Over at the discord someone put together this table
[...]
Talent rank 1 requires 1 skill point
Talent rank 2 requires 3 skill points
Talent rank 3 requires 5 skill points
Profession talents doesn't have any requirement.
[/quote]
My concern about this is that the combat talents (sword fighter, axe fighter, etc) represent a way for characters who aren't Fighters, Rogues or Riders to become decent hand-to-hand combatants without spending dozens of XP. If you require 3 ranks of Melee in order to get Swordfighter 3, a Minstrel or Druid will basically never be able to level up that talent. The opportunity to start out with 3 ranks of Melee already gives Fighters especially (with their extra strength), but also Rogues and Riders, a large advantage over other professions in combat. They don't need the further advantage of being the only professions that can afford to level up any combat talents beyond rank 1.
I am not discounting the value of talents. Talents are great. But people undervalue skills. Mostly, I think, because they don't look flashy or exciting. But they are your bread and butter. They do all the hard work all the time. They are absolutely not underwhelming.
Agreed. Skills are expensive in XP, but many of them also come into play over and over again in sessions. For almost any skill, 5 points to level it up to rank 1 is more useful than a lot of the rank 2 talents are. And for crucial core skills like Move, Survival, Scouting, Melee, Stealth, etc, a second rank for 10 points is just as good as most third-rank talents. Not as good as Swordfighter/Axe Fighter/Sharpshooter rank 3, but those are probably the best talents in the game.
Rank 3+ skills *are* overcosted in my opinion, though.