Hello!

I'm currently playing in an AoR game where the party makes up a squad of Rebel Commando's essentially.

My character started off as the group's main combatant on the ground and so I took the Sharpshooter tree. I'm getting near-ish to the stage where I need to consider a second tree but I'm stumped for where to go.

My character tends to be quite sarcastic and devious, more often than not forcing a deception check, and I enjoy playing as a face sort of character, but on the other hand she is far from being optimal in combat.

I could take another combat tree (Heavy, maybe?) or diversify into a face area (No idea what would be a good fit there)

Her stat block is 3 3 3 2 2 2 (We were restricted maximum 3 in any characteristic at creation.) I haven't yet used the dedication so that could increase Ag to 4 or increase a different skill to 3 to make it usable.

Thoughts?

Well, I'm never a fan of super specialized PC's. Invariably, most situations you run into, won't be what you are good at. So diversifying is my go to strategy for just about any character, in any game system.

Obviously, playing a squad of soldiers would suggest a more combat heavy game, and thus, staying in the Combat "wheelhouse" probably isn't a bad idea, but then, again, you run into the problem of any time you have a non-combat situation, you will feel less effective.

There is also the thought about how the character is evolving. Do you try to let your characters evolve naturally, based on the game content? If so, and your PC is turning out to be good at fast talking people, and you are having fun doing it, then I suggest branching out into a career tree that lets you stretch your verbal muscles more.

As to which Face spec would be the best fit for you, that I can't say. There are probably 2 dozen "social" specs you can pick from, that all boil down to a version of the "Face" character, in one way or another. So really it just depends on what type of theme fits your PC best. If your PC is using Deception a lot, I would look for the ones that tend to give bonuses to Deception checks, for obvious reasons. And there are some really terrifyingly effective social trees out there. Seriously, FFG put a LOT of work into making the social characters, just as useful, if not more so in some cases, as combat characters, in combat situations.

So, TLDR:
Go for the Face spec is my suggestion. Having ability in multiple situations is better than hyper-specialization in one, in my opinion.

Sounds like you might like to pare it off with scoundrel from the EotE core (pg.84). You'd get to add Charm and Deception to your career skills plus it synergies well with sharpshooter. It's half gunslinger half face.

6 minutes ago, The Crimson Hawk said:

Sounds like you might like to pare it off with scoundrel from the EotE core (pg.84). You'd get to add Charm and Deception to your career skills plus it synergies well with sharpshooter. It's half gunslinger half face.

Isn't Scoundrel the name of the Career? Not a specific tree?

its a spec from the smuggler carrer

Ah, ok. I can never remember which of those two names is the career, and which is the spec.

Propagandist (Diplomat) might provide a good fit, too (also provides Charm, Deception, as well as Warfare).

Gambler, ignore the title, good for crits

For raw combat power I would recommend Gunner. Two ranks of Enduring, two ranks of Durable, two ranks of Jury Rigged, two ranks of True Aim. On top of that a bunch of stuff that makes you better at being a starship gunner. Especially the two ranks in True Aim are an awesome addition to a Marksman type character.

Medic is an awesome class to do if you want to take on a bit of a support role while staying in the Soldier Career. "It's Not So Bad" is one of the most powerful talents in the game, as it can literally negate a character's death once per session.

I tend to advise people to never underestimate Recruit. It gives you essentially every single combat skill as a career skill, and has Creative Killer and Dynamic Fire, two very nice talents you can't get any other way. (And your ticket to killing people with a coffee cup)

If you are playing cross system:

Guardian: Warleader is pretty awesome, even for non-force sensitive characters. You can go down that tree without picking up any Force based talents. It also meshed together really well with the Trailblazer and Vanguard from the Soldier career.

Spend your Dedication on Agility, 4 dice is very very handy.

Performer would be an excellent second spec, it's an awesome social/combat spec based on Deception/Charm and using Coordination for Defense. It's from Far Horizons the Colonist source book.

Thanks for all the ideas guys.

I'm gonna look into all of your suggestions.

The sheer amount of content that FFG has pumped can be overwhelming at times!