Beefing up "Favoured" skills

[Glorelendil]

For (1) I'd simply remove the rules in advancement that let Favoured Skills be more cheaply increased. That way you reduce the desire to start off with lower ratings in those skills for starting characters. It's still there to some degree though as using the Favoured Attribute when applying an attribute bonus would give a 1, 2, or 3 point increase to those skills. Is this still enough of an 'exploit' for players to be straight-jacketed into certain character creation choices? Not sure.

You know, I hadn't thought of that. But I agree. Just dump that mechanic (as long as it's replaced with the sort of thing we're discussing here.)

[Falenthal]

For (1) I'd simply remove the rules in advancement that let Favoured Skills be more cheaply increased. That way you reduce the desire to start off with lower ratings in those skills for starting characters. It's still there to some degree though as using the Favoured Attribute when applying an attribute bonus would give a 1, 2, or 3 point increase to those skills. Is this still enough of an 'exploit' for players to be straight-jacketed into certain character creation choices? Not sure.

You know, I hadn't thought of that. But I agree. Just dump that mechanic (as long as it's replaced with the sort of thing we're discussing here.)

Good point. While it makes sense that a "natural" skill is easier to learn, it could also be reflected in the game with a mechanic that allow the use of such "natural" skill to earn more or easier APs.