According to A Time of War p141:
SPECIALTIES
Characters may opt to further personalize their Skills by choosing a specialty to focus on.
Unlike subskills, specialties are not pre-defined in the Skill’s rules, but are left up to the
player’s imagination (and the gamemaster’s permission). Characters attempting to use a
Skill within their area of specialty receive a bonus roll modifier to the attempt, while attempts
to use the same Skill outside the area of specialty suffer a penalty. Sample specialties include
“Lasers†for any Gunnery subskill, or “Human Resources†for Administration.
So are the Modifiers for using a skill within (or outside of) it's specialized area [such as firing a Medium Laser from your mech with Gunnery/Mech (Laser) ] left up to the GM's determination or are they actually defined somewhere that I haven't spotted yet?
If I remember correctly, skill specializations were available in MW3/CBT:RPG as well and they were given a +1 for using the specialty and a -1 for using the base skill, modified from your current skill level.
For example:
Gunnery/'Mech (Laser) 4 (Current skill level)
When firing any Laser based mech weapon, your modifier to your roll would be +5
When firing any other mech based weapons, your modifier would be +3
(This is a simplified example that doesn't take any other modifiers into account for clarity sake.)
If there is no specification anywhere, what do you usually use for specialty roll modifiers?
