Hi again, newb question 2.0 & 3.0, and a bonus 4.0!

#2 - When I buy a new specialization do I get 2 free skill points with it, like I do for my core specialization at creation, or ONLY access to the Skills and Level Tree?

#3 - When one buys a new spec, do they get access to the parent Career skills too, or only the Spec's?

#3.5 - If yes, ...skill points to spend there too, or no?

Friend is GM-ing, but it's his first time doing it for real, so asking here. Thanks.

...

Bonus question - I wanna be a Droid Tech that steal, hotwires, reprograms, and coerces droids into doing my will instead of their original master's. (Total jerk, I know, but it's a fun build. Gonna make lots of enemies with the "Droids Rights" guys ).

#4.0 - What 2nd Specialization would you recommend to tack onto the Droid tech to get the "rogue skills" for this?

John

#2 - Sorry, no. You just get access to the new skills and talents - no free stuff.

#3 - Also no. Just the spec skills.

#3.5 - Still no, I'm afraid.

#4 - Smuggler/Thief. Gets you Stealth, Skulduggery and Vigilance as career skills, and has talents that provide bonuses to stealing stuff, sneaking around and hacking security.

^That or Slicer... It gives access to Stealth, Knowledge Underworld and Computers. Plus thematically it would fit really well.

^That or Slicer... It gives access to Stealth, Knowledge Underworld and Computers. Plus thematically it would fit really well.

Yeah...My issue with Slicer is that it's so hyper-focused - 70% of the talents are focused on the Computers skill, and the others are mostly generic things like Grit or Resolve. I guess it works as a second spec, which is what's being asked here, but I really would only take it if a) I knew my GM was absolutely going to put computers in every single adventure (and not, for example, strand us on Dagobah), and b) I trusted my GM could come up with creative uses for skills.

(Tangent: one of my players recently wanted to play a computers-focused character, so I send him the stats for AoR Analyst. Provides a much broader character experience IMO, and you still get to be the ).

Back on topic: Whatever second spec you go for in this case, though, John, make sure you create a PC with the characteristics to carry off what you want, which might mean thinking carefully about species...otherwise you could struggle to do everything you're after. Droid tech is going to want high Intellect - at least 4 if you can get it - but a sneaky, steal-y PC is going to need Cunning and Agility of 3 if you can manage it. That's not too difficult to achieve as long as you don't pick something completely off the rails, but bang-for-your-buck I'd go Chadra-Fan (Stay on Target) for my species - that's INT 3, AGI 3 and CUN 2 right off the bat. Plus you get a free rank in Mechanics.

Surprisingly Neimoidian (Desperate Allies) also works well, and a free rank in Deception could fit your character concept...although it's hard to imagine a "stealthy" Neimoidian! Honourable mention goes to Drall (Sons of Fortune), which with base AGI 1 looks like a strange choice but because of the INT 4 actually gets you to same stats for 10 less starting XP. Free rank in Education might not be what you're after though, and that Drall wound threshold is just so, so low.

Thanks guys. I've already chosen, much to Edward's Avatar's joy: Verpine. Backstory and all, so too late to change. Also please to not be a rat guy. ; )

I'll say this... the starting stats and exp on Verpine is not what it is on some other races. ; / In my design ideas, I say he's got exactly 10 too few starting exp with only 80. ...built-in com-link or not. ; )

But I got the 4 int, the 3 Agil, but only 2 cunning, and 2 in presence (that I'd gladly trade. : P ) Oh well. Here's to playing a "balanced" character.

Though it does seem that starting stats are supremely key to victory in this game given the all-power they have over dice counts from level 0.

There's even a strong arguement I saw made for Ability dice over the ...yellow... ones. Higher chance of certain rolls.

But I'm a game designer by trade, so meta-gaming new systems is almost obligatory for me. ; )

Thanks again!

Certainly an extra green gives you a greater success chance than converting a green to a yellow (but the latter much better for triumphs).

However, it won't necessarily always be the ability that is contributing the green as the game progresses !

But I got the 4 int, the 3 Agil, but only 2 cunning, and 2 in presence (that I'd gladly trade. : P ) Oh well. Here's to playing a "balanced" character.

Not sure about the Verpine, but with extra Obligation XP you can usually get four 3s, which is more balanced yet. By the time you get your first Dedication, you'll probably be glad about it.

There's even a strong arguement I saw made for Ability dice over the ...yellow... ones. Higher chance of certain rolls.

The only argument is a smidgen higher odds of success, but you lose the Triumph and the general push towards success+advantage vs success+threat. Most people who "did the math" in the early days don't really get the power of the narrative system. A simple success (even if it's net 2-3) isn't all that interesting to play.

For a droid guy you are going to want to look at the droid tech in special modifications.

Attributes will dominate dice rolling probabilities at the start, that is true.

But as you accumulate more XP, and improve your skills, and especially buy talents that let you do things you could not otherwise have done, you will find that attributes start playing a smaller and smaller part in the overall determination of success/failure or advantage/threat.

In my games, lower attributes with better role-playing is considerably more likely to give you a positive outcome, simply because I’m likely to just go ahead and give you a lot of things that I might otherwise have had you roll for, if you role-play it well enough.

Or, at the very least, if you role-play it well enough, I’m likely to give you a lower difficulty or other “boons”.

It’s kind of like being a great photographer versus having a great camera.

An amateur with no skill and talent can take decent pictures with a great camera. Maybe even good ones.

But a great photographer can work magic with anything, and having a bad camera will only slow them down somewhat.