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Dark•Matter
Call of Cthulhu

Skill Ticks

If your hero uses a specialty skill successfully or receives proper training in it (a successful Teach check), and he or she has the appropriate broad skill, then you may place a sticky note on your character sheet. Call it a skill tick to avoid confusion.
Work out the skill advancement score that you'll need to gain the skill. This is a straight d12 roll against 12 minus your hero's current rank in the skill, or 13 minus your current rank if your hero is a Tech Op. Record this number on the sticky note.
Add a "P" after the advancement score if the skill is a professional skill for your hero.

When your GM indicates that you may check for skill advancement, or immediately if you've been trained by someone else, you can make a skill advancement check for each skill in which you have a skill tick. Roll d12 against the number recorded on the sticky note. If you roll lower than the required number, or equal to the number if it's a professional skill for the character, your hero gains a rank in that skill. The skill tick goes away whether you succeed or fail.

Gaining a broad skill is like gaining a specialty skill, except that your hero must achieve a Good success or be trained to get a skill tick in a broad skill, and your skill advancement score is always 6.

Burning Skill Ticks

Your hero can gain the various things in the game that cost skill points (learning to use cyber-gear, making FX items) by giving up 1 skill tick in a relevant skill for every 3 skill points required, rounded up. Skill ticks for broad skills are worth twice as much for this purpose.
A character can be trained to use cyber-gear (gaining skill ticks that can be burned to make up the required 4 skill ticks), but for other purposes you can't spend skill ticks that you acquired through training.

To gain an achievement benefit, you not only burn up skill ticks, but also your hero must meet a minimum number of ranks in at least one specialty skill under the attribute related to the achievement benefit. (This is roughly equivalent to the varied cost of achievement benefits for different professions.) Some achievement benefits have more than one related attribute, for example, Action Check Bonus would be related to DEX and INT, from which your action check is derived. In this case the hero may count a skill in either of two related attributes to reach the minimum rank requirement.

The minimum level listed in the Player's Handbook for Achievement Benefits translates to the following minimum skill rank:

up to 3rd level - rank 2
4th to 6th level - rank 3
7th to 10th level - rank 4
Your hero can gain any of the listed achievement benefits if he or she has rank 5 in a skill under the related attribute.