Rules Update: Assistant Skill

A new skill is being added, replacing two old ones:

Assistant
Prerequisite: Literacy, 3 Build (Common List), 1 Build (Physican and Smith)
Skill (Continuous), Assistant
A person with this skill is competent in following basic instructions and anticipating the needs of another person working on a task, and is able to reduce the amount of time and effort needed for them to complete it.  The character may assist another character with any skill from the Physician Ranks or Smithing Ranks, or with any Alchemy recipe - the character performing the task will have their time reduced by half.  If the task requires the expenditure of Crafting or Production Points, the assisting character may provide up to half of them, rounded down.

Characters with either Physician's Assistant or Smithing Assistant (or both) will have this skill added in its place automatically - please make the note on your card during the next event, and the Card Deputy will update it for you, and refund the appropriate build.  If you only have Medical Assistant (from the Commoner's list), you will have the choice of paying the additional 1 build, or dropping the skill.  The skill remains 1 build on the Physician list, and becomes 1 build on the Smith list.

If we have Medical Assistant now, can we ask to spend the Build before the event (if it was unspent coming into the event), and use the skill in November?

If so, count me in!

Yes.

"with any skill from the Physician Ranks or Smithing Ranks, or with any Alchemy recipe - "

By ANY Alchemy recipe, does that mean even Alchemy recipes that Physicians do not have access to, for example, the entire Hermetic tree?

Larry, correct.  "Alchemy" is generic, "Hermetic" is specific - that's why we added the Hermetic name, to make it easy.

Just out of curiosity, why is it that smiths and physicians can easily learn how to assist alchemists, but alchemists cannot easily learn how to assist each other?

Mostly because we replaced the Physician and Smithing Assistant skills, which were already there, but Alchemists didn't have one already.

Official Update: Alchemists get it for 1 Build, too.

This has been updated in the Online Rulebook.