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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LucasC" data-source="post: 6511163" data-attributes="member: 6762606">Game Version<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">August NEW playtest doc</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">WOIN playtest update doc (for the time after it was published)</li> </ul>Deviations from the Above Rules<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Defense calculations (from DEFENSE discussion)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dice pools limited to character level (we were using this before the WOIN playtest doc updated it for NEW)</li> </ul>Players: 8 Level: 6 --------------------Dice PoolsI think these elements are excellent additions. The encounters I have created since the introduction of dice pool limits are the first encounters I've really felt like I could craft adequate challenges. DEFENSEI am still not thrilled about DEFENSE. Using the rules I presented in the DEFENSE thread have some problems: <ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Characters gain DEFENSE passively so someone that tries to pump DEFENSE is only marginally better than someone that doesn't</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Low-level characters will have a difficult, if not impossible, time hitting a higher level character - this can be mitigated somewhat by positioning and other combat tactics but not entirely.</li> </ol>An observation - When my players were forced to choose between DEFENSE and SOAK, only 1 chose DEFENSE, the others all chose to go with a high SOAK. The one player that chose to pump DEFENSE is the player of the Jedi, who gains a +5 bonus on his DEFENSE but only if he's not in armor. Careers Speaking generally, I think careers are too restrictive with too many requiring specific prior careers. Consider the Scout. You must have Military Academy to become a Scout. The abilities granted by Scout revolve around reacting quickly and being sneaky. It's not hard to envision non-military means to access these abilities. Another example, Battlespsysch. This also requires Military Academy but the powers and boons are not military in nature. They revolve around being a brute with your mental powers. Why force me through the military route? Of note, 6 of 8 characters have selected Military Academy as one of their careers and only because it is a requirement for so many others. Secondarily, the progression of ability scores via careers needs to be weighed, to make sure every score is adequately represented. With so many different scores, lots of characters end up with 2 or maybe 3 in several abilities. The restriction on selecting the same skill from a career list is probably not necessary any longer. Dice pools preclude a heavy focus on one skill, and this restriction now serves to encourage career dipping. The restriction on returning to a career after having taken another career is also an unpopular rule amongst my players. They would like to be able to return to a prior career and pickup where they left off. In many cases, you could envision this being reasonable. Why, for example, would a character need to restart as a Psychic just because they went on a Star Marine Tour of Duty? LuckThe most recent change to LUCK was not well received by my group. Let's consider the example of a gunshot: <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">AGI vs. DEFENSE</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Give the character an AGI pool of 3d6</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Give the character a LUCK pool of 3d6 (which is hard to achieve at present)</li> </ul>Pre-Change: When lining up this shot, the character can roll 3d6 + 3d6 for LUCK. The total pool size is 6d6 with 3 of them being exploding dice. Post-Change: The same shot is now limited to 3d6, either using AGI or LUCK. They no longer stack. This means the only time LUCK will be useful, is when your using a non-core skill. It also means that LUCK was effectively nerfed by the change. You could always add your LUCK to a check before the change, increasing the chance of success of any check. Now you can only substitute it.AbilitiesThere are an awful lot of ability scores competing for space and attention, and a lot of them get left behind. If you are interested, here is the distribution of scores for my players: 2: 103: 84: 155: 46: 37: 38: 59: 310: 3The 2s are clearly abilities not increased from starting. So about 20% of their scores are whatever they started the game with. The 3s and 4s are similar though, in most cases, they are scores that were increased not because the player wanted to raise that ability, but because the increase came as a rider on a career that raised the actual score they wanted. The scores most of them actively seek to increase are at 7 or higher. This suggests that upwards of 60% of their ability scores are just stats they're tracking because its on their sheet but not things they have any active interest in.</blockquote>

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