Some species start off with a rank in a talent or two. So with the Genesys talent pyramid, for someone in those species, would the second rank (since it would be the first one on the pyramid) be Tier 1 or Tier 2?

Edit: Or would it still be on the pyramid even though you didn’t spend xp to get it?

I assume it would count as the first talent on the pyramid.

I would not add it to the pyramid, and since buy a second rank would bring it to rank 2, I would expect it to cost the same a tier 2 talent (or the next tier up depending on the talent).

I would put it on the pyramid. Part of the advantage of having a talent is that is provides support for talents above it. As you likely used 5 XP from the species' creation pool (if you that makes sense), the species should get full benefit from it.

I'm not seeing any of the sample species having talents. Can you give an example?

3 minutes ago, c__beck said:

I'm not seeing any of the sample species having talents. Can you give an example?

I don’t have the Genesys book yet, but I was basing it off of the Star Wars rpg, where some species have a rank in a talent. One example is there are one or two that start off with a rank in Enduring, giving them an additional soak off the bat.

Just now, Johan Marek Phoenix Knight said:

I don’t have the Genesys book yet, but I was basing it off of the Star Wars rpg, where some species have a rank in a talent. One example is there are one or two that start off with a rank in Enduring, giving them an additional soak off the bat.

That's not a thing in Genesys. I just went through all the sample settings and none of the species provided have talents. The closest thing we have is elves, which have a special ability that states, " Elf characters have a melee and ranged defence of 1. " Which is very similar, but different enough, to the tier 4 talent defensive, which " increases your character's melee defense and ranged defense by 1. "

I believe that they are purposefully different so as to avoid the problem of species granting talents. Sure, species can have special abilities that are practically identical, and that allows you to use the talent as a great ballpark of how much XP it would cost to give that ability, but no giving straight-up talents.

1 hour ago, c__beck said:

The closest thing we have is elves, which have a special ability that states, " Elf characters have a melee and ranged defence of 1. " Which is very similar, but different enough, to the tier 4 talent defensive, which " increases your character's melee defense and ranged defense by 1. "

The elf ability is just the minimum, right? The T4 talent stacks with armor, so it's clearly superior.

48 minutes ago, rsdockery said:

The elf ability is just the minimum, right? The T4 talent stacks with armor, so it's clearly superior.

Yep, Defense 1 Armour does nothing for an Elf. But they can stack a Soak 2 Armour with their natural ability, making them a rather tough character

I like that solution. If you want to give a species or archetype a talent, reskin it and rename it so you sidestep the whole Talent Pyramid question completely. That's what I'll do.

When I read the title I thought you were suggesting Species Talents, which coming from a D&D background made me excited. I've always loved Racial/Species feats and feel they give players a way to tap into their character's culture.


Sigh, another thing I need to start working on.