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Ebrim
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Joined: Tue 30 Jul 2019, 22:51

Increasing Talent Costs

Mon 28 Oct 2019, 23:58

I've been talking in the discord about how to put the brakes a little on PCs picking up talents. Figure I'd put it down here as well:

My idea is basically to increase talent rank xp cost by 1 for every new talent the PC requires to encourage specialization and to keep specialization somewhat special. Base cost would be 3xp.

So 1st-3rd talent is 3/6/9 as is default RAW.
4th talent is 4/8/12
5th talent is 5/10/15
6th talent is 6/12/18
etc.

New players could still work out their niche early on and feel like they're getting somewhere but as PC's get more experienced it's going to require more and more for them to continue to get and master new talents. I haven't yet put much thought into treating skills similarly because it seems that PC's currently favor buying talents over skill dice - plus skill dice are capped at 5 anyway and limited by successful use in a session.
 
Mr Oldtimer
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun 14 Apr 2019, 12:01

Re: Increasing Talent Costs

Tue 29 Oct 2019, 01:40

Sounds like a good idea. I’ve also begun to realize my players are getting a bit too talanted, too soon. Also, none of them has died yet and so the talents are stacking up. Only problem is how to introduce this new rule without having them feel like I don’t want them to be able to survive...?
 
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Ebrim
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Joined: Tue 30 Jul 2019, 22:51

Re: Increasing Talent Costs

Tue 29 Oct 2019, 02:26

I think it kind of has to be at the beginning of a campaign.
 
Mr Oldtimer
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun 14 Apr 2019, 12:01

Re: Increasing Talent Costs

Tue 29 Oct 2019, 08:47

I think it kind of has to be at the beginning of a campaign.
So, what I’m reading into that is you’re suggesting I should arrange a TPK. As soon as possible. Got it! 😈
Thanks!
 
Elthrandil
Posts: 22
Joined: Fri 01 Mar 2019, 15:56

Re: Increasing Talent Costs

Tue 29 Oct 2019, 10:17

I house ruled that my players characters can only get certain talents by doing outstanding deeds/moves.
For example: The Hunter lands a difficult shot from a long range. Next time while making camp he asks if he can get the Sharpshooter Talent (Including the wird roll) because he landed the shot earlier.
 
withoutscratch
Posts: 15
Joined: Mon 07 Oct 2019, 13:39

Re: Increasing Talent Costs

Tue 29 Oct 2019, 11:10

we do not play on daily basis, if we are lucky we play 2 times a month.
My players dont get tonns of exp, 5 max per session.
They would feel thwartet.
 
Mr Oldtimer
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun 14 Apr 2019, 12:01

Re: Increasing Talent Costs

Tue 29 Oct 2019, 11:22

we do not play on daily basis, if we are lucky we play 2 times a month.
My players dont get tonns of exp, 5 max per session.
They would feel thwartet.
Sounds like our gaming situation. But since none of my PC has died, the XP and talents are stacking up and I still feel they’re getting much better at combat than their short adventuring time would suggest. My magic user is profficient in 3 magic talents. Granted, only 1 at tier 3 and the rest at tier 1. But he’s still almost as good a mage as one of the NPC I had created as a mentor, soon to be a villain... and it puts me off a bit they don’t feel inferior in combat any more. Like, at all. When combining talents on tier 1 and 2, they quickly become really good fighters.
 
withoutscratch
Posts: 15
Joined: Mon 07 Oct 2019, 13:39

Re: Increasing Talent Costs

Tue 29 Oct 2019, 12:54

My players take no combat talents right now, expect the fighter.
They tend to take craft talents.
 
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Ebrim
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Posts: 468
Joined: Tue 30 Jul 2019, 22:51

Re: Increasing Talent Costs

Tue 29 Oct 2019, 13:38

Yeah, it’s a change I’m going back and forth on. I think frequency of play and your table are important. Before changing the costs my first move would be to reduce xp rewards in line with Game Principle 4. So everyone gets 1, 2 if they perhaps two other questions, 3 for exceptional sessions. Particularly if it’s going to be a longer campaign.

I very much like the idea of making talents restricted by what makes sense narratively. I’m doing that already in a form.
 
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hperantunes
Posts: 158
Joined: Mon 02 Oct 2017, 02:02

Re: Increasing Talent Costs

Tue 29 Oct 2019, 14:27

My campaign has a similar "problem": the group is experienced enough to be powerful (60xp+), and most of the characters have very few skills (mostly their initial ones) while I'm already editing my character sheet template to make room for more talents as most of the characters already have 10+ of them.

It looks weird mechanically, and the reason seems to be that talents are a much better investment than skills in this game.

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