Thread: New Skills
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Old 07-15-2018, 11:49 AM   #179
Skarg
 
Join Date: May 2015
Default Re: New Skills

An observation: Limiting talent "slots" to IQ would tend to make it seem optimal to have as many talents as possible be 3's or 2's rather than 1's, which sort of reverses the way they were originally designed.

Slots would also seem to favor taking large chunky talents over ones that come in detailed levels (still mainly UC at this point), but it also discourages knowing a few different weapon talents. (I could learn Tactics and Strategy now, if only I hadn't learned Knife and Shield in addition to Ax/Mace... what?)

A few examples for comparison:

Bob (a farmer - become - man-at-arms - then Mercenary) learns Knife, Crossbow, Ax/Mace, Shield, Literacy, Horsemanship, Swimming, Climbing, Sex Appeal, Running, Farming, and Boating, that is 14 (learning) points in 12 talents (slots), all of which require only IQ 7 or 8. He's quite capable at many things but has no talents requiring IQ 9+, two 2-point talents, and no 3-point talents.

Gary (a combat-focused warrior), learns Sword, Bow, Running, Missile Weapons, Warrior and Veteran. He used 14 (learning) points 6 talents (slots), and the talents required IQ 9.

Emanuel (a scholar), learns Literacy, Scholar, Master Physicker, Chemist, Alchemy. He also used 14 (learning) points in 5 talents (slots), and the talents required IQ 14.

If the proposal is to let EP be spent for talents but only limited to slots equal to IQ, then:

Bob will need IQ 12 to get his talents. He could start with them only if he started with IQ 14. Bob is not allowed to learn any more talents because he is out of slots. (All those varied outdoor proficiencies apparently leave him incapable of learning anything else unless/until he jacks up his IQ.)

Gary only used 6 slots, and the highest required IQ is 9, so he could stay IQ 9, and go on to use EP to learn another 3 talents. If he had IQ 12 like Bob, he could learn 6 more talents (even 2- or 3-pointers).

Emanuel only used 5 slots, and the highest required IQ is 14. He can go on to learn another 9 talents (even 2- or 3-pointers, except there are not many more 3-pointers to learn except spells - if he did learn 9 spells, that would have required IQ 41 in ITL).

This doesn't seem very fair or logical to me.
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