Improved ability allows an adept to bump Combat, Physical, Social, Technical, and Vehicle skills at a cost of .25 per level. The new "Way of the Adept" even talks about adepts using this ability to enhance the rigging of drones. Improved ability does not mention the active skills associated with magic though (spell casting, summoning, banishing, etc.). Are they being grouped under combat or some other heading or is this another case of them saying it breaks game ballance without them putting it down in writting? I am not saying it should be allowed but did notice and thought I would ask. For regular adepts it really has no meaning but for Mystic Adepts it could come in handy.

Improved Ability doesn't work on Magic skills.

The only magical skill that can be bumped is counter spelling with sorcerous parry from Way of the Adept.

Combat skills are 0.5 point/level, not 0.25.

The above posts -- actually in the order the thoughts popped into my head -- stole my answers. So, uhh, +1, +1, +1, I guess?

Adepts cannot boost their spellcasting that easily. One of the primary balancing factors of magic is that it's kinda hard to get bonuses to magic related checks, so it's an important game balance issue.

While it is clear from the wording of improved Ability that Magic Skills are not a valid choice. I don't really understand why they are not. Is the balance of Magic Skills really need to be that tight? I don't really see why they couldn't be included under Combat skills cost.

For Assensing there's Enhanced Perception, for everything else there are power foci.

It seems very strange that Foci and mentor spirits are the only ways to effect those rolls, given that all other combat skills are effected by other categories.

the correct would be "for everything else there's master card"

Improved ability doesn't work on Magical Skills because this would, pretty much level the mystic adept and magicians when casting spells. A magician rolls his full Magic + skill, while the Mystic Adept rolls allocated Magic for Magician purposes + skill. With Improved Abilty, either at 0.25 or 0.5 cost, the Mystic Adept would gain twice or four times the amount of dice sacrificing 1 point of Magic.

One could as easily say 'All characters are allowed all other skills, why should magical skills be different?'. This issue is only relevant to mystic adepts and their very nature is about their chosen balance between magician and adept, so allowing Improved Ability for magical skills gives one narrow character class the option of paying Magic points into one discipline to boost the other. Never mind game balance, this kind of thing goes against gaming in general. Either you make it a way to get more for your BPs or a way to get less, so either everyone does it or no one does. Either way, it detracts from the gaming and thematic elements of the mystic adept making highly significant choices.

So it's a case of logic and consistency be fanned - it's the way it is because it has to be.

I track your logic through here. Is that an objection of over Specialization?



Game balance was my fundamental concern. But I don't think I understand what your saying here. With "goes against gaming general" can you elaborate?



As I understand the development of the adept archetype started out simply as the "Internalization of magic" it developed away from that basis in two directions, 1st into hybrid caster with physical side, 2nd social using magic in more mental nad communicative ways.

Given adept powers are the internalization of Mana focused to increase skills/attributes, why doesn't it follow that you could use that to add at magical skills and drain related attributes? I can accept a balance issue. However mechanically you could trade 1.5 points of magic for 3 dice but you would be losing 2 dice so you would only net 1 die, while decreasing your ability to actually cast maximum force spells by 2.) So I'm unclear as to whether or not this is a real balance issue.

A mystic adept is losing some of their magician powers for those of an adept(or visa versa), so it makes no sense to use adept powers to increase your magician ones. If you want more spellcasting acumen, just play a straight magician.

Only if you follow the FAQ instead of RAW. The book is absolutely clear that the maximum force of spells and spirits is based on the total magic not the magic used for spellcasting. So it is a balance issue IMHO.