Author Topic: Harp 1st edtion: New Profession Talent  (Read 1234 times)

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Offline harper1973

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Harp 1st edtion: New Profession Talent
« on: April 23, 2021, 07:27:11 AM »
Hi everybody, when a character takes a new profession for the first time (selecting the New Profession Talent), does he gets also the "free" initial ranks for favored Skill Categories? I don't think so, but just want to be sure!
Thank you very much indeed!

Offline ImaginosMusic

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Re: Harp 1st edtion: New Profession Talent
« Reply #1 on: April 23, 2021, 09:09:34 AM »
In the beginning paragraphs of the professions chapter it states the bonus ranks are only granted during character creation.  I did not find anything in the multi-class section that contradicts that.
 

Offline harper1973

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Re: Harp 1st edtion: New Profession Talent
« Reply #2 on: April 23, 2021, 09:52:45 AM »
Many Thanks indeed!

Offline Radimon

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Re: Harp 1st edtion: New Profession Talent
« Reply #3 on: June 07, 2021, 08:09:38 AM »
Moreover, you only get ONE of the benefits of the new profession. Whether it's bonus talents, access to spells, a skill bonus, or a unique option like the monk's reduction of the penalty from ki defense, you only get to pick one of them. This can even vary, game to game (or even character to character!) depending on how your GM interprets it. For example, I've had a GM that interpreted the fighter's two bonus talents as a single benefit, and another who considered each such talent to be a separate option.
Murphy's Law says 'Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.'

I think Murphy was an incurable optimist.

Offline craig

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Re: Harp 1st edtion: New Profession Talent
« Reply #4 on: June 08, 2021, 04:09:06 AM »
Moreover, you only get ONE of the benefits of the new profession.

Note that this has important implications for planning a character's progression.

e.g. if you plan to make a magic-using rogue type, if you started as a Rogue and later added the Mage profession, you'd only get to choose one of the Mage's Sense Magic, and Mage Sphere abilities.

But if you start as a Mage and add Rogue, the Rogue only has one professional ability (+5 to a favoured skill every 3rd level) so that's what you get.

Similarly, a Thief has two professional abilities, Subtle and a +10 bonus to any Subterfuge skill every 5th level.  If you add the Thief profession, you have to choose one of them.   You're better off starting as Thief and adding Rogue than vice versa.

Sometimes it's just better, more versatile, to just "buy" the professional talents you want.  e.g. Lightning Reflexes and Shield Training cost 10 DP each - unless you need the Combat or Athletics categories as favoured, you'd be better off just buying those Talents for your character than adding Fighter as a profession (also 20DP,. giving you just one of those talents).

It's often better to just buy an Arcane Power (30 DP) for a Rogue (or other prof that already has Mystical Arts as favoured) to get a spell sphere than it is to buy Additional Profession (20DP) - it costs more, but you can increase your spell skills at every level, not just when you're advancing a Mage or whatever level.   And some GMs will interpret a human's Professional Adaptability very broadly, applying the 5 DP discount (or even 25%) to Arcane Power, Arcane Circle, and similar Talents, as well as to Additional Profession.


Finally, Rogue makes a great Additional Profession to "round out" any other character: in addition to the +5 bonus per 3 levels, the Rogue has lots of Favoured categories so is very useful for adding some Athletic, Combat, Outdoor, Mystical Arts, and/or Subterfuge skills to any other profession.   At 20 DP, it's more than worth it if you plan to buy more than 9 skill ranks in any non-favoured skills.   e.g. 10 x 4DP = 40 DP total.   20 DP + 10 x 2 DP = 40 DP.  It's even better for human characters, the break-even point is around 8 ranks (8x2+15 = 31 DP vs 8x4=32).   Given that even a Mage is likely to want to be able to full-parry with their quarterstaff in an emergency, it quickly pays for itself :)

Also, the +5 bonus you get to a favoured skill is at least equal to a free skill rank, so the break-even is effectively 9 ranks for non-humans, 7 ranks for humans.


Offline Radimon

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Re: Harp 1st edtion: New Profession Talent
« Reply #5 on: June 08, 2021, 07:56:21 AM »
In fact, the only 3 skill categories the rogue doesn't get are artistic, influence, and concentration. If you're not a monk, you probably won't be making use of any concentration skills - except possibly mental focus - which a human could theoretically nab with skill flexibility.

If your game is starting at level 3 or higher, I personally like the idea of beginning with 1 level of intellectual (found in the folkways supplement) as your first level to get mental focus and interaction skills, then shift to rogue. Bounce back into scholar once in a while, just to keep your social skills topped off.

Why the intellectual, you ask?

The intellectual gets favored access to all three of the rogue's non-professional skill categories, plus a 15-point bonus talent and a 10-point bonus talent, each chosen from a short list. I would probably take scholar and good memory. You'd also get a +10 bonus to a chosen general skill. Favorites for the skill bonus include: healing, herbcraft, mundane lore, perception, and all three resistances.
Murphy's Law says 'Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.'

I think Murphy was an incurable optimist.