The beginning of Chapter 8, on page 194, states that a character must be Force Sensitive to take "certain specialization trees and particular talents". It seems obvious to me that the talents in question are the Force Talents, but it is not obvious, or in any way indicated, exactly which specialization trees are barred to non-force sensitives.

It could be argued that none of the specializations in FAD should be available to non-Force Sensitives, or only the Lightsaber trees, or any of them, but only until blocked by Force-Sensitive required talents, or some other thing. We see characters such as General Grievous who are apparently adept with Lightsabers but are not likely Force Sensitive, so clarification in this area would be helpful.

There are also sections in the FAD book which state unequivocally that all Specializations are available, which might need clarification. (Acquiring new specializations p. 68, "Characters may purchase any specialization in any career", and Spending experience table 9-1 p. 219, lists no prerequisites.) Of course early EOTE and AOR books likely have the same verbage, because there were no Force-Sensitive careers at the time, and the only Force-Sensitive specializations were universal.

This was clarified in the Order 66 podcast I believe.

According to FFG_Sam, any character can take any of the F&D specializations and spend XP on any talent. However, without a Force Rating of 1, none of the Force Talents or +1 FR talents will work for you. At the moment, the only way to get a FR of 1 is to take one of the F&D careers, or take the Force Exile or Force Emergent spec.

A point I found interesting is that if you have taken talents from these other specs before you take Emergent or Exile, is that one you take either, you instantly gain access to all talents, including the +1 FR ones so you shoot from non-Force user to perhaps a powerful one with just one small XP expenditure

That's the section on the force, and I'm fairly certain what they're referring to is that you have to be force sensitive to access force power trees.

I recall that non-Force Sensitives still have access to buying into the various FaD specializations. And can even buy the various Force Talents in them, even if only so they can access the rest of the tree - the obvious catch of course being that they lack the force rating to use most of the talents, and by grabbing a force rating through one of the higher cost talents effectively costs more in the long run than grabbing Force-Sensitive Exile/Emergent first.

I think the text is just there to clarify that if they chose to make specializations that require a certain force rating later, similar to some of the force powers, that you need that force rating first to grab them. Whether that's a sign of what we can expect from supplements in the future, or thrown in as a just in case thing - who knows.

.....the obvious catch of course being that they lack the force rating to use most of the talents, and by grabbing a force rating through one of the higher cost talents effectively costs more in the long run than grabbing Force-Sensitive Exile/Emergent first.

That's the section on the force, and I'm fairly certain what they're referring to is that you have to be force sensitive to access force power trees.

Of course, unfortunately that's not particularly helpful.

The question is "Which trees are considered to require Force Sensitivity?" The answer to that question is not in the book, AFAICT. This is why I asked the question, and posted the obvious possibilities:

1) All trees are, in fact, purchasable. This fits what has been said elsewhere, and others have indicated it to be the case.

2) Trees that lack the Force Rating +1 talent in them somewhere (the Lightsaber technique trees, normally, but not always) are available to everyone.

3) Lightsaber technique trees are available to everyone.

4) Trees in FaD are not available to non-Force Sensitives.

At this point it seems that 1 is correct, and the text on p. 194 is incorrect, on both accounts.

It would seem that all force talents are, in fact, purchasable by non-Force-sensitive characters, though that seems like an odd thing to do.

p. 93 "Force talents... may only be used by Force-sensitive characters."

p. 94 "Force talents may not be used by characters who are not Force-sensitive."

p. 97 "Force talent... a character must be Force-sensitive... to use the talent.

p. 196 "Force talents... can only be used by characters who have a Force rating of 1 or higher."

This makes me wonder what would happen if a character who is not Force-sensitive by any other means takes one of these trees and spends the points to get down to a Force Rating +1 talent. My assumption at this time is that the talent would not provide Force Sensitivity, since p. 97 indicates that a non-Force-sensitive who takes a Force talent "cannot use it or gain any benefits from it."

In any case, it would be nice to have official confirmation one way or the other. A podcast is nice, but at this point it's a step above heresay.

None of the talent trees require Force sensitivity to buy. However, if you are not Force sensitive, you cannot use the talents marked Force Talents. You still have to buy them to move past them to other talents, but they are utterly useless until you gain Force rating 1.

If you reach the +1 Force rating talent in such a tree, you can buy it - but you do not become Force sensitive. It's a Force Talent, so you have to already be Force sensitive to gain any benefit from it.

The only two ways to become Force sensitive are: Start as one of the six careers in Force and Destiny, or buy into the Force Sensitive Exile or Force Sensitive Emergent talent trees. There is currently no third option.

None of the talent trees require Force sensitivity to buy. However, if you are not Force sensitive, you cannot use the talents marked Force Talents. You still have to buy them to move past them to other talents, but they are utterly useless until you gain Force rating 1.

If you reach the +1 Force rating talent in such a tree, you can buy it - but you do not become Force sensitive. It's a Force Talent, so you have to already be Force sensitive to gain any benefit from it.

The only two ways to become Force sensitive are: Start as one of the six careers in Force and Destiny, or buy into the Force Sensitive Exile or Force Sensitive Emergent talent trees. There is currently no third option.

QFT.

-EF

I think that line is directly referencing the force power trees with have the line "Prerequisite: Force Rating 1+" even if thy aren't "specialization trees" technically.

In any case, it would be nice to have official confirmation one way or the other. A podcast is nice, but at this point it's a step above heresay.

I hope to see something about this in an official errata, but what TCArknight is referring to are comments made by Sam Stewart on the Order 66 Podcast. I would consider comments from the lead developer quite a bit above hearsay. Just my two cents.

In any case, it would be nice to have official confirmation one way or the other. A podcast is nice, but at this point it's a step above heresay.

I hope to see something about this in an official errata, but what TCArknight is referring to are comments made by Sam Stewart on the Order 66 Podcast. I would consider comments from the lead developer quite a bit above hearsay. Just my two cents.

Yeah. As would I.

It's not hear-say if the guy who wrote the game says on our show "Anyone from EotE or AoR Careers can buy into any of the F&D Spec trees and buy Force Talents from them, they just don't get benefit from those Force Talents until you gain Force Rating 1 from another source".

Actually...that was here-say...as in "he said it, here."