So all these people going "Wait - a talent that makes all my minions die? TOO POWERFUL!" - man, you've just been trumped. I picked up Far Horizons today - and of course the first thing I head for is the two Signature Abilities. Insightful Revelation isn't too bad - but holy crap is Unmatched Expertise SUPER POWERFUL!

2 Destiny Points, reduce the difficulty of all career skill checks by one (to a minimum of easy).

That's pretty good - but then look at the adders:

* Reduce all skill checks by 2 instead of one

* Remove a [] from any career skill (there are two of these)

* The difficulty of all career skill checks is reduced to a minimum of simple instead of easy.

So, not only has my politico gotten rid of four [] dice from either Charm and Leadership or Coercion and Deception (through Kill With Kindness and Plausible Denyability) - all the skill checks can eventually be reduced to simple. For the ENTIRE encounter!

You can keep your "all minions die" ability. Being able to sell 400 metric tons of sand to Jabba without breaking a sweat - now THAT is powerful!

Selling ice cream to Eskimos. I like it.

Within the GM's discretion, of course

Within the GM's discretion, of course

The one where GM discretion really comes into play? The endgame talent of the Performer: "I'm Your Biggest Fan!", the once-per-session ability to turn an NPC into that characters biggest fan with a <><><> charm roll. I cant see Vader being anyone biggest fan. . . .

How much stuff does Performer have Talent wise to buff Melee?

Within the GM's discretion, of course

The one where GM discretion really comes into play? The endgame talent of the Performer: "I'm Your Biggest Fan!", the once-per-session ability to turn an NPC into that characters biggest fan with a <><><> charm roll. I cant see Vader being anyone biggest fan. . . .

The Dark Lord of the Sith listened as the band, Zip Zipoli and the Z-Line Zingers, played through their set. Nobody could believe the black-caped cyborg would be patient enough to take the time to enjoy the tunes of some Outer-Rim sparkle-bop crew, but some even caught him tapping his fingers to the rhythm of the repetitive riffs of Zipoli's mandoviol. And when it was over, he stood, clapping slowly. That's right, Darth Vader himself stood and applauded the little group from the middle of nowhere. Then he approached, and scared the bantha poo out of all of them.

"You are skilled artists," he said. "But I find your lack of bass disturbing."

I'd love to have a Performer character in my game so they could use "Biggest Fan"!

Who's itching for more announcements?!? Adversary decks finally I saw. Some reserved announcements for tomorrow as well I guess, because F&D beta and Armada weren't enough.

How much stuff does Performer have Talent wise to buff Melee?

Nothing.

Awwww, oh well.

How much stuff does Performer have Talent wise to buff Melee?

Not so much - although it does have a couple of cool talents: Natural Athlete (reroll athletics or coordination once a game), Second Wind (more strain recovery), Dodge and Coordination Dodge (spend a Destiny to add failures equil to your coordination skill) - and my favorite, the Distracting Behavior (suffer some strain, add threat to a number of NPCs. "Excuse me Miss Nyssa, would -er - you please - um - put your top back on?")

OK, that's not too bad. I had read the Coordination Dodge write up, how many ranks of plain ol Dodge?

Looks like just the one, at the 10 point tier.

Still that's not bad, mostly float like a butterfly and no bee stinging but that's ok. I'm sure when I get it there will be uses. I've got a Doctor that I'm sure will be interested.

I'm going to have to house rule that it will cost like 20 Strain to do this, I have to make it even for the other characters. Also, I will make this available to any CLASS in the game, and every NPC they run across will now have this too. The bartender, the guy running the guy street sweeper, even the Bantha poo pickeruper droid!!!

Too bad I don't have a politico in my new group. The doc may like this though.

You can keep your "all minions die" ability. Being able to sell 400 metric tons of sand to Jabba without breaking a sweat - now THAT is powerful!

WOOF!

Yeah... that's insane!

Selling ice cream to Eskimos. I like it.

Why wouldn't Inuit want ice cream?

Selling sunlight to Defel.

