Do specializations increase with skills? Options

[Moon-Hawk]

A specialization gives +2 dice. Got it. If I raise the skill, does the specialization still give +2, or only +1 now? If I raise the skill another point, does the specialization still give +2, or has it been reabsorbed into the skill?

Related question, if you raise one skill out of a skill group it splits into it's component skills. If you then raise all of the component skills does it "re-merge" back into a skill group?

Thanks.

[Azralon]

Specializations grant 2 extra dice when using that subset of the skill. They do not add directly to the skill.

[Moon-Hawk]

Well obviously they don't add to all uses of the skill. I get that; that wasn't the question.
But what I think you're saying is that a specialization can't get reabsorbed, as they could in previous editions.

[Azralon]

That's right; apologies for being unclear.

Basically you pay 2 BP or KP and declare which facet you're specializing in. Your actual skill is unchanged; you just get 2 bonus dice on top of whatever the skill rating is.

So having Negotiation (Bargaining) at 1(3) means you'd still be spending 4 karma (2x new rating of 2) to upgrade the Negotiation skill. After the upgrade, you'd have Negotiation (Bargaining) 2(4).

As such it's possible to gain Negotiation (Bargaining) 6(8) eventually, since you're not violating the skill cap.

[Moon-Hawk]

Many thanks.
I seem to be having some trouble breaking the chains of previous editions in my mind.

What about the second question? If I get all the skills in a group to the same rating, do they merge into a skill group so that I can then raise them all together as a skill group, for cheaper cost?

[Azralon]

Yeah, a lot of us have had messy divorces with previous editions too. No sweat.

On the second question: There's nothing I know of that says you can or can't synchronize skills back into a group once they're split. Page 264 says that once you bust a group, the group no longer exists; but I personally don't know of anything stating that you can't make it exist once again.

So, I suppose that's a GM discretion deal.

[Jaid]

i seem to recall some text that implied you could recreate a group by buying them up even. doesn't go out and explicitly say it though, iirc.

of course, it wouldn't work if you had specialised in one of them, as i understand it.

[FrankTrollman]

The example on page 106 has Ashley being able to "regroup" her skill by buying all the parts up to the same level.

-Frank

[Azralon]

Outstanding. I remembered someone declaring that regrouping was okay, but I couldn't recall if it was an obscurely-placed rule, a rule read between the lines, or just a houserule we decided on. Turns out it was option #2.

[Valatar]

The rules specifically okay regrouping, but are silent about regrouping after specializations have been purchased. Since they do say that you can't specialize with a skill group, I'd have to conclude that a specilization permanently breaks the group. But once a character has managed to get enough karma to buy a group up to 6, specialize away with no penalty.

[Dash Panther]

You can regroup if you ditch the specialization.

[Jaid]

of course, you have to houserule it in that you can ditch the specialisation, since it doesn't really say anywhere that you can, iirc.

[Dash Panther]

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