Apologies in advance if I'm asking questions that other people have asked already. Apologies in advance also if I'm just being thick or I missed reading something correctly.

1) In the Skills section the rulebook explains that PCs can use basic skills even if they have not been trained in them. I should take this to mean that for all the skills listed as basic in the list on p75, the relevant 'basic' boxes should be automatically ticked on every starting character sheet?

2) If a player's course through the Origin Path causes that player to pick up a skill for the first time which is listed on p75 as a basic skill, should that player tick the 'basic' box, or the 'trained' box when acquiring that skill?

3a) In the chapter on Career Paths, every entry has a list of starting skills and talents. Presumably every starting character should acquire each and every one of these skills and talents? Assuming this is the case, why are the same skills and talents also listed for purchase in the Rank 1 advances list?

E.g. Rogue Traders are supposed to start with the Air of Authority talent, but Air of Authority is also listed as a Rank 1 advance? And there is no indication in the Talents section that there is any effect for purchasing the same talent more than once?

3b) If the player has already acquired one of the career path's starting skills during their course through the Origin Path, then presumably the player may tick the next box of the same skill? E.g. if the skill is already ticked at 'basic' then it becomes 'trained'?

3c) And if that starting skill is listed as basic already on p75, then does a double assignment of the skill during character creation lead to three ticked boxes, for a +10% bonus?

4) If you already have a skill at Trained level, does this prevent you from purchasing further advancements of this skill?

E.g. If I make a Rogue Trader and end up with Charm 'basic' and 'trained' ticked already, am I or am I not allowed to buy further advances in this skill with my spare XP during character creation?

mikelosaurus said:

Thanks for your responses.

In regards to the last question I think you kinda covered it in your response to the third question.

If after completing the Origin Path as a Rogue Trader during character creation I am already 'trained' in the Charm skill, it follows that since I am not eligable for the +10% tick box, I cannot spend any XP on this skill at this time?

Assuming this is the case, then the presence of the Charm skill in the Rank 1 advance list is yet another redundant entry in the book, because I can't buy it (because I have it already)?

It's there for redundancy because future supplements might change starting skills, and they have the normal starting skills in there so that you are guaranteed to be able to get the rest of the skills in your career path.

Remember, RT characters technically start with 5,000xp, of which 4,500 has already been spent on things like Air of Authourity. The skills are listed twice so if you use a class variant (to be house-ruled or published later) you know how much they cost to acquire.

For example, a GM might allow a variant Arch-Militant who used to be a pirate, so has "Forbidden Lore: Pirates" instead of "Secret Tongue: Military". These are both worth 100xp, so the kit is balanced and if the character should later decide to pick up Secret Tongue, it will cost 100xp.

As for picking up skills on the origin path, I believe you get to add 10% if it's one you acquire again at character creation. This is the equivilant of getting the "Skill Name +10" advance a few levels early, and so cannot be taken again when it is unlocked. They'll have to wait for "Skill Name +20" to improve it again.