Character Creation

[Sea Tyger]

Doug, Ross and Don just got done explaining that to me on the Errata thread.

From what I gather, Starship Officer Elite professions can be acquired by non-Starship Officers if they have all of the prerequisite skills (I'm assume that doesn't include the Starship Duty prereq, since you can only get that through the SSO profession, even though it is included in the list of prerequisites).

For SSO's, who get the "Starship Duty" ability when they choose that profession, are automatically able to choose one Starship Officer Elite Profession (waiving all of the prerequisite skills). SSO's can take the Starship Duty ability again (with advancements), allowing them to choose a second elite profession, and so on, with the stipulation that a character can only "advance" in two professions at the same time (their words).

[Don Mappin]

Originally posted by Greg Smith
The last sentence contradicts the rest of the paragraph.

The last sentence doesn't contradict the paragraph; it is correct.

For example, if I start as a Mystic and after several advancements decide to pick up the Adept EP, my next advancement must be spent picking up Adept skills and abilities. I can't raise a attribute or a professional skill from my Mystic profession (unless it's one I share with Adept) or anything not related to the Adept.

On my next (and subsequent) advancement I can spend picks without this requirement (hence the usage "as normal"). Note that now that you have an EP, you can draw from both the Mystic and Adept professional abilities and professional skills when spending your picks. (This changes if you pick up a third profession at some point.)

The reason for this caveat is so that you don't spend five picks for an EP, pick up your one free EP professional ability, and then never look back and ignore you ever got the EP. Kinda like picking up certain ability-heavy classes in a certain fantasy game that really have nothing to do with the character, just to get the bonuses.

[Don Mappin]

I think the point of confusion with picking up a Starship Officer EP and the Starship Duty professional ability is that the prerequisites should say "or" right after Starship Duty.

[Lt. Dade]

<b>

I think the point of confusion with picking up a Starship Officer EP and the Starship Duty professional ability is that the prerequisites should say "or" right after Starship Duty.

</b>

That'd be a good fix, I think. I found it pretty confusing, too, when we remade our ongoing characters. Of course, I hadn't as much read the book at that point.

The Starship Duty Professional Ability doesn't seem to do anything by itself, but in fact it's <I>very</I> important. <B>Starship Duty allows free access to a Starship Officer Elite Profession</B> regardless of that profession's prerequisites. The ability may only be taken once (right?). It's one of those complicated-for-the-sake-of-precision elements of the game that my group loved, once we figured it out. ("That's brilliant!" said one of my players.)

As an example for other folks who got stuck on the relationship between Starship Duty and the Starship Officer Elite Professions, look at two examples, Geordi LaForge and Ensign Ro:

<B>Geordi LaForge</b> took the Starship Officer profession during character creation, of course, and used the Starship Duty ability to get Flight Control Officer as his starting elite profession. Thus, he doesn't need to qualify for that elite profession. (Imagine that Starfleet cadets don't need to qualify for their field of training, they just need to qualify for transfers.)

Geordi's player uses whatever Advancements Geordi gets during TNG's first season to qualify for the Engineering Officer elite profession, gets a transfer, and becomes Chief Engineer of the <I>Enterprise</I>.

<B>Ensign Ro</B> starts with the profession Soldier (for the sake of this example) from her days on Bajor, but eventually qualifies for Starship Officer elite professions (some tactical position, according to her history, and then Flight Control). Thus, she has entered Starfleet.

<B>Just remember</B> that Starship Officer isn't so much a profession unto itself (at least not in the major galactic fleets we see on the television). It needs one of the elite professions to really define and distinguish it. The first one's free when you purchase the Starship Duty ability.

This method makes creating our ship's Flight Control and Medical Officer's <I>so</I> easy, compared to Icon. The process is so creative and fun my players are now asking permission to stat out subordinate NPCs in their departments!

word,
will

[Greg Smith]

Originally posted by Don Mappin

The last sentence doesn't contradict the paragraph; it is correct.

For example, if I start as a Mystic and after several advancements decide to pick up the Adept EP, my next advancement must be spent picking up Adept skills and abilities. I can't raise a attribute or a professional skill from my Mystic profession (unless it's one I share with Adept) or anything not related to the Adept.

On my next (and subsequent) advancement I can spend picks without this requirement (hence the usage "as normal"). Note that now that you have an EP, you can draw from both the Mystic and Adept professional abilities and professional skills when spending your picks. (This changes if you pick up a third profession at some point.)

The reason for this caveat is so that you don't spend five picks for an EP, pick up your one free EP professional ability, and then never look back and ignore you ever got the EP. Kinda like picking up certain ability-heavy classes in a certain fantasy game that really have nothing to do with the character, just to get the bonuses.

Thanks. That's exactly how I figured it was supposed to be, the wording was a little unclear.

[Greg Smith]

Originally posted by Lt. Dade
<b> </b>

The Starship Duty Professional Ability doesn't seem to do anything by itself, but in fact it's <I>very</I> important. <B>Starship Duty allows free access to a Starship Officer Elite Profession</B> regardless of that profession's prerequisites. The ability may only be taken once (right?). It's one of those complicated-for-the-sake-of-precision elements of the game that my group loved, once we figured it out. ("That's brilliant!" said one of my players.)

No it can be taken more than once.

<B>Geordi LaForge</b> took the Starship Officer profession during character creation, of course, and used the Starship Duty ability to get Flight Control Officer as his starting elite profession. Thus, he doesn't need to qualify for that elite profession. (Imagine that Starfleet cadets don't need to qualify for their field of training, they just need to qualify for transfers.)

Geordi's player uses whatever Advancements Geordi gets during TNG's first season to qualify for the Engineering Officer elite profession, gets a transfer, and becomes Chief Engineer of the <I>Enterprise</I>.

Geordi could actually just buy the Starship duty ability again and transfer to engineering. Frome helmsman to chief engineer in one easy step.

[Lt. Dade]

<b>

Geordi could actually just buy the Starship duty ability again and transfer to engineering. Frome helmsman to chief engineer in one easy step.

</b>

Sure enough, I should've checked.

That's not necessarily the wisest choice, though, since Geordi would spent the Advancement picks but not actually get any skill levels out of it yet. They'd be cheaper, but a whole 1,000 XP later. Choices, choices. Likewise, if he wanted the Engineering abilities, he could take the Innovative edge, too.

Again, flexibility all around us.

So, this brings me to this question:

Is there any mechanical process a character must undergo to change from one <I>non-elite</I> profession to another? Does the character just declare his new profession and enjoy the professional skills of both professions (but no others, of course)? It seems so, and it's seems reasonable to me.

word,
will

[Joe Dizzy]

Originally posted by Lt. Dade
Does the character just declare his new profession and enjoy the professional skills of both professions (but no others, of course)?

I think you can take EPs as long as you meet prereqs. (Rules for taking your 2nd or 3rd EP will hopefully be in the NG.)
Additional professions are not allowed. No multiclass Diplomat/Soldier/Rogue... whew .
I haven't seen any rules for switching from one profession to another. (Say Mystic => Rogue)
I'd say you'd have to come up with house rules for that. Maybe the NG has something about it?