[Spycraft] Creation And Feats

[Villano]

I've been playing different RPGs online with a group of friends for a while now, and the DM of one of them wants to run a Spycraft game. I've never played this system before, so I had to pick up the book.

Reading through it, I got a little confused concerning the number of feats you get at first level. It says you get a bonus feat depending on the Department you work for. Now, does this mean that you get 2 (1st level plus department feat) or 3 (1st level, human, and department feat)?

I'm only up to the chapter on Gear, so it may be addressed in a chapter I haven't gotten to yet (or I may have missed it if it was mentioned already).

Someone else in the group who hasn't played Spycraft either thinks it means that your human feat is replaced by the department feat. I disagree because the same issue exists in OA/Rokugan concerning Ancestor Feats and it explicitly addressed in the rules (p.59 in OA states, "A human character from one of Rokugan's great clans must choose an ancestor feat with the bonus feat allotted to humans."). I can't find any such statement in Spycraft (although, like I said, I may have missed it or haven't gotten to that part, yet).

I just considered the word "bonus" in the Department descriptions to mean just that, a bonus. I thought that an extra feat was intended both to make Spycraft unique and make up for the lack of magic (since they have to rely more on themselves to survive).

 

[Greatwyrm]

The department feat replaces the human bonus feat. The reason for this is that department basically replaces race in Spycraft. In OA/L5R, your clan does not replace your race--they're all a subset of humans.

Also, in Spycraft, not everybody gets the human bonus skill point per level. Only one department does, IIRC.

Basically, just look at your department as your race.

 

[Tonguez]

I just considered the word "bonus" in the Department descriptions to mean just that, a bonus. I thought that an extra feat was intended both to make Spycraft unique and make up for the lack of magic (since they have to rely more on themselves to survive).

2 Feats - 1 base and 1 Dept (bonus) - remember all characters are human so no bonus for race

the lack of Magic is made up in Gadget points (ie magic items) and through use of Action Dice etc. All classes get an Action Dice ability at first level (eg Fixer gets to add Double Action Dice to Dexterity checks, Soldier gets Double Dice for Attacks etc)