are trash

(what this means, specifically, is that there are certain advanced skills that I will prioritize boosting above all else, up to and including dropping Fate, and all others are kind of intentionally allowed to suck. like I'll eventually get them to 7 and maybe grab some non-Fate equipment for them if it's not too out of my way but I don't ever expect to hit the high numbers that I Will for the prioritized ones)

I was looking at the Whisker-Ways and went "oh, it's a Mithridacy-heavy activity. the doctor's shite at that, this isn't an activity he will be doing. but Rafael is absolutely gonna kill this"

it basically goes:

• one skill that is an expertise: this is the character's Special Interest, the thing that they're not just scarily good at but Live and Breathe. this is the skill that I'm hell-bent on maximizing, or at least getting past 20, for vanity's sake if nothing else
• two skills that are proficiencies: these are things that the character also studies and applies extensively, even if it's not the thing they Live and Breathe. I'm going to try and get BiS for these, but I'm less fussed about getting As Much As Possible and might intentionally let them lag behind expertise
• one skill that is incidental: not a skill the character actively pursues learning, but would have picked up due to their entanglements. lowest priority of the prioritized skills.

the intention is that, in combination with their in-character proclivities and other factors (like which factions they're high renown with), this funnels my characters towards different activities and prevents everything from turning into a homogenized mess of chasing the Numerically Most Profitable Activity all the time, at which point playing the game becomes uninteresting to me and I might as well go back to reading the wikis and echoes instead.

of the characters who I actually play, their specific spreads, so far, are:

the doctor:

• expertise: Artisan of the Red Science
• proficiencies: Shapeling Arts, Kataleptic Toxicology
• incidental: Monstrous Anatomy

Rafael:

• expertise: A Player of Chess
• proficiencies: Glasswork, Mithridacy
• incidental: Zeefaring

Wren:

• expertise: Kataleptic Toxicology
• proficiencies: Chthonosophy, [⬛]
• incidental: Monstrous Anatomy

the tricky thing about Wren is that the doctor and Rafael have pretty much every skill covered between them with no overlap, with the exception of Chthonosophy and [⬛]. with Chthonosophy being relatively new and of course [⬛] being a special case, I'm kind of worried that I won't be able to find enough to distinguish Wren's play from the doctor - but tbh one alt who I actively play is already quite a lot to keep up with