Banking Character Gen Skill Points?

[ways and means]

Do people allow players to save character creation skill points to spend at the next significant milestone.

[admiralducksauce]

I don't see why not.  It's a similar idea to the "on the fly" character creation expressed in the book, where you spend your skill points (and choose Aspects or stunts) as you think of them during the session.

[Rubycon]

I don's see the benefit of it, but if one of my players want to do it that way, why not...? He would probably spend the points anyway halfway to the next milestone...

[toturi]

One benefit I could think of is that he is essentially storing power for a large push once the skill level cap is lifted if and when the GM allows it at a major milestone. He could be in essense be building a skill tower instead of a skill pyramid (as I understand it, DFRPG allows a skill tower instead of forcing a skill pyramid unlike other FATE games).

[TheMouse]

No. You have skill points for char-gen. Spend them.

[computerking]

No. You have skill points for char-gen. Spend them.

What if your High Concept is an amnesiac who doesn't know what his capabilities are until he discovers them in play (See the movie The Long Kiss Goodnight for an example of this).

Or a refugee from a hive-mind experiment, Who occasionally taps into the collective consciousness to learn a few last skills before cutting them off forever? (Hmm, this High Concept would probably start out with the Demonic Co-Pilot power in the beginning, to simulate the collective murmuring in his mind)

I don't think there's any rule specifically allowing saving skill points from character generation, but the "All players are at the same level" rule sort of implies that it's not a "Use 'em or lose 'em" scenario, either.

[TheMouse]

What if your High Concept is an amnesiac who doesn't know what his capabilities are until he discovers them in play (See the movie The Long Kiss Goodnight for an example of this).

Compels cover this.

Or a refugee from a hive-mind experiment, Who occasionally taps into the collective consciousness to learn a few last skills before cutting them off forever? (Hmm, this High Concept would probably start out with the Demonic Co-Pilot power in the beginning, to simulate the collective murmuring in his mind.

Invocations cover this.

[admiralducksauce]

On-The-Fly Character Creation is covered on YS69.  I understand you're not quite describing the same situation, but there it is in case it helps.  What I am curious about is why TheMouse is so harsh about NOT allowing this.  Mouse, is it just personal preference or have you run into situations where this was a genuinely bad idea?  And if so, can you explain so we might not fall into the same trap?

[Rubycon]

One benefit I could think of is that he is essentially storing power for a large push once the skill level cap is lifted if and when the GM allows it at a major milestone. He could be in essense be building a skill tower instead of a skill pyramid (as I understand it, DFRPG allows a skill tower instead of forcing a skill pyramid unlike other FATE games).

In this case, I would simply not allow the lifting of the skill cap...

[Richard_Chilton]

I can see why someone might say "No, you can't reshape your pyramid". 

If someone has been playing a jack of all trades and suddenly wants to have fewer skills, or has been playing a specialist who now wants to be a jack of all trades, that's a radical shift for the character.  Not just "hit a milestone and changed" but a change big enough to leave me wondering if it's the same character.


That said, when we started we didn't know the rules so used a house rule to cover our ignorance - we agreed to play three sessions and after that anyone who felt he needed to move stuff around could.  Powers, skills, the shape of the pyramid, redo aspects - if the player wanted to change what was on his sheet so it would match what he wanted to play then he could.

Richard

[EldritchFire]

Do people allow players to save character creation skill points to spend at the next significant milestone.

I haven't seen a rule specifically disallowing it. But I must ask, why would someone want to do that? Would it not be better to spend the point now, and build upon what you have when you get more skill points?

-EF

[ways and means]

I haven't seen a rule specifically disallowing it. But I must ask, why would someone want to do that? Would it not be better to spend the point now, and build upon what you have when you get more skill points?

-EF

So you can have a narrower more specialized tree for example a submerged player could have a tree 3 wide and have 3 skills at good at the first significant milestone or because a character dosen't want skills that don't make sense and has more skill points than skills he wants.   

[EldritchFire]

So you can have a narrower more specialized tree for example a submerged player could have a tree 3 wide and have 3 skills at good at the first significant milestone or because a character dosen't want skills that don't make sense and has more skill points than skills he wants.   

If it works for the character, do it! Personally, I'd rather have a random +1 skill that I can later buy up or swap out. But I'm more of a generalist kind of player.

-EF

[toturi]

In this case, I would simply not allow the lifting of the skill cap...

That would work if the players enjoy the characters being limited to a certain level of skill.

If the campaign started off Waist Deep but has progressed to a stage where the Refresh level is at Submerged or even higher, I think the skill cap should be lifted even considering some players banking their skill points. It is like hitting the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow; after some Major Milestones, I would like to see the ugly duckling become a swan (afterall, that is probably the idea behind the way the character is built).

[Richard_Chilton]

If the campaign started off Waist Deep but has progressed to a stage where the Refresh level is at Submerged or even higher, I think the skill cap should be lifted even considering some players banking their skill points. It is like hitting the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow; after some Major Milestones, I would like to see the ugly duckling become a swan (afterall, that is probably the idea behind the way the character is built).

Would it just be a matter of refresh?

Our group started at one level.  When the number of skill points and refresh equaled the next level the skill cap rose - and they got the refresh before they got the skill points.  I suppose we could have raised the skill cap when they had the refresh points but it made more sense to wait until they had the skills needed for the next level.

Richard