My Shadow has both levels of Codebreaker, and I have yet to actually USE it in a game.

I can see a way it could come up often enough to deserve taking up two slots in the tree: Lockpicking. Plenty of doors in the Star Wars universe are electronically locked, and electronic locks require a code to open, so there's a practical use for the ability. However, as it's written, a rules lawyer could argue that it's ONLY use is Cryptography, and that's certainly not worth two spots on the tree, 25 total points, and being a prerequisite to advancing two paths.

All I can say is if you aren't using it, its kinda on you and the gm. When you break into a secure facility have you ever tried to crack the guards comms so you could listen in? Have you ever stolen encrypted data and decided you just had to know whatit was?

Don't just let the talents sit there man. Use them to help steer the action in your way.

That's the thing. I say that in a setting where electronics are as ubiquitous as Star Wars, there are plenty of uses for Codebreaking, but the talent as it's written ONLY lists breaking codes or decrypting transmissions as it's uses. A rules lawyer could, and thus far, one that I know has done so; argue that those are the only two uses for the talent. *I* say that there are plenty of other situations in Star Wars where a Codebreaking skill would come in handy, but the language of the talent's description is highly limiting

I'm with you on the creating different uses for the talent, as unless you're actively wiretapping in your game, it's 25 points that are going to waste. What I'm saying is that a GM who thinks that obeying the rules takes priority over players actually enjoying the game COULD say "No, it only lists breaking codes or decrypting transmissions, so that's all you can use it for!"

I don't know how a rules lawyer would be able to weasel out of the talent's use on a lock that requires people to punch in a code...

Edit: The Irene Adler episode in Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock has tons of examples how to use this talent.

My group's slicer has the Codebreaker talent, and I frequently have them come across encrypted data. Slicing into a computer system and downloading files is one thing, but if you actually want to read what those files say you need to decrypt them first. Both the Empire and various criminal organizations routinely (in my game setting, at least) encrypt important or sensitive data instead of having it lie around in plain text. Seems only logical to me.

And there's also the fact of military or military-grade operatives using encrypted comlinks to communicate. Do the players want to listen in on what they're saying to each other? Then they need to decrypt the signal, otherwise it's only meaningless noise. Picked up an interesting transmission on your ship's subspace radio? You'll never know what it says until you decrypt it.

Mostly this sort of thing is up to the GM to implement, since he's the one controlling how NPCs behave. You could always try dropping hints to him during play, like saying "The files are probably encrypted, so I'll have to decode them to see what they say". If he keeps missing these hints maybe you can just sit down with him and explain that you'd like to get a little more use out of your talent and suggest some of the things I mentioned above.

Well, if the talent is going to boil down to "Cryptography," then it should be a skill rather than taking up two slots and 25 points on the talent tree.

It seems as if there are two questions here

1) Should Codebreaker do more?

A) The text is identical to that of the previous core books, they are unlikey to change it now.

B) The more powerful an ability is in the circumstances it applies, the rarer the circumsatnce it should apply to, for balance. Codebreaker does not merely remove one black per level; it also allows you to decrease the difficulty of your attempts per level (this is uncommon). It does not cost strain, much les cost Destiny to use. This makes it stronger in the circumstances it applies than almost every other (non-Force) Talent (although Dedication is better). Therefore the cirumstances it applies should be limited, or else it will be more powerful than the other talents. Moreover it is a ranked talent, and the more levels you get in a ranked talent the more powerful it is. With five levels in Codebreaker (two from Shadow, two from either AOR Spy: Slicer or EOTE Technician: Slicer, and one from EOTE Colonist: Scholar), you can take a code of Difficulty six that no one else is even allowed to roll to decipher, and undertand it on a difficulty one attempt (ignoring up to five black dice, so you could do it in pitch darkness, with no tools, and while hanging upside down) . If you could apply something this powerful very often it would be too strong.

TLDR - No, Codebreaker should stay as it is.

2) Should Codebreaker take up two slots on the Shadow tree?

To decide this we should compare the Shadow tree to the Slicer tree, which also has two levels of Codebreaker, one costing five points, and one costing 20 points. The Shadow tree has six Foce Talents and the Sliver tree (obviously) has none, so it is clear that the Shadow should drop some things that Slicer has. The key question is if one (or more) of those ranks of Codebreaker should be among them. Comparing the Shadow tree to the Smuggler: Thief tree, a tree that seems thematically more like the Shadow than the Slicer is we can see that Shadow does not share many of the 'ninja' type traits that Thief has. I think that it should. I would suggest replacing the 20 point version of Codebreaker with Stalker, or Bypass Security, or Shortcut.

TLDR, Yes, pull the 20 point level of Codebreaker from Shadow.

My Shadow has both levels of Codebreaker, and I have yet to actually USE it in a game.

I can see a way it could come up often enough to deserve taking up two slots in the tree: Lockpicking. Plenty of doors in the Star Wars universe are electronically locked, and electronic locks require a code to open, so there's a practical use for the ability. However, as it's written, a rules lawyer could argue that it's ONLY use is Cryptography, and that's certainly not worth two spots on the tree, 25 total points, and being a prerequisite to advancing two paths.

I really can't stand it when a rules lawyer disrupts gameplay, especially when his doing so stymies his friends' activities in-game.

You could ask the rules lawyer to show you where it says the word "cryptography" in the rules.

But I think it'd be more helpful just to have a talk with the guy away from the gaming table. Get the both of you and the GM together and ask if there's any way the rules lawyer could refrain from making rulings during gameplay. Tell them it's the opposite of fun, and it's disruptive.

My Shadow has both levels of Codebreaker, and I have yet to actually USE it in a game.

I can see a way it could come up often enough to deserve taking up two slots in the tree: Lockpicking. Plenty of doors in the Star Wars universe are electronically locked, and electronic locks require a code to open, so there's a practical use for the ability. However, as it's written, a rules lawyer could argue that it's ONLY use is Cryptography, and that's certainly not worth two spots on the tree, 25 total points, and being a prerequisite to advancing two paths.

I say the talent completely applies to checks to get past locks so long that it requires a code to open. Of course, when it comes right down to it, a "code" can be any number of things beyond just computerized codes. It could be solving a puzzle or riddle to access ancient ruins or playing the correct musical sequence to bypass a lock.