Bounty Hunter: Survivalist

By boehm2, in Talents and Specialization Trees

is it just me or does this talent tree seem kinda weak? Most of the other trees seem to have some unique abilities whereas this seems to mostly just have some talents which boosts some skills where for the same cost you could just buy extra skill levels … - what do u guys think?

Boehm said:

is it just me or does this talent tree seem kinda weak? Most of the other trees seem to have some unique abilities whereas this seems to mostly just have some talents which boosts some skills where for the same cost you could just buy extra skill levels … - what do u guys think?

I don't know that I quite agree. For one, I find the tree very flavorful, and certainly a useful one for a bounty hunter, given all of the tracking abilities it offers. It's even got some decent combat boosts in it, too, and a high number of talents that remove setback dice instead of just adding to skills (which is a nice perk).

Probably it works best when synergized with other trees, but as-is, I don't see it as weak by any stretch.

Boehm said:

is it just me or does this talent tree seem kinda weak? Most of the other trees seem to have some unique abilities whereas this seems to mostly just have some talents which boosts some skills where for the same cost you could just buy extra skill levels … - what do u guys think?

As always, it depends on your perspective as to what qualifies as a "useful talent tree."

As Rikoshi noted, Survivalist has some pretty solid talents focused on tracking (a useful thing for hunting bounties) and removal of setback dice.

Is it as potentially awesome in melee combat as the Assassin or at ranged as the Gadgeteer? Nope, because it's not trying to be as combat isn't the Survivalist's primary function.

In a combat-focused game, a lot of the Colonist career and specializations are definitely sub-par compared to those found under Bounty Hunter or Hired Gun, so in that view, Colonist (and a lot of Explorer too) could just be written off as "sub-par" if viewed through that particular lens. But introduce social combat, and suddenly the Colonist becomes a lot more viable, and perhaps even more important to the party's success than the combat-ready PCs.

Donovan Morningfire said:

Boehm said:

In a combat-focused game, a lot of the Colonist career and specializations are definitely sub-par compared to those found under Bounty Hunter or Hired Gun, so in that view, Colonist (and a lot of Explorer too) could just be written off as "sub-par" if viewed through that particular lens. But introduce social combat, and suddenly the Colonist becomes a lot more viable, and perhaps even more important to the party's success than the combat-ready PCs.

Oh Im not speaking about simply combat … my point is simply that a talent which removes a single black die or adds a boost die to a skill roll … IMO isnt really that amazing since you could just buy another level in that skill …such talents are only really attractive if they offer a discount on getting better ….which means already having purchased several levels in that skill …and frankly some skills I just dont really expect to every see anyone buying more than 1 or perhaps 2 ranks in (coordination anyone? in WFRP its used for dodge … in addition to "tightrope" walking ;) in EotE its use for just "tightrope walking" )

Admittedly I dont have the book right here, so wont claim to know all the talents of the top of my head - but as a specific example I will say that I dont think I will ever find it attractive to pay 15+ xp for a level of Stalker, now that they took the perception and vigilance bonus out …before stalker was pretty cool like Im good in nature … now its just a boost to a good skill and a 'meh' skill ….(though I am thinking about proposing a rulechange to the Blast-quality incl. the ability to reactively dive for cover using coordination)

EDIT: my point is that if another specialisation could be just as good as what u can be good at for the same xp cost simply invested into skill ranks …AND have teh ability to be awesome in some other way (combat or not - ei. I actually think the Politico and Traders are GREAT) - Then those two specializations are just not balanced …

About the Stalker talent, it used to give a Boost die to stealth, coordination and surveillance, now only the two first, since surveillance is gone from the game.

About the survivalist in general, its your typical big game hunter, but with some nice extra stuff too. Got a couple of toughened and heroic fortitude is pretty nifty, even at that price.

Can't forget Soft Spot. 2nd tier damage boost based on Cunning? That's as cheap as it gets to boost damage with Destiny, and I love Cunning, so that awesome.

I also really dig the concept of the outdoors in EotE, and having a Spec or 2 that thrives in the great outdoors really gels with me. I want to make sure that the heroes are taming the great outdoors once in a while, and give it a frontier feel.