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Last week I talked about the specialization rules for Edges that I’m hoping to start playtesting soon. Just as a reminder, there are 3 levels of Edges: The Edge itself, which gives you a number of die bonuses equal to the rating and cost 5 points; A Tag, which gives you an extra die bonus and costs 2 points for the first, 4 for the second, etc.; and a Focus, which lets you add a bonus die equal to your (unmodified) Hero Die and costs 1 point (and is limited to 1 per Tag). The idea behind specialization is to reward (or at least not penalize) players who take Edges that better describe the character rather than Edges that are more useful. There were two lingering questions from last week: (1) Does it just encourage a different kind of power gaming; and (2) Do the specializations actually solve the problem if you keep skill selection freeform? In order to attempt to answer the first question, let’s look at the die rolls. The table requires some explanation:- I’m assuming here that everyone has 15 points to put into their Edges.
- Inigo/Fezzik are our specialists, and have focused on fencing (Melee 2→ Swordsman→ Fencing) and Wrestling (Melee 2 → Unarmed Combat→ Wrestling), respectively.
- Westley #1 is an all-purpose badass who puts all his points into Melee Combat.
- Westley #2 has decided to specialize in both Fencing and Wrestling Tag/Focus pairs for his Melee 1.
- Westley #3 had decided to power game and figured out a way to get both specializations while still getting 2 Edge bonuses. He took Melee 1→ Swordsman→ Fencing but also took Athletics 1 → Unarmed Combat→ Wrestling. Since bonuses stack, assuming he can convince the GM that Melee Combat applies to Wrestling (obvious), Athletics applies to Fencing (reasonable), and Wrestling applies to hammer fights (maybe the biggest stretch), he gets to add the bonus for both Edges to all rolls and gets the benefits of Tags and Foci when fencing or wrestling. This requires 1 point more than the players have, but Westely #3 is a weasel so if he can find that point somewhere he’ll just cheat and hope the GM doesn’t check his math.
- The “Hammer Fight” entries show how the characters do in a fight where their Tag and Focus doesn’t apply.

