Hey!

So, I've been asked about choosing a new spec later on, like what the book says Obi-Wan did.

There's no rule for it, and from what I get from you guys, this means I'm supposed to come up with a solution.

I already told players I'm not allowing picking specs from another career in my game, but then for changing specs, I feel like there should be some sort of cost.

Any suggestions on this?

Why would you disallow picking non-career specs? Some of the best character concepts I've seen played in these lines mix specs from multiple careers.

Because it feels to me like a Mystic picking something from say, Guardian career would be too far-fetched based on how he's perceived everything in his life up to that point... no?

And if I change my mind and allow it, do I not at least charge some XP to do it?

What about different specs within a career?

There are already costs in the book for new specs, and non-career specs cost more than career specs.

Ok where? I'm having trouble finding that...

Edit: Found it!

We've had a Guardian (Protector) that decided he wanted to pick up Healer and focus an repairing the harm he couldn't prevent.

We've also had a Mystic (Seer) take up Ataru Striker because sometimes seeing the future shows you who needs a smack down. If we'd had access to Executioner, this might have been selected in preference to Ataru Striker.

We've also had a Warrior (Aggressor) that picked up Shien Expert. The cunning thug bit is quite fun.

Yeah that makes sense. Thank you!

It's something you'll want to consider carefully. The book does say a non-career spec can be purchased for 10 xp more than an in-career spec. While you can make great characters limiting people to in-career specs (just ask Marcy !), especially for a F&D game where two-thirds of the careers only have three specs, you might be limiting your players from expressing their characters entirely.

I know I use examples from my own games a lot, but the captain in the game I'm running is a perfect example. He's a former TIE Pilot who deserted and now runs a smuggling operation. He's clearly based on a mix of Solo and Wash. His career is Smuggler, and when he started out, he had the Pilot and Scoundrel specs. Both honest, smuggler specializations that fit him well. He's since picked up Gunslinger, but he's also got his eye fixed on the Hotshot, an Ace spec that fits very well with both his backstory and his in-game role as the captain and pilot of our little Smuggling operation.

If I were to limit his ability to take Hotshot, I'd be essentially crippling his ability to play a, well, hotshot pilot! Pilot is the only Smuggler spec that deals with...umm...piloting...and while the character is clearly a Smuggler, his skill at maneuvering ships should be represented by a second spec.

That's my opinion, of course. You'll notice that this character will soon have four specs, three in-career and one non-career. IT seems to me that limiting a character's options doesn't always make sense. But, as I said, your table, your rules, and I do think that characters can work well with that limitation, you just have to make sure your players are aware of it and comfortable with it at the outset! Especially if they're planning to have a career that doesn't have a released book yet, because they're options are even more limited in that case.

You'll also notice that additional specializations get more expensive the more of them you have. In that respect, a character who wants another specialization is already "paying the price." Their XP expenditure means that while they will have a greater breadth of talents they won't be as deep into any of their talent trees. I certainly wouldn't penalize someone any further for such a choice.

You can certainly offer alternative suggestions to players that are struggling to realize their character concept, but I wouldn't worry too much about someone "cherry-picking."

If you wanted a character that was great when it came to crafting, there are 2 specializations:

Armorer (Guardian)

and

Artisan (Sentinel)

Both of them offer different talents that improve your ability to craft. If your character concept is a force-using inventor or machine savant, you'll want to take these 2 specializations, that may come from different careers, but have the same theme.

This is just one example. Once he grows in strength, a Warrior may end up wanting to take the Protector specialization from the Guardian career, because he feels the best use of his martial prowess may be protecting others in his group. Warrior doesn't have the ranks in stimpack master or bodyguard that Protector does.

There are a lot of intended mixes that have been set up so far

Warden/Aggresor

Artisan/Armorer

Starfighter Ace/Navigator

This is just staying in Force and Destiny

Just to give one more example I made a Hunter Protector PC for a game I'm in. The story goes that she is essentially a wildlife reserve guard. She protects endangered animals from poachers as well as helping any injured she finds. A crack shot, with bodyguard talents. Eventually she will pick up Hermit to give her FR 4 and the ability to bond with her Ronto mount.

One of my favorite draws is the ability to mix-and-match for a good concept. Putting arbitrary restrictions on it is unnecessary and really opposed to the concept of the game itself.

I remember somebody here once posted that a player started as a Warrior/Aggressor, then advanced with Peacekeeper to represent the character trying to redeem themselves. A dedicated Mystic/Seer character might want to focus on the Force the most, and may want to advance with Sage, Hermit, or Niman Disciple, or may want to go with Shadow for a stealthy character trying to lay low. An Advisor who helps the downtrodden may want Protector or Healer. Shadow+Shien Expert+Executioner for the Sith assassin character. An intellectual Sage may pick Artisan to help with technology. Not to mention the various Lightsaber specializations all mix well.

Holy crap, man. You need to relax a little bit and trust that Fantasy Flight Games knows what they're doing with game design (because they really do, they're really good at it), at least a little. This is at least the 3rd or 4th thread I've seen where you've proposed restrictive houserules, and you haven't even played the game to know how it plays vanilla. Play the game, learn the game, know the game, then you'll be able to make improvements for your table - as is, you're just shooting in the dark with innocent bystanders all around.

There are a lot of intended mixes that have been set up so far

Warden/Aggresor

Artisan/Armorer

Starfighter Ace/Navigator

This is just staying in Force and Destiny

From experience, the Starfighter Ace/Navigator has performed very well mechanically for our game group. The character is not mine, but another player's choice. I thought it could be too specific, but the talent trees graft well. I like the term, 'grafting,' as it applies to real-life blending of tree branches to make something intentionally different based on the two (talent) trees being fused.

One of my favorite draws is the ability to mix-and-match for a good concept. Putting arbitrary restrictions on it is unnecessary and really opposed to the concept of the game itself.

I remember somebody here once posted that a player started as a Warrior/Aggressor, then advanced with Peacekeeper to represent the character trying to redeem themselves. A dedicated Mystic/Seer character might want to focus on the Force the most, and may want to advance with Sage, Hermit, or Niman Disciple, or may want to go with Shadow for a stealthy character trying to lay low. An Advisor who helps the downtrodden may want Protector or Healer. Shadow+Shien Expert+Executioner for the Sith assassin character. An intellectual Sage may pick Artisan to help with technology. Not to mention the various Lightsaber specializations all mix well.

A hermit/seer with exceptionally high Force Ratings and a bonded animal is nothing at which to sneeze, unless you've pet allergies.

Politico/ Charmer works very well for social encounters

The game was designed with the intent that a player would be able to pick and choose specializations from careers outside of their own, allowing for an incredible number of possible combinations, and so allow for the very wide variety of character concepts that the player base could come up with.

Thus far, I've only heard of one instance where restricting the specs a PC can pick from has worked and not led to player resentment, and that's been Maelora's campaigns, although hers has the caveat of the PCs starting with three specialization instead of one to offset the restriction.

Think of buying a specialization outside of your starting career as simply being this system's take on multi-classing from D&D 3.X/Pathfinder. One's starting career and specialization is akin to first level in a D&D class, with the player having the option to pick up levels in a different class (buying an out of career specialization) later on.