QUOTE
The problem I have with a global dice-pool cap is that it's false simplicity, because not all dice are created equal. 15 dice in Automotive Mechanic is nigh-unbeatable. You might be able to get a few more, but it's going to be difficult and expensive. 15 dice in a combat skill is decent, but not stellar. It's about the minimum expected of a combat-focused character. 15 dice in First Aid is merely adequate. It'll get you five hits with a reasonable degree of reliability, of which you lose two to the threshold, and Deus help you if you roll poorly. Sure, that global cap is simple up front, but you end up with a lot more work on the back end to normalize everybody to roughly equal levels of effectiveness.
Not really, no. Admittedly, I prefer a dice cap of 20, but that's just me. What the pool cap does is this: min/maxers will reach the cap effortlessly, while non-optimizers will struggle , but know what they should be shooting for. If they fall short, they know how far short they are, and how much further they need to go.
You can vary the dice cap: 25 for noncombat, 15 for combat and social, plus whatever else you want. The primary problem is that too high of a starting pool overwhelms social and combat most readily. Other areas aren't so bad, especially technical: most of those are extended tests, so added dice just reduce the time and not the challenge.
QUOTE
So it seems according to you guys the best way to avoid min maxing is to do the karma based gen using the german base errata I will look into that.
You can min/max any system. The best advice, regardless of character creation system, is to cap the amount of dice being thrown.
QUOTE
In my experience, this isn't true. If the players have less dice in their primary skillsets but more dice in their secondary skillsets or more secondary skillsets, then the rules on assisting allow for the same effective dice pools.
My experience is "Specialists operate as individuals, either doing tasks solo or doing nothing. Generalists operate as teams, assisting and handing tasks off to each other."
My experience is "Specialists operate as individuals, either doing tasks solo or doing nothing. Generalists operate as teams, assisting and handing tasks off to each other."
Actually, as a dice pool capper, I still like seeing specialists. But keeping the hyper-specialization within reason is paramount.