Skill Selection in Chargen

[Darq]

When selecting skills in Steps 4 and 6, are the ranks cumulative or can the skills only be selected once?

Examples:

1) In step 4 I draw an Ace of Rams, giving me 3, 3, 2, 1. Could I select Pistol 2 and pistol 3 giving me Pistol 5? (Are the selections cumulative in a step?)

2) If I select Pistol 3 in step 4, Can I select Pistol 2 in step 6 giving me Pistol 5 (Are the selections cumulative across steps?)

 

Guidance appreciated!

[Slaphammer]

I'm a noob and have only made one character so far, but my impression is that (1) you can't choose the same skill twice and (2) you can't choose a skill in step 6 that you chose in step 4.  So at the end you should have a wide variety of skills instead of a small number of highly ranked skills.

[Hellomurse]

30 minutes ago, Slaphammer said:

I'm a noob and have only made one character so far, but my impression is that (1) you can't choose the same skill twice and (2) you can't choose a skill in step 6 that you chose in step 4.  So at the end you should have a wide variety of skills instead of a small number of highly ranked skills.

This is my understanding. If 5 is the highest you could ever hope to have in a skill it wouldn't really make sense to be able to start off with that strong an ability in one. A Peon shouldn't be able to get a higher flip than a Master.

That said, everything in every game system could have home-brewed rules adjustments. If your Fatemaster wants players to have the option of being one-trick ponies then that is fine, just be ready to have a lot of failures when doing anything aside from using your pistols.

[Adran]

I haven't read second edition, only first, so I don't know the answer, but I would be surprised if you could combine the values, why would they not just give you x points to spend in that case rather than set skill values. 

[Nikshe]

2. No, you can't. Root skills are skills the parents of the Fated decided for him/her to learn, and Endeavor skills are his/her own things (and "The values provided by this card can be assigned to any of the Skills presented in this book (see Chapter 5) that the character does not already possess").

And I definitely sure that skills values are not cumulative at step 4 because there is no permission for them to be that way.

[Darq]

I see that in Step 6: Endeavor Skills, but it is not mentioned in Step 4, nor is it mentioned you can't add them together as it was in V1 of the rules. This sentence is in V1, but not included in V2: "The values must be assigned to different skills, they may not be added together."

[solkan]

2 hours ago, Darq said:

I see that in Step 6: Endeavor Skills, but it is not mentioned in Step 4, nor is it mentioned you can't add them together as it was in V1 of the rules. This sentence is in V1, but not included in V2: "The values must be assigned to different skills, they may not be added together."

In defense of the editor, read the sentence in question again.

Quote

The values provided by this card can be assigned to any of the Skills presented in this book (see Chapter 5).

It is only telling you to assign values to skills.  Nothing in that paragraph tells that if you assign two values to the same skill, that any meaningful result occurs.

"It doesn't say I can't" vs. "It doesn't say you can, either."

 

[Slaphammer]

One thing that's weird is that in the description of Step 4 it says you should think about whether your character has a variety of skills or is expert in a few (I'm paraphrasing).  It's weird because you don't have control over that -- it's dictated by the card you draw for that step.  To me it still seems the intention is that you do what the card says and can't pick the same skill twice, but that statement does seem to be at odds with that.

[Hellomurse]

When I read that I was thinking that you might have a character that was skillful in one area vs many. For example you might have a character that focuses on Magic and Academia vs one that has at least one or two skills from each of the categories. 

 

[Slaphammer]

Ah you're probably right, I probably read too much into it since I was looking for a definitive answer on whether or not you can choose the same skill twice (I don't think you can).