Thoughts on having specific talents trees in conjunction with the generic talent tree?

Like if we were doing a Wuxia style game that has Martial Arts Schools.

Why not? Having Talents that apply to certain Categories is not game breaking.

Magic Talents are for Magic Users only. Vampire Talents, Were-creature Talents, Piloting Talents, Melee Talents, Ranged Talents, etc. The Talents already exist in a form of category, just not limited by other influences. That is all a part of the Setting and GM's needs.

Are you talking about creating actual talent trees like in the SW games, or did you just mean talent pyramids, but separate ones?

Assuming the later, how big a difference would there be power-wise between separate pyramids and just using the standard, unified pyramid and have a bunch of talents with prerequisites? With separate pyramids you would need enough talents that go in it to justify the division

Personally working on a similar project. I currently have generic talents (Grit, Toughened, Dedication, Natural, Master, Knack for It*) and then specialized talents. My goal is to have a sweet 15 talents for a specialized tree, enough to fill an entire pyramid from tier 1 to 5.

*On the subject of Knack for It, however, I've found that there's some logic in the way that Star Wars uses those low cost, remove-setback talents. Boring they may be, they do help in rounding out a tree and a concept. Currently considering maybe reintroducing them in some way.

19 minutes ago, Swordbreaker said:

Personally working on a similar project. I currently have generic talents (Grit, Toughened, Dedication, Natural, Master, Knack for It*) and then specialized talents. My goal is to have a sweet 15 talents for a specialized tree, enough to fill an entire pyramid from tier 1 to 5.

So that everyone who takes that specialized tree will have EXACTLY the same talents? I can see an argument for that in some cases, but I think they entire point of individually purchased talents is to enable diverse character abilities, so that even 2 characters with the same skills at the same levels can play radically differently.

Thats the main concern I have with breaking up talents into separate, specialized pyramids.

Wouldn't you just be better off outlining a set of talents with increasing pre-reqs? But still expect someone proficient in that style to also responsibly pick up other talents that improve and enhance their ability?

1 hour ago, Forgottenlore said:

Are you talking about creating actual talent trees like in the SW games, or did you just mean talent pyramids, but separate ones?

Assuming the later, how big a difference would there be power-wise between separate pyramids and just using the standard, unified pyramid and have a bunch of talents with prerequisites? With separate pyramids you would need enough talents that go in it to justify the division

My bad, still think of them as trees not pyramids.

Yes, two separate pyramids

Maybe call them Character Talent Pyramid and School/Martial Art Style/X Technique/Etc. Pyramid?

First one that came to mind was a Wuxia type game with School Style Pyramid

Buut no reason why you coouldn't do a Super Hero Pyramids either. Have a Brick, Blaster, Controller, etc. Pyramid

8 minutes ago, Forgottenlore said:

So that everyone who takes that specialized tree will have EXACTLY the same talents? I can see an argument for that in some cases, but I think they entire point of individually purchased talents is to enable diverse character abilities, so that even 2 characters with the same skills at the same levels can play radically differently.

Thats the main concern I have with breaking up talents into separate, specialized pyramids.

There are more diversifying elements in the game than just talents. Backstory, motivations, species, equipment choices, even how one player interprets the dice. One thing that keeps Star Wars characters from all being the exact same is progression. You may have two characters that start as a Mechanic, but each may diverge greatly after character creation depending on what each decides to progress into.

I find the Star Wars specializations very appealing to casual players. It gives a clear-cut, non-overwhelming number of choices without being linear.

The free-flow pyramids of Genesys are great if a player has fun reading through all available talents, but will cause anxiety for my casual players - too many options aren‘t fun for them.