Okay, I'm sorry, I tried reading and re-reading, but I just don't understand. I need someone to explain to me like I am six years old...well, pretty much everything. I mean, I understand how things like a Force Specialization gets adopted mechanically by a character and how a character then proceeds through it, picking up Talents over time just like with any other Specialization, but there seems to be an added level of complication to Signatures I can't wrap my head around.

I really need a "Signature Abilities for Dummies"

Can anyone lend a hand?

Step 1) Get everything at the bottom of your talent tree

Step 2) "Attach" the signature ability tree to your talent tree

Step 3) Spend XP on it like you would anything else in your talent tree

A Few things to add.

Signature abilities can only be added to the bottom of the career they are designed for.

You cannot be a Colonist and attach the Hired Gun Signature ability to any of your specializations. It does not matter if you have a secondary specialization from Hired Gun, you can only have Signature abilities from your Career.

Also you can only "attach" it to one Talent Tree. The point of that is that you can't pick it up twice, to attempt to double up.

I should clarify about the "attach". The reason isn't to prevent a double-up, it is to require you to have 2 "in-career" specializations to get both signature abilities of the career.

Ok, I missed the part where you could take both signature abilities if you have two career specializations..... maybe I'll be picking up a Third specialization from my career tree now....

Okay.. to explain like you are 6 years old:

Where are your parents?!

Also, you can only have ONE signature ability, which is tied to your career.

Can you cite me that text? Not that I don't believe you (I fully support only having one Sig Ability - that would make things WAY too powerful), but the topic came up recently in our group and I'd like to point to it and say "Nope" if someone asks again in the future.

According to the text in the Hired Gun book it doesn't explicitly say you can't have both. I will look it up in the other books now.

Update 1, The Explorer book explicitly states you have access to abilities (plural), not, "a choice of 2".

Update 2, it further says you cannot "remove" the attachment from the original specialization it is first attached to.

Final update, The Colonist book also DOES NOT state only 1. That sounds like a made up rule.

You can only attach one Signature Ability to a specific Specialization.

So for a Colonist with the Doctor specialization, you can attach one Signature Ability to that specialization.

If you then took the Marshall specialization, you could attach the other Signature Ability to the Marshall specialization, once you'd bought the talents at the bottom of the tree it requires.

To clarify again, these are not "my" rules that state you can take more than 1, that is explicitly reading what is said in the currently available 3 Career books.

I don't allow any signature abilities in my games because not all the careers have them available, so it is an imbalance until they are on equal footing, but limiting to only 1, seems like a house rule.

There is a line I think people read wrong that states "Once a signature ability has been attached to a tree, no other signature abilities may be attached to that tree, and the attached ability cannot be removed or switched to a different tree" to mean you only get one. But if you get a second Spec in the same Career, you can easily attach the other ability to the bottom of that one. It is just crazy expensive to get down to the bottom of 2 specs.

Fatedtodie is correct, there is no rule stating that you can't have more than one signature ability. It simply states that you can only have one per tree, ie page 35 of Far Horizens (for example since it's what I have at hand at the moment) it says:

"Once a signature ability has been attached to a tree, no other signature abilities may be attached to that tree..." note how the only limitation specified there is that that specific tree can not have any other abilities attached to it. It goes on to say "A characeter can only acquire a signature ability from his career, and can only attache that ability to in-career talent trees."

So to summarize you can only purcahse signature abilities that belong to your chosen career. They must be attached to the bottom of one of your specilizations once you have all of the linked bottom talents from it and can not be moved or removed from that specialization. This means your only limit on the number of signature abilities according to the RAW is based on how many talent trees you possess from your career and how many are currently available (ie two so far but potentially far more in the future). I'd agree though I'd houserule only one since each is extrodinarily powreful and having a whole group with mulitple would be a nightmare for the GM.

Fascinating - sounds like we should mail someone at FFG and see about a clarification.

(For the meantime - at least for my game - it's a non-issue. We just started the game over, so we have no characters in danger of getting one Sig ability, let alone two. . . .)

Signature abilities are powerful, cinematic abilities that you can pick up for your career when you've progressed enough through one or more of your career's specialization trees. Once you've done this, you can "attach" a signature ability to that specialization tree, and then start purchasing the base ability, plus whatever upgrades you want, with XP.

Some rules for "attaching" a signature ability to a tree:

Fascinating - sounds like we should mail someone at FFG and see about a clarification.

(For the meantime - at least for my game - it's a non-issue. We just started the game over, so we have no characters in danger of getting one Sig ability, let alone two. . . .)

I have, if for no other reason to get an official word. I'll post a reply if/when I get one.

I received my reply from Sam Stewart

Question:

For my example, I have a characters whose career is Hired Gun, and his specializations are Bodyguard and Marauder. Through the course of the campaign, I have filled out both talent trees such that one is eligible for the "Last One Standing" Signature ability, and the other talent tree is eligible for the "Unmatched Protection" Signature ability from "Dangerous Covenants".

Would my Hired Gun be able to choose Last one standing, and attach it to my Marauder talent tree, and later pick up "Unmatched Protection" on my Bodyguard talent tree?

Answer:

Yes, if you have filled out both specialization trees, you can purchase both signature abilities for the Hired Gun. Each must be attached to a different tree, of course.

Bah! Just asked the same thing (and posted same in another thread) - ah well, great minds and all that.

Anyway - Hmmm, not sure what I think about this. On the one hand in order to get both Sig abilities, you will have to lay out a TON of experience. This will not be a quick process. On the other hand, it will make the character CRAZY powerful.

I guess we'll have to see when I get there (at least a year out), if it's cool or if it's game breaking. . . .

***EDIT****

Okay, quickie number crunch time just because I can. Going with Politico + Unmatched Expertise and Entrepreneur + Insightful Revelation (the two 'quickest' routes to the bottom tier), it will cost you 340 experience points to get everything. Assuming 20 XP a game, one game a week, it'll take you 17 weeks to get there. That is, of course if you do nothing else - no skills, no other talents - and of course none of the extra perks that go with your awesome Signature abilities..

Also note that while powerful each requires expendature of destiny points so it's not likely your party is going to all be popping two of these every session even if they have them without and those that do give the gm a ton of destiny points toame their lives harder with

Thanks a lot guys, this has been SUPER helpful. Much obliged!

Necromantically resurrecting this thread...

If I branch out and get a specialization from a DIFFERENT career, can I get the signature ability from that career as well as my original one?

RAW, no. Easy to hand wave, yes.

RAW, no. Easy to hand wave, yes.

Do you have a page reference to the RAW?

If you mean where it says it has to be a career, it's in every single career book's SA section.

If you mean where it says it has to be a career, it's in every single career book's SA section.

And since you do not add a career, but only a new specialization, you can not get the Signature Ability from that tree? Correct?

Correct. SAs, RAW are from your original career.