In EotE and AoR you do not automatically get +1 Force Rating when joining a new specialization if you already have a Force specialization (which is why Force Rating 3 was the cap in EotE and Aor). In Force & Destiny in the entry for the Consular it doesn't have any language that states that you don't get an automatic Force Point for joining the specialization. Specifically, it says, "The Consular begins with a Force Rating of 1." with no verbiage about not getting the automatic point as it's written in EotE or AoR.

My question is was this intentional or just a typo due to it being a Beta booklet? Is the intention to imply the character gets +1 Force Rating for taking on a Consular specialization or that he doesn't get it if he already has Force Specializations from EotE or AoR?

Thanks mates!

In the rules, there are two ways to get Force Rating from 0 to 1. The first is to create your character from the onset having one of the six Force Careers from Force and Destiny . They state you begin with a Force Rating of 1.

The other way is for characters who have a (non-Force) Career from Age of Rebellion of Edge of the Empire . You can pick up the Force-Sensitive Exile or Force-Sensitive Emergent Specializations. Upon doing so, you gain Force Rating 1. Of note, you cannot benefit from that twice.

Taking on a Specialization from the Force and Destiny Careers does not grant you an additional Force Rating point.

Note that the Consular is a career, not a specialization. No typo!

Yeah, the two previous responses are on the nose; this is an instance where the separation between what a career is and what a specialization is incredibly important. You only ever have one career, and it's selected at character creation.

Basically, the methods outlined above are the only ways to go from FR 0 to FR 1. The only way to go from FR 1 to 2 (or any other increment after FR 1) is to purchase the Force Rating talent.

To keep things balanced between F&D careers and careers in previous systems, F&D careers get to select 3 career skills in which to receive a single rank at creation plus FR 1, whereas the previous core system's careers got to choose 4. Like the previous systems, though, F&D characters still get one rank in each of 2 skills from their initial specialization's skill list. It's a subtle design choice, but a good one.

Echoing everything said already with a little added.

It's designed this way For 2 reasons.

First is it makes it so the only way to get FR2 is to get to the bottom of a Tallent Tree.

Second is that Edge and Age PC's can only gain easy FR1 with the Exile and Emergent Specialisations. This second point is subtle, but important, it makes it more expensive for Edge/Age PC's to get into F&D Specialisations. Assuming no other specialisations they need to spend 20xp on Ex/Em, then 40 on the FaD Spec, total 60. If the FaD specs all had the "Gain FR1" of Ex/Em then the cost to get into FaD would only be 30xp.

I'm only guessing but I assume this is because they didn't want the Ex/Em to be forgotten, there are also some powerful combinations between the three books.

Also not to forget that the "Party Resources" for FaD are much lower value credit wise, especially where ship price is concerned (not less useful though). So from a MinMax a party could have been 60k richer and 30xp poorer if the FaD careers where not written this way, ie no one "Optimising" would want to start as a FaD career!

What everyone said above. I'm just going to give an example of character advancement to make sure the difference between careers and specializations is clear, because that's what's important.

Initial Creation

- Character chooses Career; treats relevant skills as Career skills (getting ranks in some of them) and acquires Talents

- Character chooses first Specialization within that Career, treats relevant skills as Career skills (getting ranks in some of them) and acquires Talents

Further Advancement

- Character may choose additional Specializations. When they do so, they treat the relevant skills for that Specialization as Career skills (but do not automatically gain ranks in them) and gain the relevant Talents. The Career that Specialization belonged to is ignored entirely , except that if it matches the Character's Career (or is Universal) for XP costs. There is no way to acquire a new Career.

Here's an exhaustive walkthrough:

- Character is created as Bounty Hunter. Treats Skills from Bounty Hunter as Career and gets ranks in some of them. Gains access to Bounty Hunter Signature Abilities.

- Character chooses first specialization from available Bounty Hunter Specializations.

- Character is created as Gadgeteer. Treats Skills from Gadgeteer as Career and gets ranks in some of them.

Character is Bounty Hunter (Gadgeteer)

- Character acquires the Assassin specialization, which is part of the Bounty Hunter career. Treats skills from Assassin as Career.

Character is now Bounty Hunter (Gadgeteer, Assassin)

- Character acquires the Doctor specialization, which is part of the Colonist career. Treats skills from Doctor only as Career. Does not treat skills from Colonist as Career, and does not gain access to Colonist Signature Abilities.

Character is now Bounty Hunter (Gadgeteer, Assassin, Doctor)

- Character acquires the Driver specialization, which is part of the Explorer and Ace careers. Treats skills from Driver only as Career. Does not treat skills from Explorer or Ace as Career, or gain access to their Signature Abilities.

Character is now Bounty Hunter (Gadgeteer, Assassin, Doctor, Driver)

- Character acquires the Force-Sensitive Emergent specialization, which is a universal specialization. Gains Force Rating 1 Talent.

Character is now Bounty Hunter (Gadgeteer, Assassin, Doctor, Driver, Force-Sensitive Emergent)

- Character acquires the Starfighter Ace specialization, which is part of the Warrior career. Treats skills from Starfighter Ace only as Career. Does not treat skills from Warrior as Career, gain its talent, or gain access to its Signature Abilities.

Character is now Bounty Hunter (Gadgeteer, Assassin, Doctor, Driver, Force-Sensitive Emergent, Starfighter Ace)

Note that the character is not a Colonist, Explorer, Ace, or Warrior, only a Bounty Hunter.

That was probably excessive, but it's a very important distinction and I wanted to make sure it was conveyed.