So.. how does SWSE work anyway?

[Three_Haligonians]

Hey all,

This is.. uh.. kind of embarrassing but,

We read all the time that 4e will behave something like the rules found in Bo9S and SWSE. We have the Tome of Battle and understand the per encounter mechanic but we don't own the Star Wars Saga Edition and so when people mention skills and talent trees and the like.. we have no real idea what they mean.

Can someone help we three get up to speed?

J, R, and T from Three Haligonians

 

[Atlatl Jones]

If you visit the Wizards website for the Star Wars RPG, it has a series of preview articles for the game, which detail the various new mechanics and design approaches, and the rationales behind them.

 

[Stone Dog]

Also, it has been mentioned by the developers that SWSE was based on drafts of 4e that had been twisted to fit the Star Wars universe. So you can get an idea of what 4e is like by looking at SWSE, but a primitive 4e is the earliest common ancestor of both games.

 

[AllisterH]

This may sound extremely stupid coming from someone who has BOTH the SWSE & ToB, but what's the defining line between the ability.

What I mean is, what determines if an ability is a class ability, a talent, or a feat?

 

[Malhost Zormaeril]

This may sound extremely stupid coming from someone who has BOTH the SWSE & ToB, but what's the defining line between the ability.

What I mean is, what determines if an ability is a class ability, a talent, or a feat?

This is from someone who owns neither, so take this with as many grains of salt as you like, but:

Class ability is something every member of a class gets (e.g.: Wizardly magic, familiar, Sneak attack, Turn Undead) at a specific level, but if your class doesn't give it, you can't get it (unless you multiclass into a class that does).

Talent is one of a list of abilities you may select (usually set up as chains, in which you have to take MegaPowerTalent I before taking MegaPowerTalent II), and at any given level where you get a talent, you may select any talent from the talent trees your class has access to and the prerequisites of which you already have. Check the d20 Modern SRD for the earliest implementation of these.

Feat is one of a list of abilities you may select (usually set up as chains, just like talents) but that every class has access to. Those are exactly like feats in 3e.

Does that help?

 

[AllisterH]

I think I understand the difference and implementation....

1. A class ability is an ability that the designers believe ALL and ONLY members of a certain class should get.

2. A talent is an ability that the desinger believe should be an OPTIONAL ability ONLY for members of a certain class.

3. A feat is an ability the a designer thinks EVERY class should have access to.

So, metamagic could probably be considered either a talent tree OR feats.

 

[Intrope]

Malhost Zormaeril & AllisterH have it pretty wrapped up, but there are some wrinkles from Saga Edition that ought to be added:

If you are Force Sensitive, you can also use a Talent slot to take talents off the Force Talent trees, regardless of which class grants the talent slot.

Also, the Prestige Classes usually have access to talent trees from other classes--not always the classes that usually move into that PrC, either. Jedi Knight PrC gets Armor Defense Talents from the Soldier base class, for instance--as well as the Lightsaber Combat Talents from Jedi base class.

Speculation: 4e will have Talent trees for Power Sources (Arcane, Divine, Martial, etc.) that are available to any class using that power source. And quite possibly have Role-specific trees, too!

 

[ArmoredSaint]

Oops. Wrong thread.