Got a problem which is confusing me and my group about how Careers and Specializations work and how skill choices work with them.

I understand that the player picks their Career which in turn leads to a choice of three Specializations.

Say for example the player picks Bounty Hunter for their Career, I understand that they gain 8 "Career Skills" and 4 free skill points to put in any of those skills.

They then get to pick one of three Specializations (say for the example the Assassin) which has 4 more skills and 2 more points attached to it.

My first question is this: Do the skills in the Specialization count as Career skills as well as the ones unlocked in the initial Career choice? So in the example above the player has a told of 12 Career skills and 6 points to spend (multiple time if there is an over lap in Career and Specialization choices).

My second question: With the Human gaining a second Specialization at creation, do the skills unlocked as part of the creation process also count as Career skills? I understand that the Human doesn't gain the extra free points, but I want to make sure if they are Career or not for xp spending purposes.

My first question is this: Do the skills in the Specialization count as Career skills as well as the ones unlocked in the initial Career choice? So in the example above the player has a told of 12 Career skills and 6 points to spend (multiple time if there is an over lap in Career and Specialization choices).

My second question: With the Human gaining a second Specialization at creation, do the skills unlocked as part of the creation process also count as Career skills? I understand that the Human doesn't gain the extra free points, but I want to make sure if they are Career or not for xp spending purposes.

The way I understand it is this: the eight career skills and four bonus career skills pool after character creation to become career skills. They are distinguished during creation so you know that you get to add points in 4 out of 8 and 2 out 4, not 6 out of 12. Once you have gotten to step 6 in character creation (after picking career and getting four points and picking spec and adding 2) you can spend your XP to level up career skills, of which you have 12 to choose from. They are no longer differentiated between career and spec skills. They are either career or non-career.

As to your second question, humans don't get a second specialization, they get one point each in two non-career skills. This sounds odd because you haven't PICKED your career yet so I wouldn't pick these until after steps 4 and 5. See page 48.

First off, you have the right idea. When a career or specialization gives you a "Career Skill," that skill is permenantly cheaper for you to purchase ranks in later. This includes the skills given to you by your original career and specialization both. If you later purchase additional specializations for your character (either within or not within your career) that specializations's career skills become career skills for your character, making them cheaper to buy.

However, your example of "when humans gain their second specialization at creation" has me worried. That was the case during the beta, but they no longer get that in the official release. They instead get one rank in any two non-career skills. You might be using the Beta rule book still. If that is the case, you might want to consider upgrading to the official release, since it is way better/more balanced.

Another note is that, if you take a non-career specialization (for example, if you are an Assassin Bounty Hunter, and you later take Doctor as a specialization) then you DO gain the Doctor career skills to your career skill pool. You obviously don't get any free ranks, though. However, you do NOT get the Colonist career skills to your pool. Only the ones given to you by the specialization.

I hope this helps!

Thanks guys for the responses.

Yes I am still using the Beta rules while awaiting my CRB to arrive. I wasn't aware of the changes to the Human starting ability (althoug based on what has been said, the changes make alot more sense).

I will explain this to my group and take it from there.

Cheers

Check out the beta updates as there might be a few other minor rules changes that you are missing.