I am currently playing a slicer/Outlaw tech character and i'm feeling more and more unhappiness with the framework of this character tree. I feel the rules for "slicing" themselves are far to vague in comparison to other classes, this is the same with outlaw tech, there are currently no rules or guidelines in place for creating or inventing my own gear which is leaving me quite disenfranchised with the game itself.

I would also like my character to head in the direction of an Information broker where I find, sell info, blackmail or extort others as a career, but there are no spec's currently available which can give me this option, so I asked my GM would it be possible to create my own( with his guidance).

This has been met with resistance as my GM is unsure how to proceed with my request. With no "Technician" module due anytime soon I feel that my character is just stuck in situation where all I really do is open doors, fix/mod other players gear , or repair the ship. If anyone can help me I would be eternally grateful.

This has come up before. It comes down to the GMs and your creativity. A hacker "slicer" just doesn't run across things. Hackers started by being creative. Between the GM and you speaking about more opportunity to do those kinds of things you need to also slice to your heart's content every opportunity. Be specific when you tell the GM what you are doing and what you are looking for. it will put the GM on the spot if you tell him that you want to find more about a target area or person. You could also go ahead and slice a system to steal money and so on. Don't give up on slicing out outlaw tech yet. Slicing is illegal so start thinking like a crook

BTW make your own gear for slicing tech and go overboard with what you used to crest that item. Remember there is more than one way to skin a cat. So if FFG came out and said recipes for creation of some tech it wouldn't nessessarily be out law tech then.

Using phone so I know the spelling is messed up.

I am doing all that stuff already but thats really all i'm doing, I want to branch out into a more criminal element, selling secrets. extortion, blackmail, A typical Information Broker but there isn't a Spec tree that accommodates this, so I have suggested being allowed to create my own spec:Information Broker. This, however has been met with typical resistance by the group and my GM, there just arn't the guidelines in place for such things. So how should I proceed?

I am doing all that stuff already but thats really all i'm doing, I want to branch out into a more criminal element, selling secrets. extortion, blackmail, A typical Information Broker but there isn't a Spec tree that accommodates this, so I have suggested being allowed to create my own spec:Information Broker. This, however has been met with typical resistance by the group and my GM, there just arn't the guidelines in place for such things. So how should I proceed?[/quote

Like I said, use your imagination. There are specs already in place. Politico and slicing for blackmailing. Sounds to me like your GM isn't listening to you. Blow his mind. With what you come up with it is altakes time to go from small time to big time crime. Put the GM on the spot.

I'd recommend going into the Enforcer spec. That tree has several ranks in Intimidating and Fearsome, as well as adding Coercion, Streetwise and Brawl to your Slicer's career skills.

And remember, with the way the skill system is designed, you don't necessarily need a special talent to do something. Coercion would definitely fit for blackmailing someone. Various Knowledge skills or slicing via Computers can get you all sorts of information, and Streetwise is the skill to sell it on the sly. You come up with the narrative ways you want to use your skills/talents, and let the GM know what you're looking to do, so you can work together to come up with a fun story.

On that note, are the other players/characters on-board for where you want to take the game? How does this fit with what the rest of the party is after?

I agree with the above post it all comes down to your narration your creativity and that's why I said you can talk to the game master about to actually putting more opportunity for you to use your slicing in game but it all comes down to creativity when hackers first started it was their creativity they came up with what they were doing not rules it could have been somebody walking up and asking him to find information out on something for putting a virus in somewhere or could be their own creativity

If I had a Slicer in my party, I'd recycle the personal combat rules to cover slicing: Computer as a "combat" skill. Slicing gear as weapons (Outlaw tech has Tinker that lets you add a HP -- add a weapon attachment!). All "wounds" for the Slicer just become Strain. Anything more complicated than a simple check (like a locked door) can be cast as a rival (like a security system) or a nemesis (a data vault).

