Future Rule Change: Skill Talent Bonuses

Skill Talents – Boosts to Skill Checks

This Talents that give a +1 to Skill Checks (Shady, Street Smarts, Honeyed Tongue, etc) lose their ‘effect’ as the character increases in Tiers.

At Tier I, a +1 boost to 2 skills can be useful. However, as the character rises in Tier, a +1 bonus (that doesn’t stack with other Talents) has a much less impact. At Tier 1, a +1 bonus with 4 Ranks is a 20% boost to the skill. At Tier V, a +1 bonus with 18 Ranks is a 5% boost to the skill.

Combat and Spell Casting abilities tend to increase in usefulness as the character’s tier goes up and even Tier I or Tier II versions are still desirable at Tier III and above. (Sweeping Strike is a Tier I technique but combines well throughout Tier V. This is true of Advanced Spells and Adaptations as well.). However, these Skill Talents don’t scale and thus become less attractive as the character rises in level. If you didn’t take Honeyed Tongue at Tier I, you’re much less likely to take it at Tier III.

– Proposed Change: For Talents that add +1 to one or two skills (Honeyed Tongue), the bonus is instead +1 + 1/2 Hero Tier (round down). So that at Tier I, it’s +1, at Tiers II/III, it’s +2, and at Tier’s IV/V, it’s +3.
For Talents that add +2 to a specific ‘subskill’ (Seductive), the bonus is instead +1 + Hero Tier.

This has the added benefit of allowing non-Expert Archetypes a chance to focus in particular skills that may not receive +3 Ranks / Tier and still be comparable with Experts in those skills.