Experience Points
p. 92
Starting Experience Points
Characters begin with a budget of experience points based on their species. The experience points used during character creation are the same as experience points received during play. If a player chooses to spend fewer experience points during character creation than their budget, those points carry over into the game and the Player Character starts with more experience points to spend once their adventures begin.
Need More Experience?
A player can always increase their character's starting experience by taking on additional Obligation.
Spending Experience
| Options | Cost | Character Creation Limits |
|---|---|---|
| May spend experience to increase Characteristics. Character creation is the only time characters can increase Characteristics with experience points. | Ten times the purchased rating in experience. Each rating must be purchased sequentially. | May not purchase any Characteristic above 5 during character creation. |
| May spend experience to purchase ranks in Skills. | Five times the purchased rank in experience. Each rank must be purchased sequentially. (Each rank in a non-Career Skill costs 5 additional XP) | May not purchase any Skill above 2 during character creation. |
| May spend experience to purchase Talents within Specializations. | Depends on Talent's position within Specialization tree. | No special limits, only standard limits apply. |
| May spend experience to purchase new Specializations. | Ten times the number of purchased Specializations, including the new Specialization. (Each non-Career Specialization costs 10 additional XP). | No special limits, only standard limits apply. |
Improving Characteristics
Characteristics may only be purchased with experience points during character creation, not at any later time.
Character Creation (Characteristics)
During character creation, no Characteristic can be increased higher than 5.
Raising a Characteristic to the next highest rating costs 10 times the value it is being raised to. For example, raising a character's Brawn from 3 to 4 would require 40 experience points.
Each improvement must be purchased separately. This means that raising a character's Brawn from 3 to 5 would cost 90 experience points (40 for raising it from 3 to 4, then 50 more for raising it from 4 to 5).
After Character Creation (Characteristics)
During gameplay, Characteristics can be increased by purchasing specific Talents and utilizing items, such as cybernetic enhancements.
No Characteristic can ever be increased higher than 6, barring specific exceptions.
Acquiring Skills
Characters may purchase ranks in Skills during character creation or later during gameplay.
Character Creation (Skills)
A character may have already acquired several ranks of Skill training from their starting Career and profession for free.
Characters may train additional Skills and gain additional ranks during character creation. However, it is important to note that, regardless of any species or Career bonuses, no Skill can be raised higher than rank 2 during character creation.
After Character Creation (Skills)
Skills are purchased the same way as during character creation.
Purchasing Skill Ranks
Each Skill has five ranks of training available. The cost for training Skills falls into one of two categories — Career Skills and non-Career Skills.
Training a Career Skill to the next highest rank costs five times the rank it is being raised to. For example, training a Career Skill from rank 0 (untrained) to rank 1 requires 5 experience points. Improving a rank 1 Career Skill to rank 2 requires 10 experience points. Each rank must be purchased separately. This means that acquiring a rank 2 Career Skill during creation costs 15 experience points (5 for raising it from zero to rank 1, then 10 more for raising it from rank 1 to rank 2)
A character can also purchase ranks of non-Career Skills. Each rank of a non-Career Skill costs 5 additional experience points. For example, training a non-Career Skill from rank 0 (untrained) to rank 1 requires 10 experience points. Improving a rank 1 non-Career Skill to rank 2 requires 15 experience points. Each rank must be purchased separately. This means that acquiring a rank 2 non-Career Skill during creation costs 25 experience points (10 for raising it from zero to rank 1, then 15 more for raising it from rank 1 to rank 2).
Acquiring Talents
Characters may purchase Talents during character creation or later during gameplay.
Purchasing Talents
Talents are acquired from a character's available Talent trees, generally provided by their Specialization choices. Talent trees provide a unique format for purchasing Talents that comes with several special rules and restrictions.
Each Specialization Talent tree has four columns and five rows. This means each Talent tree has a total of twenty Talents that characters may purchase. The cost of each Talent depends on the row it occupies. The Talents in the topmost row are the cheapest, costing 5 experience points each. The next row's choices cost 10 experience points each, the third row costs 15, the fourth row costs 20, and the fifth and final row's choices costs 25 experience points each.
Note that the choices on each tree are connected by a series of lines that link some Talent choices with others. Characters may only purchase Talents for which they are eligible. Characters are eligible to select any Talents in the first, topmost row, plus any Talents that are connected via one of the aforementioned links to a Talent the character has already acquired.
Duplicate Talents
When selecting Talents on a Specialization tree, remember that each selection on the tree may only be purchased once. In the case of ranked Talents (Talents that may be purchased multiple times, and have effects that stack the more times they are purchased), the only way to purchase them multiple times is if there are multiple selections of the same Talent on the available Specialization trees.
In some cases, a character may have already acquired a Talent in one Specialization, but need to purchase it again in another Specialization in order to reach further into the tree. If it is a ranked Talent, they must purchase it again (gaining another rank in the Talent). If it is not a ranked Talent, they count as already having purchased it, and may proceed through the second Specialization tree.
Acquiring New Specializations
Each character starts with a single Specialization within their chosen Career. However, they may purchase access to additional Specializations.
Characters may purchase any Specialization in any Career. Purchasing a Specialization allows purchasing Talents within that Specialization.
In addition, each Specialization has Career Skills. These Skills now count as Career Skills for the character (although they do not gain free advances in them, as they did with their first Specialization).
Purchasing Specializations
Purchasing an additional Specialization within a character's Career costs 10 times the total number of Specializations they would possess with this new Specialization. So a character with one Specialization could purchase a second Career Specialization for 20 experience. If they wish to purchase a third Career Specialization, it would cost 30 experience.
Characters may also purchase additional Specializations outside of their Career. Purchasing non-Career Specializations costs 10 times the total number of Specializations they would possess with this new Specialization, plus an additional 10 experience. So a character with one Specialization could purchase a second non-Career Specialization for 30 experience. If they had two Specializations already, a third Specialization that was also a non-Career Specialization would cost 40 experience.