Talents and CP balance

[FeiLin]

Don't talents kind of break the game, CP-wise, that is?

I mean, it would make sense to me if the cost per level is a straight 4 times the number of skills, and the rebate or bonus is the reaction bonus.

A cap at 4 makes it manageable and not out of control, but there might be a limit of number as well (for the above meta-reason).

[newton]

Originally Posted by FeiLin

Don't talents kind of break the game, CP-wise, that is?

I mean, it would make sense to me if the cost per level is a straight 4 times the number of skills, and the rebate or bonus is the reaction bonus.

A cap at 4 makes it manageable and not out of control, but there might be a limit of number as well (for the above meta-reason).

short answer: no
long answer: talents are a sort of bulk discount for skill wherein you can get levels in a set of related skills instead of raising the underlying attribute

[swampthing]

I would go so far as to say they fix the game "CP-wise" in that they do a lot to counter the prior problem of people putting all their points into Attributes and then dominating every skill based on that attribute.

[coronatiger]

Originally Posted by swampthing

I would go so far as to say they fix the game "CP-wise" in that they do a lot to counter the prior problem of people putting all their points into Attributes and then dominating every skill based on that attribute.

Has anyone played a game where PCs could learn new Talents (instead of buying attribute levels)? How did it go?

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by coronatiger

Has anyone played a game where PCs could learn new Talents (instead of buying attribute levels)? How did it go?

I have allowed characters to buy Talents in Infinite Cabal, provided those accorded with the character. It's worked quite well, and hasn't broken anything.

I've played several games where you could buy up Talents you started with, and one where after hitting attribute caps, buying new and concordant Talents was allowed.

All of these games also allowed buying up attributes.

[martinl]

Originally Posted by newton

...instead of raising the underlying attribute

This is the main thing. Talents encourage character theming on a finer grain than "smart" or "graceful."

CP balance is very vague anyway.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by coronatiger

Has anyone played a game where PCs could learn new Talents (instead of buying attribute levels)? How did it go?

A lot grumbling along the lines of "Why can't I just buy up Attributes instead?".

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by FeiLin

Don't talents kind of break the game, CP-wise, that is?

If you are only considering point-efficiency? You invest no more than 1 CP into the Skills you care about (and no more than 10 of those per character; preferably less!) and put everything else in Attributes. Talents are too expensive for what little they do.

I, personally, would suggest considering more than point-efficiency when creating a character.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by coronatiger

Has anyone played a game where PCs could learn new Talents (instead of buying attribute levels)? How did it go?

Yes, and it went well everytime, though often attributes are chosen instead.
As already said Talents help with theming a character so are a great addition to the game.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Yes, and it went well everytime, though often attributes are chosen instead.

The only time I've seen Talents chosen over Attributes is when the PC has one Talent that covers the majority of specific Attribute based skills, and those are the only skills from that Attribute they care to raise and they are spending ten or less points per level on Talents, total.


The moment it looks like they might be spending more than 10 points, they've pretty much always decided raising the Attribute is better, if they are allowed.