Fwurg

[Brend]

During the write-a-thon we discussed options to increase the specialisation of Jedi. The idea is to have more clear-cut roles, and allow people to better specialise in what they want -- without the Force Level of a Jedi overwhelming any training they have received.

More 'trained only' skills

After analysis, it turns out that about half of the skills is already a trained only skill. This is mainly due to the fact that most skills are pairwise: in depth knowledge and actions require the 'trained only' skill, while there is a mirror skill that allows untrained use. For example, the pair (First Aid skill, Medicine skill) which allows everyone to use first aid, while requiring formal training to perform complex procedures.

We recognize 'wide' and 'narrow' skills. Wide skills allow a broad range of options leading to a jack-of-all-trades approach, while narrow skill are specialist skills. Wide skill require a higher check to succeed at a complex task when compared to a specialist skills. As it stands, most trained only skills are narrow, while most free use skills are wide. We think that this fits with the idea of specialisation.

That said, we propose the following changes to the skills system:

1. Flight skill becomes trained only
2. Zero-G Mobility skill becomes trained only
3. When calculating your check, your Force Level is halved if you use an untrained skill (that is, a skill in which you have no dots).

a) We envision the Flight skill as being trained only because it is the specialist version of aerial movement. Characters with natural flight can use Athletics to fly around without special training. Actually investing in Flight means explicit training to increase manvoeuvrability and tricks.

b) Zero-G Mobility is based on the natural ability of a character to use their body to move through the environment. The same reasoning as with Flight applies: this is the specialist version of aerial movement in zero-g environments. Characters can use Athletics to float around without special training -- actually investing in Zero-G Mobility means explicit training to increase manvoeuvrability and tricks.

c) If you use a skill that allows untrained use while you have no training in it, you get only half your Force Level on the check (round down): the force can help you reach your goal, but not tell you what to do. For example, the Force level 3 Jedi Alice has no dots in Stealth, so her check would be (5 = 1 Force Level + 4 Fitness + 0 Stealth), whereas Force level 2 Jedi Bob has 2 dots in Stealth making his check (6 = 2 Force Level + 2 Fitness + 2 Stealth).

Skill and Attribute cost change

Currently, a Force Level is 10 ; so that is roughly 5 skill ranks, or about 2 Attributes increases. To allow better specialisation, we propose to reduce the cost of Skills from 2 to 1 and Attributes from 4 to 2 . This would, on average, allow characters to max out 3 skills per Force level, instead of only 2.

We propose the following changes:

1. Reduce cost of Skills from 2 to 1
2. Reduce cost of Attributes from 4 to 2
3. Increase starting Skills points from 6 to 9

After a check, none of the Force Powers appear to need rebalancing. Some do not combine with a skill at all, and the rest provides interesting new options. The normal +1, +2, +3 (and eventually +4) will suffice.

Of course, after this has been discussed and the final version of the changes has been put into effect, we will open a retro-active changes topic to allow everyone to readjust their characters to the new system.

For now, we look forward to your comments, questions and critiques!

[Brend]

Ok. Either this proposal has gone unnoticed for 2 months, or we have unanimous agreement that it is a good plan.

I'll write up a short note on the changes and impact of this proposal for every individual Jedi in a week or so soon.

[Chriz]

We discussed it at the write-a-thon and it still is a good plan, so let's make it happen.

[Brend]

I did a quick tally of who spent on relevant things, and what impact the current proposal would have.

Jedi	Attributes	Skills	Note	After change
Ariana Danacia	4	7		+15 + 3 starting skills
Darones Rei	1	6		+8 + 3 starting skills
Fecta Trigiel	3	10		+16 + 3 starting skills
Jaicen Hedoss			No spent	+0 + 3 starting skills
Nathan Miodrass Asillion	1	3	No new-style progression data.	+5 + 3 starting skills
Nebesnogo Sveta	1	3	No new-style progression data.	+5 + 3 starting skills
Salia			No spent	+0 + 3 starting skills
Shaedys		2	No new-style progression data.	+2 + 3 starting skills
Shebi Ajava	3	6		+12 + 3 starting skills
T'Sal	1	6		+8 + 3 starting skills
Tera Inogo			No spent	+0 + 3 starting skills

Unless people have objections or blocking questions, I will write up the official rules change message next week(together with a short note on how to update your Jedi -- some guidelines might be useful with this big change!)

[Gerben]

I see no reason to object ;)

[Brend]

Done: Rules Change: Jedi Specialistion tweaks: skill usage and experience cost

[Brend]

I have also updated the check taker to feature the "Untrained Skill Force Level" button.

[Elmer]

I have updated the changelog

[Brend]

The note that we overhauled the check ratings is nonsense. We did that a long time ago by introducing the maximum ratings of Attributes and Skills. It's simply easier to reach those maximums -- that does not change what a Jedi can do.

[Elmer]

we changed the rating of untrained skills.

[Brend]

Then say that, i.e. say "and check ratings of untrained skills", instead of "check ratings of the jedi" ~_~

Maybe it's just me nitpicking, but to me this seems to mean that the Checks of the same score do something different after the change, which is not true. Maybe it's just my brain that interprets 'ratings' different from 'score' though. Rating seems to imply that we shifted the final outcome of a specific score around, which we did not.

I think being explicit in such messages is important if we later reread them.