Does the time traveller trait reset the penalties?

[senko]

I was wondering if the time traveller trait resets the penalties or just negates them for a particular era? That is if you have a person who's home tech level is 5 and they gain the time traveller trait with a tech level of 8 does it only negate the penalty of tech level 8 so rather than a penalty of +6 its 0 or does it reset the count as well so a tech level of 7 is +1 (its not as advanced as the technolgy you are familiar with) rather than +4 (more advanced than your home world)?

That is does it transform . . .

Home tech level 5 = 0.
Tech level 7 = 2 levels above home tech level, penalty +4.
Tech level 8 = 3 levels above home tech level, penalty +6.

into

Home tech level 5 = 0.
Time traveller tech level 8 = familiar with tech level 8, penalty 0.
Tech level 7 = 2 levels above home tech level, penalty +4.

or

Home tech level 5 = 0.
Time traveller tech level 8 = familiar with tech level 8, penalty 0.
Tech level 7 = 1 level below highest era your familiar with, penalty +1.

[misterharry]

Interesting question.

From a real-life perspective, you can easily make the case that the penalties should relate to the nearest Tech Level that you have familiarity with, i.e. your latter example.

However, from a game rules point of view, that would actually give you a lot of benefit from only a 1 or 2 point outlay, so my view is that the penalty applies from your home Tech Level only. In fact, the section on Technology Levels in the core rulebook (page 110 in the Capaldi edition) confirms this: "If a character uses technology from outside their home Tech Level, they incur a penalty to the roll." No reference to any other Tech Levels the character might be familiar with.

[senko]

Ah unfortunate still I was hoping there'd be a clarification somewhere. As you said from a balance perspective it makes sense that way, from a common sense one it seems weird you can be familiar with Tech level 11 (ancient gallifreyan) but still take a +10 penalty with Tech level 10 (modern gallifreyan where they've forgotten a lot). Especially since in that case its the same species.

[misterharry]

Yes, logically you'd think it would reduce the penalties for the neighbouring Tech Levels.

I guess you could rationalise it that understanding your home Tech Level is intuitive so it's relatively easy to get a grasp of close Tech Levels. While Tech Levels gained from the Time Traveller trait are learned rather than naturally acquired, so you don't have the same level of intuitive understanding of them.