We often to talk about Traveller skills being “big”, that they often include subskills.

In my campaign, for example, one of the PCs has the skill Forward Observer-1. Now this is a battlefield skill, obviously, and would be used to call in coordinates for air strikes, artillary, or even bombardment/attack from orbit. BUT – it would likely also mean the character is good at sneaking around a battlefield and not being seen. Essentially it is stealth on the battlefield. A forward observer who is easy to see would not be alive and useful very long. So I allow the PC in my game to use the Forward Observer skill to stealth around battlefield-like environments.

If a player can make a logical argument why a skill applies to a situation, and it doesn’t break the game or render a more specific skill superfluous, I’ll allow it to at least some extent.

I think most players would be bummed to roll up “Steward” skill, but I think that skill is more than cooking and entertaining. A good ship steward would go all over a ship, be familiar with what everyone on a ship does, see what’s going on, and really know the nooks and crannies of a ship. They’d be great at knowing where to hide, even on a ship they’ve not been on before, where particular kinds of items would be likely to be kept, etc. It’s only a useless skill of the Ref never puts the PC in a situation where it can be useful.

Omer Golan-Joel has the great old article about skills in Classic Traveller. I love it.

Keeping with Omer’s assertion that a level of 1 is good enough to get a job with a skill, consider Streetwise-1. It has to be more than simply finding underworld contacts or talking your way out of being stabbed. It means your streetwise nature is enough to make a living. You are good at it. Streetwise 2 or 3 ? Hell, you can probably pick pockets, etc. One of our PCs was a retired Merchant with Streetwise skill. I made the ruling that HIS streetwise was more related to business dealings - how to handle himself when bargaining, knowing if he’s being cheated, etc. (I have the player the choice and he thought this was cool.)

I don’t think this theory would apply to every skill. There are a few where it makes no sense. Like Bribery. You will probably not make a living at bribery. I think it is probably just a discrete skill, though I’d still listen to an argument about some clever application of the skill.