Slicer by itself is one of those 'funny' careers where I found myself to be fairly unhappy with it as well after a while, mostly because its an extreme specialist who does mostly computers, little bit of sneaking and a bit of mechanical stuff.

They do excel at infomation gathering given the chance to be anywhere near someone's data terminals...

So, its not something I'd say is a good 1st career, probably a better 2nd or something like that. With mine I went into Scoundrel to basically get some talking skills and talents that made mine a better lying, cheating, underhanded scumbag that robs people blind at sabaac, steals things and at least it caps out shooting people in the face with pistols skill.

A lot of this gripe comes with the fact there's 170 or so guns in the game and no **** computers aside from a datapad, some of the surveilance, comms and survival stuff fills a bit of a gap, but I still feel the technical careers tend to be suffering from a lack of gear overall, specific to their needs.

Being an outlaw tech means you could look at making some bespoke items.

You do get some wins with the career though, I did sort of expose Darth Vader's dirty secrets to the galaxy over the holonet and Palps isn't happy.

Its going well so far, I'm not dead... yet.

You do get some wins with the career though, I did sort of expose Darth Vader's dirty secrets to the galaxy over the holonet and Palps isn't happy.

Slicer and OT are both pretty frustrating specs and, especially together, probably don't make for a lot of dynamic options in the early game.

There are plenty of arguments against making your own homebrew talent tree that I can think of, but I'm more interested in this: what do you think this 'Information Broker' tree should look like? What type of talents should it have? How should it path?

My group has an information broker and used Colonist (Entrepreneur, Scholar) to do it. He's not a computer user though, more of a guy that always knows who to ask for the right answers.

There's nothing wrong with creating one's own Careers/Specializations. The big thing to watch out for is, does everyone feel the need to go after that tree? If so, then something is probably not balanced right with the setup (costs, connections, what Talents/Skills are in it).

There's nothing wrong with creating one's own Careers/Specializations. The big thing to watch out for is, does everyone feel the need to go after that tree? If so, then something is probably not balanced right with the setup (costs, connections, what Talents/Skills are in it).

I think a major concern is balance. If you're creating a custom spec that is designed to collapse the core talents of 2-3 different specs into a single one, that's where I'd be wary of it. The game is built to encourage characters to invest in multiple trees and a custom spec that defeats that gives that player an advantage over the other players who are cross-speccing their characters to get the talents and skills they want.

I think a major concern is balance. If you're creating a custom spec that is designed to collapse the core talents of 2-3 different specs into a single one, that's where I'd be wary of it. The game is built to encourage characters to invest in multiple trees and a custom spec that defeats that gives that player an advantage over the other players who are cross-speccing their characters to get the talents and skills they want.

If you wanted to do an NPC that way, I wouldn’t have a problem with it.

But you should be much more careful what you give to the PCs — they should earn the things they get, and TANSTAAFL.

I think a major concern is balance. If you're creating a custom spec that is designed to collapse the core talents of 2-3 different specs into a single one, that's where I'd be wary of it. The game is built to encourage characters to invest in multiple trees and a custom spec that defeats that gives that player an advantage over the other players who are cross-speccing their characters to get the talents and skills they want.

If you wanted to do an NPC that way, I wouldn’t have a problem with it.

But you should be much more careful what you give to the PCs — they should earn the things they get, and TANSTAAFL.

NPCs aren't build like PCs. They can be handed whatever Talents/Skills that a GM wants them to have. No need to build whole trees just for an NPC. The NPC survives and comes back better? Don't need a tree, just add the new abilities and keep going.

I have done some research and I think taking Trader/Scoundrel would be the best choice as my group are very against me creating my own spec.

I have done some research and I think taking Trader/Scoundrel would be the best choice as my group are very against me creating my own spec.

That fits the infochant concept a lot better. I'd also take a look at Entrepreneur, from the Colonist book.

Dude, I am trying to get our Slicer to become some type of "Tinkerer" so we can get more HPs on our Freighter or have her go into FSE and be an Emperor's Hand or something secretive like that