You can keep your "all minions die" ability. Being able to sell 400 metric tons of sand to Jabba without breaking a sweat - now THAT is powerful!

Or, you can still kill all of the minions all by reducing the combat checks as well.

Within the GM's discretion, of course

The one where GM discretion really comes into play? The endgame talent of the Performer: "I'm Your Biggest Fan!", the once-per-session ability to turn an NPC into that characters biggest fan with a <><><> charm roll. I cant see Vader being anyone biggest fan. . . .

I'd probably include Adversary dice for a BBEG like Vader. Give the player the roll and if he wins perhaps give reduced effects. Have Vader acknowledge he knows the PC and now knows that they are up to no good so he can relentlessly hunt them. It's not always a good thing to have a fan...

I'm going to have to house rule that it will cost like 20 Strain to do this, I have to make it even for the other characters. Also, I will make this available to any CLASS in the game, and every NPC they run across will now have this too. The bartender, the guy running the guy street sweeper, even the Bantha poo pickeruper droid!!!

With the smile, you're probably not serious - but on the assumption you are. . .

If I were playing my politico at your table, I'd be seriously pissed. Why does all the other classes get to keep their super cool ability without enough strain drain to knock them out. Why do I lose* my super cool ability while everyone gets to keep theirs?

* Yes, I still have my super cool ability, but now that everyone has it, it's not super cool anymore. It's mundane and boring now that Joe the Pilot and Bob the Bounty Hunter can do it too.

Yes its powerful - but after I spent 250 points to get there, it should be. It just seems kind of punitive to me.

I'd probably include Adversary dice for a BBEG like Vader. Give the player the roll and if he wins perhaps give reduced effects. Have Vader acknowledge he knows the PC and now knows that they are up to no good so he can relentlessly hunt them. It's not always a good thing to have a fan...

Or even worse - less a "Can I have your autograph?" Super fan and more a "I'm your biggest fan - now I'll go kill President Reagan to make you love me" Stalker fan.

Yes, I was totally joking about this!!!

I was poking a little fun at people who like to reduce the effectiveness/uses of talents because they are "too powerful" and can outshine other Career/Specs. (Hey it's your game, do what you want, but I can still tease you if want I to )

I was also making fun of past GM/DMs that I have had/heard of where everyone you could ever encounter in the world is a former HERO that can outshine anyone in the party.

I was making a lot of fun at the expense of some people who like to just come in and start "house ruling" and making "judgement calls" on stuff that they have no idea how it works, well, just because they can, or it worked better in system "X".

(Again, do what you want, it has no effect on me)

I thought I sealed the deal on this being a joke when I included the Bantha poo pickerup droid...

That's what I thought - but on The Internet, sometimes you can never be QUITE sure. . . .

(Eh, it's early and and I've not had coffee yet - I'll blame that!)

That's what I thought - but on The Internet, sometimes you can never be QUITE sure. . . .

(Eh, it's early and and I've not had coffee yet - I'll blame that!)

No coffee?!? My whole zip code would die if I didn't make a beeline for my percolator every morning.....

Will someone give me the skinny on what the other signature ability does? My gaming store had a distributor problem so won't have my copy until next week.

I will just quote someone else how already answered it and FFG actually already previewed both signatures abilites.

New Signature Deeds?

These were actually covered in one of the preview articles:

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4924

Insightful Revelation - As befits the career with the Scholar specialization, Insightful Revelation allows characters to really put their Knowledge skills to use; a character with Insightful Revelation can make a single check to reveal vital information about his or her situation that he or she couldn’t normally uncover.

Unmatched Expertise - Perhaps more than any other characters, Colonists such as Doctors, Scholars, and Performers are defined by their jobs and specializations. Accordingly, it’s appropriate that Unmatched Expertise rewards them for their dedication and helps make them the very best at what they do.

Specifically, Unmatched Expertise allows the most talented Colonists to decrease the difficulty of all career skill checks by one for an entire encounter. Nobody out-talks a Politico, out-medics a Doctor, or out-deals an Entrepreneur!