More importantly, do you have to have the previous talent before you go on to the next one in the tree?

Yes, you basically start from the top and work down. After that, you can only take talents that are connected to talents you already have. You'll note that some trees have talents that require you to work down, then across, then back up. So long as there is a line connecting them to something you have, you can take them regardless of direction.

Many talents are ranked, meaning you can take multiple instances of them and their effects are cumulative. Some are not ranked, and they are considered already purchased if you run into them in a different tree.

its a game of connect the dots basically.

if it has a line you need to take the one the line connects to before you can go down.

it gets wonky when you get 2+ talent trees, if you have an unranked talent in the same spot you dont have to buy it again.

im not sure it has to be the same spot exactly, but it should have it in the book under the talents section somewhere, i know its a dense, slow read but its in there

a few clarifications, you can purchase any talent on the top row (the 5exp ones) of a specilization tree you've purchased.

Similarly if it's a non-ranked talent then you never need to purchase it again. Effectively if you have another tree and you already purchased the non-ranked talent in a former tree the. As soon as you connect to it (or if it's in the top row) you may bypass it and buy other talents connected to it (note you must work down to it if it's not on the first row though, you can't just get the tee and immediately start purchasing things connected to it)

As was said, initially you can only buy the talents across the top. Then you work your way down using any available lines. From there, as long as there is a line between the talent you want and a talent you already have, you can buy it.

If you get to an unranked talent in a tree that you already purchased in another tree (you can have as many trees as you want, they just cost more), you treat it as of you already purchased it and can immediately buy talents that connect to it.

For a decent example, look at the Technician Slicer tree. There are 4 across the top, with a single one that has a line going downward all the way on the left side. At the start, you can buy any of the 4, but only the one with the line will let you move on to other parts of the tree. Then, you have to work straight down to the 4th level before you can cut across back into the middle of the tree. From there, every talent is connected to everything around it, so you can buy them in any order as long as you continue to connect them.

As was said, initially you can only buy the talents across the top. Then you work your way down using any available lines. From there, as long as there is a line between the talent you want and a talent you already have, you can buy it.

If you get to an unranked talent in a tree that you already purchased in another tree (you can have as many trees as you want, they just cost more), you treat it as of you already purchased it and can immediately buy talents that connect to it.

But remember that you still need to start from the top, even if you already have the talent that's like in the third row of the new talent tree. But once you've connected that talent to the top row, you can purchase the talents connected to it.

As was said, initially you can only buy the talents across the top. Then you work your way down using any available lines. From there, as long as there is a line between the talent you want and a talent you already have, you can buy it.

If you get to an unranked talent in a tree that you already purchased in another tree (you can have as many trees as you want, they just cost more), you treat it as of you already purchased it and can immediately buy talents that connect to it.

But remember that you still need to start from the top, even if you already have the talent that's like in the third row of the new talent tree. But once you've connected that talent to the top row, you can purchase the talents connected to it.

So, just so I'm clear (and I know I'm almost two years late to this conversation...), this would mean that if I were to make a bounty hunter character with the assassin specialisation and I wanted to take, say, the "Precise Aim" talent on the second row, but I started with "Lethal Blows" and "Jump Up" ... would I have to purchase "Grit" from the first row before I could purchase "Precise Aim"? Or can I just use the line that I can draw from "Jump Up", which in turn is connected to "Lethal Blows" in the top row?

Or, another example, if I were to have purchased down the second column in the hired gun's body guard specialisation from "Barrage" (row 1) to "Side Step" (row 4) and now I wanted to buy "Defensive Stance" (row 4, third column... adjacent and connected to "Side Step"), would I have to buy the whole column down to it from the first row (starting with "Durable"), or could I just use the connection I already have?

Or, a third example, if I made a colonist with the doctor specialisation and I purchased the whole first column from "Surgeon" down to "Supreme Stim Application", and now I wanted to go laterally in that bottom row and purchase "Master Doctor"; would I have to buy the whole column starting where it branches off from third-row "Surgeon" to third-row "Grit", or could I just spend the 25 xp for "Master Doctor" without worrying about that?

Essentially, my question is, do I always have to have the connecting talent from the preceding row to purchase something, or can I just follow whatever lines I already have that go to the first row?

You can follow the lines in any direction you want, I believe.

So yes, you can get Precise Aim from Jump Up (or visa versa), which is why the line is there, and Defensvie Stance from Side Step, and Master Doctor from Supreme Stim Application.

Edit - That you can even go up is proved by things like the Force Sensitive Exile Talent tree, where four talents can only be reached by going up.

You can follow the lines in any direction you want, I believe.

So yes, you can get Precise Aim from Jump Up (or visa versa), which is why the line is there, and Defensvie Stance from Side Step, and Master Doctor from Supreme Stim Application.

Edit - That you can even go up is proved by things like the Force Sensitive Exile Talent tree, where four talents can only be reached by going up. [MY EMPHASIS]

In that tree there's no direct first row connection in the column to that talent, so it seemed to me to be straightforward that you would reach it by following the other lines. But, where you do have a line that you can draw from the first row, I had wondered if you were forced to follow it over other lines. I had a suspicion the answer was "follow any lines that connect", but I wanted to make sure.

I had encountered some people wondering about improving Force rating above 2 in Force & Destiny, saying that it couldn't be done. This was very strange to me, because just looking at the Seer specialisation in the Mystic career (page 83) you can get two Force rating upgrades (up to FR3), so I wondered if I had missed something in how talents are selected and if there were restrictions I hadn't read about. Now I am fairly certain that these people are just bad readers. Or they meant to say "at character creation", because there's not enough starting XP even among humans to buy both options. (In other words, for people google searching "how to increase Force Rating above 2", the answer is to just buy the "Gain +1 Force rating" talents from specialisations like Artisan, Seer, etc.)

In any case, this was the only thread I found anywhere that was asking about how talent trees worked, so I asked a few Edge of the Empire examples.

Thanks.

Edit: Removed due to correction

If a Talent has multiple lines leading to it, that means all of the talents preceding those lines must have purchased before buying that one.

For Example: On the Assassin Tree, there is a Talent called Quick Strike (Row 2, Column 3). Quick Strike has three lines leading to it from Stalker, Jump Up, and Quick Draw. You must have those Talents before purchasing Quick Strike. Also, Jump Up requires Precise Aim and Lethal Blows before that can be purchased. Quick Draw requires Dodge above it to be purchased. Going back further, Precise Aim requires Grit above it before it can be purchased.

Sorry, you're mistaken. It does not require ALL the other talents, you can follow any of the lines to that talent. You start at the top, and then can go on to any talent connected to one you've already purchased, period. You can go up, down, left or right, just so long as you have a line connecting to a talent in that direction

If a Talent has multiple lines leading to it, that means all of the talents preceding those lines must have purchased before buying that one.

For Example: On the Assassin Tree, there is a Talent called Quick Strike (Row 2, Column 3). Quick Strike has three lines leading to it from Stalker, Jump Up, and Quick Draw. You must have those Talents before purchasing Quick Strike. Also, Jump Up requires Precise Aim and Lethal Blows before that can be purchased. Quick Draw requires Dodge above it to be purchased. Going back further, Precise Aim requires Grit above it before it can be purchased.

Sorry, you're mistaken. It does not require ALL the other talents, you can follow any of the lines to that talent. You start at the top, and then can go on to any talent connected to one you've already purchased, period. You can go up, down, left or right, just so long as you have a line connecting to a talent in that direction

I just checked the Dev Answer section of the forum. Wow, did I misread that.