I am playing a gank enforcer | gadgeteer in a hybrid EotE / AoR game.

Bra 4 Agi 3 Int 2 Cun 2 Will 3 Pre 2

Wound 17 Strain 13 Soak 7 Defense 3M/3R

Athletics [Y][G][G][G], Charm [G][G]-[D], Coercion [Y][Y][G]+[A], Discipline [Y][G][G], Mechanics [Y][G], Resilience [Y][G][G][G], Streetwise [Y][G], Vigilance [Y][G][G], Melee [Y][Y][G][G];
Armor Master, Armor Master (Improved), Brace, Dedication, Fearsome, Intimidating, Jury Rigged x2, Loom, Natural Enforcer, Rapid Reaction, Rapid Recovery, Stunning Blow, Talk the Talk, Tinkerer, Toughened x2;

Weapons: Vibrosword (Serrated, Jury Rigged (Crit)): Dam 6, Crit [A], Defensive 1, Pierce 2, Vicious 2; Riot Shield (Weighted Head (Concussive), Tinkered, Jury Rigged (Concussive)): Dam 5, Crit [A][A][A][A][A][A], Cumbersome 3, Defensive 2, Deflection 2, Disorient 1, Concussive 1;

Armor: Chitin Armor;

Cybernetics: Cybernetic Reflexes, Adrenal Implant;

Gear: Utility Belt, Mk III Modular Backpack, MC-100 Magnacuffs, 3-MALL Secure Comlink, Stimstick, 3xStimpacks, Climbing Gear, Weapon Maintenance Kit;

I am happy with my character so far, but during the campaign we got involved with the rebels and our missions are taking us to the center of the empire, were more... subtlety is required. I need to heavily invest in Deception and probably add a few ranks in Stealth to it. Since neither is a career skill for me, I was wondering should I get them at a surcharge cost or invest into new career. Politicio seems decent for my needs with Deception as a bonus career skill and access to the well rounded talent that will get me stealth plus perception. Having access to Grit (unlike my two current specializations) is also nice, since my Strain threshold starts to fall dangerously behind my Wounds, but I was wondering... is the cost really justified? Just the specialization itself will be 40 experience and another 30 to reach well rounded... for 70 experience I can get 3 ranks in Deception and 2 in Stealth as a non-career skills. Sure, Politicio gives me access to Scathing Tirade and its upgrades which is very nice trick both outside of combat and in the thick of it and Natural Charmer for clutch reroll of a failed deception check, but... what would you do if you were in my place?

If I were the player I'd buy the spec. Enforcer + Scathing Tirade sounds like too much fun. "You can't mess with me, you can't even deal with the mess in your pants..."

As a GM I'd waive the spec cost, I find the spec prices to be a bit onerous. I get why they did it, to keep people from bouncing around and grabbing low-hanging fruit, but if you've invested significantly into your base spec there's no real reason (other than "It's RAW") to be penalized for character development.

ooooor.... you could look at the Infiltrator.

It would make you a melee bad ***, with access to Deception, Stealth, etc...

You might want to bump up Cunning (you could always add a custom cybernetic...), but if you wanted to turn a Gank thug (sorry) into a subtle bad-***, that's the way I'd go about it.

7 hours ago, whafrog said:

If I were the player I'd buy the spec. Enforcer + Scathing Tirade sounds like too much fun. "You can't mess with me, you can't even deal with the mess in your pants..."

As a GM I'd waive the spec cost, I find the spec prices to be a bit onerous. I get why they did it, to keep people from bouncing around and grabbing low-hanging fruit, but if you've invested significantly into your base spec there's no real reason (other than "It's RAW") to be penalized for character development.

Actually, there is a reason to keep it. The player is paying a small price to get a large discount from that Specialization. Namely 25 points saved for each new skill a Specialization makes a Career skill to the character.

So, if the Specialization gives you 4 new skills as Career (beyond what you already had), then you save 100XP by paying X + 10 for the Specialization, where X is the number of Specializations you have. The break even point is probably around 5 or 6 Specializations where you start paying more or have too much overlap in skills between already selected Specializations. But if the player has been diving deep in each Specialization, then they are already at around 1500XP spent...

Speaking purely from a Roleplaying point of view, I don't agree with just picking up a specialization for cheaper skills. To pick up a new specialization, it should make sense in the campaign and too your character. And your character doesn't sound much of a politico (no offence haha). So I reckon you just ware the little extra xp and buy them outside your specialization or try and find a specialization that meets your needs AND makes sense to your character but that's up to you

If I were you, and wanted Scathing Tirade plus deception and something that fits a bit better to your character, I would look at the Agitator (however that has no stealth)

4 hours ago, Bishop69 said:

ooooor.... you could look at the Infiltrator.

It would make you a melee bad ***, with access to Deception, Stealth, etc...

You might want to bump up Cunning (you could always add a custom cybernetic...), but if you wanted to turn a Gank thug (sorry) into a subtle bad-***, that's the way I'd go about it.

Unfortunately Infiltrator won't give me access to Stealth since it's not going to be my first career. As for Cunning increase - yes it is sorely needed for my headhunting contracts as augmentation for my Streetwise and Perception checks so that's why the Dedication talent from my Enforcer spec was going to go before the urgent need for Deception and Stealth reared her ugly head. My GM is not very much into custom equipment so the cybernetic won't be an option.

1 hour ago, Kallabecca said:

Actually, there is a reason to keep it. The player is paying a small price to get a large discount from that Specialization. Namely 25 points saved for each new skill a Specialization makes a Career skill to the character.

So, if the Specialization gives you 4 new skills as Career (beyond what you already had), then you save 100XP by paying X + 10 for the Specialization, where X is the number of Specializations you have. The break even point is probably around 5 or 6 Specializations where you start paying more or have too much overlap in skills between already selected Specializations. But if the player has been diving deep in each Specialization, then they are already at around 1500XP spent...

Actually finding a secondary specialization that will give you access to four skills that you want to invest 5 ranks in each is not only unlikely, but practically impossible. I firmly believe that bonus xp towards specific types of specializations should be awarded based on the characters actions, but I am not really the GM here so my opinion on that matter is irrelevant.

55 minutes ago, arlo di'lya said:

Speaking purely from a Roleplaying point of view, I don't agree with just picking up a specialization for cheaper skills. To pick up a new specialization, it should make sense in the campaign and too your character. And your character doesn't sound much of a politico (no offence haha). So I reckon you just ware the little extra xp and buy them outside your specialization or try and find a specialization that meets your needs AND makes sense to your character but that's up to you

If I were you, and wanted Scathing Tirade plus deception and something that fits a bit better to your character, I would look at the Agitator (however that has no stealth)

By that line of thoughts I am also not a Hired Gun since I have never owned a gun in my character's life let alone hire it to someone:) For me the choice of a specialization is a metagame choice - it's the skills and talents the character is using and the purposes that he is using them for that define the character, not a word and page reference written on his character sheet. Also, I do have an office. It's on the board on our freighter, from where I am tirelessly working for the emancipation and/or just payment for droids in the employ of the Empire.