Here is an idea for changing careers. This is suitable for games with a large number of careers (like the core rulebook), rather than something like Realms of Terrinoth or Shadow of the Beanstalk, in which careers operate more like classes to which a player is considered locked into.

Changing Career
You may change into a new career at a cost of 10 XP plus 10 XP for each previous career you trained in. You gain access to all the new career skills, but must lose your existing career skills, as they become obsolete. So for example, a Soldier (Athletics, Brawl, Coercion, Melee, Perception, Ranged, Survival, and Vigilance) wishes to transition into a Wizard career (Arcana, Coercion, Discipline, Knowledge, Leadership, Skulduggery, Stealth, and Vigilance). This costs him 20 XP and is somewhat of a departure from the Soldier, so he only retains Vigilance and Coercion as career skills, losing access to the other skills. On the plus side, he is now able to harness the powers of magic!

This transition should normally require some degree of downtime, as the character seeks the appropriate training.

Changing careers is about moving into new positions or roles. Staying within your own career but moving up the ladder can just be represented by talent and skill acquisitions, and Career specializations.

There is a range of t1 and T2 talents that lets you gain career skills. Would be easier to work with your GM to make some talents that covers the skill you want.

Or create a New Line of rank talents that lets you cherry pick what you want.

Also as a player if you want just a few ranks in a skill just buy things non career you dont have to have it as a career skill in order to get ranks in.

As a rule of thumb i tend to say if i plan to get 3 or more ranks in a skill try to get it as career if i just want 1 or 2 ranks just Pay the extra xp.

9 hours ago, Justindoodler said:

Here is an idea for changing careers. This is suitable for games with a large number of careers (like the core rulebook), rather than something like Realms of Terrinoth or Shadow of the Beanstalk, in which careers operate more like classes to which a player is considered locked into.

I think you might have a bit of confusion as to the point of careers. The CRB isn't a setting, but a collection of options to use in your setting. It's not assumed that every career in the CRB is available to every game (as you see in both RoT and SotB).

Secondly, careers do not "operate more like classes". A career is, simply, a collection of thematically linked skills that are easier to gain ranks in. Sometimes magic skills are an exception to this rule (in many settings, you cannot take a rank in a magic skill if it isn't a career skill, but there are plenty of talents that grant access).

Also, I have to ask: what is the purpose of this rule? You can already take ranks in non-career skills freely. As I said above, the only thing a career gives you is an XP reduction on a small number of skills.

My point was that if you start as say a say soldier, but as the campaign shifts, you are employed as a scholar, you would shift your emphasis as to what skills are easier for you to develop. But you wouldn’t find it as easy to use those combat skills as your character has grown a little rusty. Of course you could stay as a Soldier and just learn a few knowledge skills if that’s what you want. It’s more about the narrative of being in a career. For certain games, your career is more than than just starting skills.

Realize what your going for but it will be penalizing the player instead of working with buying career skills as talents both in cost of xp but also that the career shift wont contribute to going up the talent pyramide or help with ranks in skills.

Career is background as you say but it can be just as narrative to pick up a talent during downtime in addition to actual having enough xp to dump into the New skills.

It sounds more like you need a few talents instead of trying to keep track of what is and isn't a career skill.

6 hours ago, Justindoodler said:

if you start as say a say soldier, but as the campaign shifts, you are employed as a scholar

Shadow of the Beanstalk has a talent that can be used instead of changing careers:

FORMER PROFESSOR
Tier: 1
Activation: Passive
Ranked: No
When you take this talent, your character gains one Knowledge skill (of your choice) as a career skill. In addition, once per session, your character may collect a small favor from a member of an institute of higher learning, even if they do not owe your character a favor.

Shadow of the Beanstalk has several talents like this (gain one of two or three options as a career skill and get a once-per-session favour) and RoT has a few talents that also grant career skills. Heck, even the CRB has Basic Military Training to use as a template for gaining multiple skills as career skills.

Heck, The Forge podcast has an episode about just this thing. I can't find the exact episode, sadly, so maybe @GM Hooly or @GM Chris can chime in and provide the exact episode.

I just think that it's simpler to add more career skills than change your career skills. And, since this approach uses talents, it helps build up your talent pyramid so the XP is performing double-duty!

Lastly, if you are so inclined, the Expanded Player's Guide has rules for creating career specializations which includes adding new career skills (if you're familiar with SWRPG, it's pretty much that).