https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2017/10/9/imperial-living/

Love that they are adding more universal specs to help flesh things out, but I'm leery that the first one mentions six skills. The formula has worked for years now, and this just makes me worry that the new shiny spec trees are going to eclipse what came before. We'll see.

I had essentially the same worries. If they want them to have a bunch of skills, why not go the Recruit route and give them four different "+2 career skills" talents? It worked great the first time, why change it?

I assume its counter-balanced by all the issues that also go along with playing a clone character. This looks like the first spec that is going to also have some "meaningful" restrictions on its purchase.

7 minutes ago, JRRP said:

Love that they are adding more universal specs to help flesh things out, but I'm leery that the first one mentions six skills. The formula has worked for years now, and this just makes me worry that the new shiny spec trees are going to eclipse what came before. We'll see.

Like what has come out in splatbooks since Enter the Unknown hasn't eclipsed that book?

Personally I always hope in the opposite direction and that whatever comes out next is better and more awesomer...

And I agree, to an extent. But we do need to be conscious of power creep, so that entire careers aren't invalidated just because their books came out earlier than others. As it is, the Explorer career, one of my favorites thematically, is, mechanically, very sub par because of power creep. I'd prefer that it not sink any lower.

Gigorans!!!

Retired Clone Trooper seems a pretty specific spec. It also asks the "weren't all clone troopers humans?" question. I wonder if it's more like a "veteran" specialization. I also wonder for the others: more specific, or general?

Four species seems kind of thin, but oh well. Gigorans are neat.

The Hondo image is called "swr10_specialization-pirate.png" this combined with how it talks about Jyn and Chirrut leads me to think that in addition to Retired Clone Trooper we are getting 'Pirate', 'Criminal' and 'Follower/Disciple' as universal specs.

I am hoping they don't cop out with one of the new species being clones. I just have a bad feeling about this.

Given this seems to be the Rebels/Rogue One sourcebook and Gigorans are one of the four new races, I’d put money on seeing the Tognath and Iakaru as well.

Also, I am hoping that one of the new universal specs is something akin to “Rebel Agent.” A spec to depict those persons, other than “Recruits,” who find themselves aiding the Rebel Alliance, either by providing goods and services or information. The kind of people who have a day job, but moonlight as rebels.

17 minutes ago, Atticus Havelock said:

Given this seems to be the Rebels/Rogue One sourcebook and Gigorans are one of the four new races, I’d put money on seeing the Tognath and Iakaru as well.

No money on Lasat?

I hope we get a "Partisan" that's good at doing collateral damage and being a terrible being while fighting on the side of good.

24 minutes ago, HappyDaze said:

No money on Lasat?

Good call. That makes four.

Aren t lasat extinct or nearly so?

3 hours ago, MonCal said:

Aren t lasat extinct or nearly so?

and the entire wookie race is almost entirely enslaved.

Just because there are very few lasat remaining doesn't mean there isn't potential for a few to be scattered throughout the outer rim, away from direct imperial influence.

16 hours ago, Absol197 said:

And I agree, to an extent. But we do need to be conscious of power creep, so that entire careers aren't invalidated just because their books came out earlier than others. As it is, the Explorer career, one of my favorites thematically, is, mechanically, very sub par because of power creep. I'd prefer that it not sink any lower.

I've noticed that, too. I bought all three of the core books in pretty quick succession last year when I was thinking of trying to start playing. I noticed that a lot of the EotE specialization trees seemed unfocused and, well, just not that great. And Explorer ( especially Fringer) stuck out to me as the most egregious example. It's a shame, because I like the flavor concept of an Explorer, as well as the career skills it has. I also saw a couple of letdowns (just IMO) in the Bounty Hunter and Hired Gun specializations, if I remember correctly.

I'm glad I'm not the only person who thinks this; EotE is a really cool idea as far as setting goes, especially as a first-time player (it looks like the most out-and-out 'fun' of all three systems and character choices). It's too bad.

Functionally speaking, as the game progresses and the developers learn more about what their game is capable of, the early specializations are going to look simpler and boring in comparison. Compare Bounty Hunter's Survivalist to Soldier's Trailblazer--conceptually similar, but the latter has several more years of development time to benefit from.

That said, I think there's a lot of good characters that can be made with the original specializations. There are less exciting talents and things, sure, but they get the job done.

7 hours ago, LordBritish said:

wookie

How dare you!

23 hours ago, Absol197 said:

And I agree, to an extent. But we do need to be conscious of power creep, so that entire careers aren't invalidated just because their books came out earlier than others. As it is, the Explorer career, one of my favorites thematically, is, mechanically, very sub par because of power creep. I'd prefer that it not sink any lower.

Explorer is a great concept, it's just that the original specs were horrible, and that everything that came after killed it and took it's stuff (the Seeker career whistles innocently in the background...)

I don't see 'Enter the Unknown' as much as a splat-book than errata . Archaeologist and Big Game Hunter are almost required to make the concept work. Fringer only works as a back-up spec to something that's actually competent, while Scout is a complete mess, a grab-bag of mismatched talents and skills. Yes, Scholar is under-powered, but at least it's cohesive and thematic, just not focused on stuff that you'd usually see in a Star Wars adventure. But Scout is the 'I Learned Everything I Know From A Drunken Hobo Who Lived Under A Bridge' spec. I think my first post here was a long rant about how abysmal it was. It's okay under Spy, which has great Career skills, but it's horrible under Explorer, with it's much-weaker Knowledge-focused Career skills. It's okay paired with BGH, for a Scout who can actually shoot straight and stalk like you'd expect a Scout to do. But it's horrible by itself, to the degree that I'd point anyone actually wanting a 'scouting-type' character at Trailblazer instead.

The game hasn't so much suffered from power-creep in the Games Workshop sense ( 'buy our new stuff because it's better!' ) I think it's just that as Absol says, the designers just got better at making Specialisations.

(I just re-read my old posts and goddam, I used to get dog-piled here! That was long before I became the Cool Old Lady of the forum I guess... Hey whafrog, you called me 'silly'! )

11 hours ago, MonCal said:

Aren t lasat extinct or nearly so?

No, there's still a whole planet of them hidden behind some wormhole/nebula/space-obstacle. Rebels, Season 2, E12...

You still called me 'silly' and now I'm upset

Aww, don't be upset, Marcy!

I'm only kidding!

It's just surprising what a difference four years makes. I was pretty vocal about stuff that's now accepted orthodoxy after four years of splatbooks.

A prophet without honour in her own land, whose hour had come around at last!