What are Talents?
Talents generally represent specialized techniques
that a character has mastered, typically through
intense practice and study. A character is likely to be
more successful when engaged in actions for which they
have appropriate skills and talents.
Generally, skills are what your character uses to perform a task. If your character wants to climb a wall, they use the Athletics skill. Talents, on the other hand, modify how a character uses that skill (such as rerolling a failed Athletics skill check when attempting) to climb that wall). Talents may also modify some of your character's other attributes (such as changing their wound threshold), or perform actions normally not allowed by the rules (such as ignoring Critical Injuries).
To get a talent, you spend some of your experience points on it. Each talent has an experience point cost based on how powerful the talent is (more on that in a minute).
Talent Types
There are many different types of talents. Some are associated with an individual skill or closely related group of skills. These tend to be particular knacks that a character has acquired through the process of mastering that skill. In many cases, talents represent operational shortcuts—corners an experienced individual knows can be safely cut or particularly effective methods they can follow. Other such talents are simply natural abilities that fit in especially well with the use of that skill. These could include a certain mental process, a physical technique, or a learned pattern. A number of talents are specifically associated with conflict and fighting. These combat talents represent techniques that a character likely learned through practice and experience.
Talent Tiers
Some talents are better than others. They may have more exciting abilities or just better mechanical boosts for your character. To balance these talents out and create an opportunity for characters to progress toward better abilities, this system sets different talents at different tiers.
Each tier determines how much a talent costs in experience points.
• Tier 1: Each talent costs 5 XP.
• Tier 2: Each talent costs 10 XP.
• Tier 3: Each talent costs 15 XP.
• Tier 4: Each talent costs 20 XP.
• Tier 5: Each talent costs 25 XP.
When you are buying talents for your character, you must follow one simple rule. After buying the new talent, your character must have more talents in the next lowest tier. So, if your character has two Tier 1 talents, they can only have a single Tier 2 talent, and can’t have any Tier 3 talents. But if your character has four Tier 1 talents, they can have three Tier 2 talents, two Tier 3 talents, and a single Tier 4 talent.
Talent Ranks and Purchasing the Same Talent Multiple Times
Most talents can only be purchased once. However, some talents are ranked, which means they can be purchased multiple times. These talents have a cumulative effect: the more of them you purchase, the better they become.
However, after you purchase the talent, the talent now counts as being in the next highest tier for the next time you want to purchase it. This means the experience cost goes up (since talents in higher tiers cost more), and this new version of the talent takes up one of your more valuable talent slots in the higher tier (the first version you purchased still takes up its original slot).
If a ranked talent is already at Tier 5 (or has reached Tier 5 after multiple purchases), that talent remains at Tier 5 for any future purchases.
This system is designed to encourage some difficult choices (do you keep buying more ranks in a single talent or buy the exclusive, high-tier talents when you get access to them?), and it helps ensure that every character feels a bit different.
Talent Descriptions
The following is a breakdown of each talent. Each part of a talent entry conveys specific information.
• Name: Every talent has a name, making it easy for you to refer to the talent, and hopefully providing a bit of a colorful description as well!
• Tier: Each talent belongs in one of five tiers, as we described previously in this section. The higher the tier, the more XP it costs for your character to purchase the talent.
• Activation: Some talents, once chosen, constantly apply to your character; these are passive talents. Toughened, which increases your character’s wound threshold, is one such talent. Once you buy it, your character always has a higher wound threshold. Other talents are active, which means you choose when your character uses the talent. Natural, for example, lets you reroll one check in a game session, and you choose when your character uses it. If a talent is active, it has additional details in parentheses describing how much time and effort it takes for your character to use the talent (see page 97 for more on actions, maneuvers, and incidentals). Finally, you can use most talents only on your character’s turn, but some talents can be used during another character’s turn. These talents have the “out of turn” descriptor.
• Ranked: Some talents are ranked, which means your character can take them more than once. We described ranked talents in more detail earlier.
