Paradigm Concepts

[maurlysander]

Howdy,

First time posting to the new Forums.
During character creation when chosing out your skill's is it better to specialize in a few of your skills or buy as many trained skills as you might think you will need for your character concept.

My character is a Val'Delenov raised by Ying-Hir Nomads (Background). He is kind of a Archer ranger type with an animal companion and everything.

I need Artisan Bower/Fletcher for the Bowman path. I was also thinking of training in Perception, Stealth, Beast Lore, and Empathy. The last two I need for my Tier II path which will either be Master of the Hounds or Ying Hir Horse Lord. (The later brings up an important point in that can a Val from the Hinterlands be considered a Ying Hir or just humans?) So should I spend the 5 out of seven Skill points I got to pick these skills or should I pick some of them up later and spread my points out over my trained skills from the Other 6 steps of character creation.

A. J. Nicholson

[Deviknyte]

I would focus on as few skills as possible. And others would suggest the same. The reason being because you can use any skill in the game without rank. Any!

As per what skills you need for your future paths, pick them up. Your not wasting a rank if your going toward your path.

But do remember that skills you START with one rank in will eventually have 6 ranks in AT LEAST. But skill you never put a rank in will never have a rank in it. So if you character concept requires say... perception, but a rank in it. 6 points is better than 0, so if your character is suppose to be "good" at something, even if he won't be "great" at it.

The only other thing to keep in mind is if you normally play with the same group(s). If so keep in mind skills the rest of your party doesn't have.
_________________
-Devin Redd, Detroit Harvester
"The Elorii shall rise again!"
Current- Vaerdos kyr'Taliis, Ardakene Elorii Chanter of the Rebirth and the Bright People
Retired- Elysian, Ardakene Elorii Hierophant of Belisarda

[Hat]

For me it depends on the build. I get a good idea of what the character should be able to do or what they were trained in and choose accordingly. That has typically meant a few skills with multiple ranks, but most of the skills at 1.

Your combat and arcanum skills it's more critical to try and get as many ranks in to start as possible. They provide benefits every 3 ranks for Combat skills and add directly to your autocast CTN which is big. If the skills don't specifically grant benefits for X ranks though and you have a choice between a single skill at 2 ranks and 2 skills at 1 rank, is that 1 rank going to make that much of a difference?

Some skills give you inherent benefits just for being trained. If you want to be from Almeric and Literate, have to put at least 1 rank in Linguistics which also gives you an extra language. If your character is athletic, it usually makes sense to put a rank in both Athletics and Acrobatics as you enjoy a +5 bonus I think on balance checks. Every rank also adds to your passive value, so there's a reason to put a rank in say Perception even if you don't plan to advance it more than 1 rank / Tier.

Planning ahead for Paths or potential Paths is certainly recommended. Unless you're an Expert, I doubt most characters will use an advancement to add a skill, so better to get things up front.

Also, don't forget that many talents have trained skill requirements as well. Leadership requires both Battle and Persuasion for example and rocks as a T1 combat ability.

Neither way is right or wrong, just do what seems to make the most sense for your character concept and it'll be fine.

With a sweep of his...

Hat

[hustonj]

Greetings!

Since EVERY SKILL can be attempted without training, there is no requirement to train in a skill unless you want to get especially good at that skill, or the skill is a pre-requisite for a Path or Talent that you wish to acquire.

Looking at the way character generation works, and the Backgrounds (especially Apprentice of the Masters), I came to think of the skill system on an Apprentice, Journeyman, Craftsman, Master, Grandmaster basis. The Apprentice has no appreciable skill (starts with 0 Ranks). The Journeyman has proven that he understands the basics of the skill, and goes out into the world to improve upon his training and broaden his perspective (at about 3 Ranks). The Craftsman has a firm grasp of his skill, and is capable of establishing his own permanent business and turning a consistent profit (at about 6 Ranks). The Master Craftsman is a level of skill that many reach, but that many do not, and he has learned many tricks of the trade, with people seeking him out, wishing to become his apprentices (at about 12 Ranks). The Grand Master Craftsman is a level of skill that only a few ever reach, requiring full devotion over an entire lifetime (at about 18 Ranks).

The main skill(s) for your character can be at Journeyman level (3 Ranks) at character generation fairly easily. Those skills which are appropriate matches for your Archetype can reach Craftsman level (6 Ranks) before your character reaches Tier II. Those same skills can reach Master Craftsman level (12 Ranks) before your character reaches Tier IV. And, again, those same skills can reach Master Craftsman level (18 Ranks) during Tier V. Careful Path selection can actually help you reach each level just a little faster, but not much.

So, if you see your character being "okay" at a wide variety of skills, but mastering none, then starting with a wide variety of Trained Skills will help you reach that vision. If you see your character as being very good at a small selection of skills, well, then you need to focus during character generation in order to get there. Arcane Archtypes excel at casting and Lore Skills. Divine Archetypes excel at Casting and Social Skills. Martial Archetypes excel at Physical and Combat Skills. Expert Archetypes excel at whatever you want them to excel at. These last statements are based on how the Archetype advancements allow you to select which Skills MIGHT get 3 Ranks worth of advancement during a given Tier.

Every Archetype allows you to advance ZERO skills by 3 Ranks during a Tier should you choose to spread the advancements out. You will find that your character's ability to make a significant difference when the dice get pulled out declines if you make this choice, however. Careful, intelligent play can keep your character a valuable member of the table despite this decline, but it will eventually require focus and work from you to ensure that everybody else perceives your character as useful.

As for are their val's in the Yhing hir? Yes, yes there are. The val's that are raised within the Yhing hir are Yhing hir first and vals second, however. In most of the more "civilized" nations, vals are members of their bloodline family first, and citizens of their nation second. Even the Erdukeen raise their vals as a more prestigious group than the Yhing hir do.
_________________
Valeriano Innocenzo Camillo de Larissa la Galletti
San Antonio, Tx-based Harvester
Jeff Huston
huston.harvester@cox.net