Careers have 8 skills, and you get a free rank in each of them.

Specializations have 4 skills, and you get a free rank in two of them.

If you have a skill that is duplicated between the career and specialization, you can choose to spend one rank from each side to start with that skill at rank 2.

Is there any other benefit to having the same skill in both career and specialization? There doesn't seem to be any that I can find, which means that in effect if you don't decide to put two ranks into that particular skill, you'll only start with 11 (or even fewer) career skills.

Which is fine - I understand that specializations aren't just about the career since you can cross over. Just want to make sure I'm not missing anything.

This is not quite correct.

Having a "career skill" is independent from having ranks in your skills.

A career skill means you can upgrade it for the normal amount of XP (5 * the rank purchased). It's more expensive if it's not a career skill.

So whether you doubled up on skill ranks or not, you should still start with 12 career skills no matter what (or 14 if you are a Human character).

Each player will start the game with ranks in 6 skills before spending XP, or if they utilized the overlapping skills they would have fewer skills with ranks, but those overlapping ones would have 2 instead of 1. It's balanced.

On a different angle but still related i was wondering if a human "must" choose two ranks outside of the career skills or if they could use those additional two ranks within starting career skills?

And in the above post it says humans would have 14 career skills. I didnt think those two free non career skills "became" career skills, do they? I thought it was just two free ranks in a skill not included in you career or specialization

And finally are specialization skills considered to be career skills for the sake of the cheaper xp buy price?

Sorry my intention is not to threadjack, i just kept thinking of things....

Careers have 8 skills, and you get a free rank in each of them.

Specializations have 4 skills, and you get a free rank in two of them.

Not quite. You gain a free rank in four of the Career skills (6 if you're a droid) and two Specialization skills (Three if a droid).

On a different angle but still related i was wondering if a human "must" choose two ranks outside of the career skills or if they could use those additional two ranks within starting career skills?

And in the above post it says humans would have 14 career skills. I didnt think those two free non career skills "became" career skills, do they? I thought it was just two free ranks in a skill not included in you career or specialization

And finally are specialization skills considered to be career skills for the sake of the cheaper xp buy price?

Sorry my intention is not to threadjack, i just kept thinking of things....

Humans must choose the two ranks from outside their career skills. They do not become career skills.

Yes, the skills gained from specialization count as "career skills" and can be bought at the cheaper rate. It may be confusing, since the term is called "career skills" but is more than just the skills you get from your career.

Hrm. Seems that there is a lot of confusion here, it's not just me

First, I misspoke on the first element of the career skills - you do get ranks in 4, not all 8. I knew that, but mistyped

But it sounds like I have it right. Let me try again:

- Career grants 8 career skills.

- Specialization grants 4 career skills.

- If Specialization grants a career skill which is one of the Career's 8, it does nothing for that skill

- Select 4 of the skills from the 8 listed by the career; gain one rank in each

- Select 2 of the 4 skills listed by the specialization; gain one rank in each

Ignoring racial bonuses, a character will always start with 6 ranks in their career skills. They will have a maximum of 12 career skills, but could have as few as 8 (I don't think any current specializations do this, the lowest seems to be the Thief at 9, but it is possible).

If all this is correct, then (getting back to my original point) when you have the same skill in both your starting career and your starting specialization, the only benefit you get is the opportunity to use your skill choices to start at Rank 2 in that skill. In return for that, you'll start with one fewer career skill.

All correct there?

Hrm. Seems that there is a lot of confusion here, it's not just me

First, I misspoke on the first element of the career skills - you do get ranks in 4, not all 8. I knew that, but mistyped

But it sounds like I have it right. Let me try again:

- Career grants 8 career skills.

- Specialization grants 4 career skills.

- If Specialization grants a career skill which is one of the Career's 8, it does nothing for that skill

- Select 4 of the skills from the 8 listed by the career; gain one rank in each

- Select 2 of the 4 skills listed by the specialization; gain one rank in each

Ignoring racial bonuses, a character will always start with 6 ranks in their career skills. They will have a maximum of 12 career skills, but could have as few as 8 (I don't think any current specializations do this, the lowest seems to be the Thief at 9, but it is possible).

If all this is correct, then (getting back to my original point) when you have the same skill in both your starting career and your starting specialization, the only benefit you get is the opportunity to use your skill choices to start at Rank 2 in that skill. In return for that, you'll start with one fewer career skill.

All correct there?

This seems exactly right.

Hrm. Seems that there is a lot of confusion here, it's not just me

First, I misspoke on the first element of the career skills - you do get ranks in 4, not all 8. I knew that, but mistyped

But it sounds like I have it right. Let me try again:

- Career grants 8 career skills.

- Specialization grants 4 career skills.

- If Specialization grants a career skill which is one of the Career's 8, it does nothing for that skill

- Select 4 of the skills from the 8 listed by the career; gain one rank in each

- Select 2 of the 4 skills listed by the specialization; gain one rank in each

Ignoring racial bonuses, a character will always start with 6 ranks in their career skills. They will have a maximum of 12 career skills, but could have as few as 8 (I don't think any current specializations do this, the lowest seems to be the Thief at 9, but it is possible).

If all this is correct, then (getting back to my original point) when you have the same skill in both your starting career and your starting specialization, the only benefit you get is the opportunity to use your skill choices to start at Rank 2 in that skill. In return for that, you'll start with one fewer career skill.

All correct there?

Yes. This is by design, because remember, you can purchase a Spec tree without having its parent career.

The math is correct as far as I can tell.

Alternately, if you have the same skill listed in both your career and specialization, you could take the second rank for free instead of spending 10 xp.

I believe it allows a starting character to have the skills they are noted for (mechanics, stealth, Ranged, melee, charm, etc.) but not have to spend valuable xp on them.

Yes. This is by design, because remember, you can purchase a Spec tree without having its parent career.

Yeah, I realized that at some point during the head-scratching, and it makes sense. Glad I got it all hammered out

Thanks for the responses.