• Rules: These are the rules that describe what the talent does.
Generally, skills are what your character uses to perform a task. If your character wants to climb a wall, they use the Athletics skill. Talents, on the other hand, modify how a character uses that skill (such as rerolling a failed Athletics skill check when attempting) to climb that wall). Talents may also modify some of your character's other attributes (such as changing their wound threshold), or perform actions normally not allowed by the rules (such as ignoring Critical Injuries).
To get a talent, you spend some of your experience points on it. Each talent has an experience point cost based on how powerful the talent is (more on that in a minute).
Talent Types
There are many different types of talents. Some are associated with an individual skill or closely related group of skills. These tend to be particular knacks that a character has acquired through the process of mastering that skill. In many cases, talents represent operational shortcuts—corners an experienced individual knows can be safely cut or particularly effective methods they can follow. Other such talents are simply natural abilities that fit in especially well with the use of that skill. These could include a certain mental process, a physical technique, or a learned pattern. A number of talents are specifically associated with conflict and fighting. These combat talents represent techniques that a character likely learned through practice and experience.
Talent Tiers
Some talents are better than others. They may have more exciting abilities or just better mechanical boosts for your character. To balance these talents out and create an opportunity for characters to progress toward better abilities, this system sets different talents at different tiers.
Each tier determines how much a talent costs in experience points.
• Tier 1: Each talent costs 5 XP.
• Tier 2: Each talent costs 10 XP.
• Tier 3: Each talent costs 15 XP.
• Tier 4: Each talent costs 20 XP.
• Tier 5: Each talent costs 25 XP.
When you are buying talents for your character, you must follow one simple rule. After buying the new talent, your character must have more talents in the next lowest tier. So, if your character has two Tier 1 talents, they can only have a single Tier 2 talent, and can’t have any Tier 3 talents. But if your character has four Tier 1 talents, they can have three Tier 2 talents, two Tier 3 talents, and a single Tier 4 talent.
Talent Ranks and Purchasing the Same Talent Multiple Times
Most talents can only be purchased once. However, some talents are ranked, which means they can be purchased multiple times. These talents have a cumulative effect: the more of them you purchase, the better they become.
However, after you purchase the talent, the talent now counts as being in the next highest tier for the next time you want to purchase it. This means the experience cost goes up (since talents in higher tiers cost more), and this new version of the talent takes up one of your more valuable talent slots in the higher tier (the first version you purchased still takes up its original slot).
If a ranked talent is already at Tier 5 (or has reached Tier 5 after multiple purchases), that talent remains at Tier 5 for any future purchases.
This system is designed to encourage some difficult choices (do you keep buying more ranks in a single talent or buy the exclusive, high-tier talents when you get access to them?), and it helps ensure that every character feels a bit different.
Talent Descriptions
The following is a breakdown of each talent. Each part of a talent entry conveys specific information.
• Name: Every talent has a name, making it easy for you to refer to the talent, and hopefully providing a bit of a colorful description as well!
• Tier: Each talent belongs in one of five tiers, as we described previously in this section. The higher the tier, the more XP it costs for your character to purchase the talent.
• Activation: Some talents, once chosen, constantly apply to your character; these are passive talents. Toughened, which increases your character’s wound threshold, is one such talent. Once you buy it, your character always has a higher wound threshold. Other talents are active, which means you choose when your character uses the talent. Natural, for example, lets you reroll one check in a game session, and you choose when your character uses it. If a talent is active, it has additional details in parentheses describing how much time and effort it takes for your character to use the talent (see page 97 for more on actions, maneuvers, and incidentals). Finally, you can use most talents only on your character’s turn, but some talents can be used during another character’s turn. These talents have the “out of turn” descriptor.
• Ranked: Some talents are ranked, which means your character can take them more than once. We described ranked talents in more detail earlier.
• Rules: These are the rules that describe what the talent does.
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