I just got a copy of the Beta in the mail yesterday, and from initial skimming, I like what I see. However I have an issue that I don't know if anyone has brought up. In the beginning of the book there is a bit about how over time the character can raise their characteristics up to 6 through experience, However in the character creation section where it talks about spending experience, it says that the only time you can raise your characteristics is at character creation.

I assume that the former is correct rather then the latter.

nope the later .. .there is a talent in every talent tree that allows you to increase a stat by one.. its name eludes me though

Its the Dedication talent, pretty much every specialization has access to one of them, at the bottom of the tree.

That said, this mechanic does kind of lend to the metagame that it is simply the best idea to dump all starting xp into characteristics. Free skill points should keep you covered for the core day to day skills. Characteristic boosts are just too rare to pass up.