Having never made it to 12th level I have never encountered this problem before. However, as this idea will effect everyone at every level, I think it is a great idea. There are may times when I a 4000exp skill is just not suited to the characters development, but 2 x 2000exp skills would have suited that characters development perfectly.

Hmmm...I think this sounds fine.

I was trying to think of a situation where this might be too powerful, compared to the old system, but honestly, MOST of the skills a character learns, he uses standard xp for, not the skill bonus from levels.

The funny thing is not many characters have ever made it past 12th level, so this problem hasn't really been an issue previously.

Besides, TIME has always been the great balancer on learning skills, not xp.

I was just using 12th level as the extreme example, but as some of you have noted, the truth of the matter is that some characters may want to use this XP for Background skills and at any level, that would be a tremendous waste. The counter argument being "Just use your own XP for BG skills." That is not the point. This XP is earned by the character and should be used by the character for related skills of his choice, without penalty.

I believe changing it from one skill with an upper EP limit to any number of skills totalling that EP would be far too unbalancing. The EP limit of the related skill was put in to limit the power of skill you could gain by means of the related skill (so there would not be 3rd-level characters running around grabbing Zen Archery). It was never intended as an EP pool. So, eseentially, once you reach 13+ level, you can pick any related skill you'd like, and that's it.

I hope this made sense.

This sounds very reasonable to me, which makes me suspicious. Was there some reason it wasn't made that way initially? Does it unbalance the game? Does it needlessly complicate things? Was Bill just trying to eliminate munchkining opportunities?? Who decides this stuff anyway? Can we vote on it after much debate or do we wait for the Mighty Bill to nod his planetoid head?

Few characters ever make it to 12th level cause the thing that keeps characters alive at high levels is CON, which has its limits.

Anyway, not to be the dessenting voice, but although I understand where you guys are coming from, and yes, I agree it's a total drag to be forced to burn so much XP, what we're talking about here is wether to give ONE RSkill as merit for advancing levels, or to give MANY skills as merit for advancing levels.

And while I agree with the statement that Learning Time has always proved more of an inhibitance than XP, I am hesitant to just open up the flood gates. Advancement in Eana tends to happen pretty quick as it is. If the rule should be augmented, I say just eliminate XP stipulation completely. Just let the character use the related skill to pick up a learned related skill regardless of the XP value. The time to learn will keep pcs from just picking up higher point skills willy-nilly. Everything would work out.

I must disagree with time as a constraint. XP must ge the constraint, and here is why. IF time is the constraint, than any time there is a break for the group of adventurers, they will be picking the most expensive related skill that htey have th Prereq's. This break could come at any time and is completely determined by the pace at which the GM wishes to keep the game moving. It is completely concieveable that the GM coulds allow a two month break when the character's are third level. This would easily be enough time for a studious chracter, with a teacher to learn any skill. However, with the XP cap, the character would have to have the extra XP saved up to pay the remainder of the 6000xp skill... unlikely at 3rd level.

Further, to address Greg's comment, game balance is still preserved by keeping it an XP pool rather than a single skill. IF the XP cost of the skills are appropriate, then one 1000xp skill and one 2000xp skill should be equal in value to one 3000xp skill. Example: Martial Arts and +1 To Hit unarmed, is approximatley equal to Backstab. Also, the issue of usability is addressed with my proposed change. You are awarding the character with experience that he cannot hope to use. Especially if he already has certain skills. Does this mean that a character who chose to learn skills and advance using his earned XP is less deserving of the award XP than a character who has chosen t hoard his XP? Did they not both accumulate the same amount of experience to get to 7th level or 5th level (barring differences in duality or singularity of class)?

It's like giving a man dying of starvation in the desert an egg. Very usefull if its an ostritch egg, not so useful if it's a golden goose egg. With onone around to purchase food from and nothing to eat, the golden egg only adds to the likelyhood that he will die.

It is a form of punishment for your achievement. Don't do it.

I still say that the related skill with the XP limit was never meant to be a pool of XP, but merely a guideline as to how expensive a skill you should be able to gain at a particular level.

Before this was in place, everyone would always take one of the highest-cost skills in the appropriate list. Then this XP cap was put into place to stop this sort of munchery. Now, it is being proposed that this munch-fix be interpreted to allow another form of munching. Ironic, no?

A skill that costs is not twice as powerful. They do so many different things in different areas that it would be impossible to quantify them all on the same scale. However, I'd like you to point out any single 3000-point skill that is as useful as getting +3 to hit (or +3 to damage) with a specific weapon every single time.

And Weapon Specialization is exactly what your example guy would get. If he is 12th level, and has all of the higher-cost combat skills, why not just take 6 levels of WS and be able to blow through every type of armor in existance?

Do you now see why it would be unbalancing to treat the related skill XP cap in any other way than that which it was intended?

I have to agree with Greg on this issue. I think the system works well and is balanced as it is. The cap merely creates the illusion that the character is loosing all that extra xp, thus he feels cheated. But in truth a merited skill is a bonus skill, a single bonus skill in a related group. And the point regarding a 6k xp pool is apt. With that kind of xp, one could purchase 12 knowlege skills, or ALL background skills, +6 to parry, whatever. That kind of hand-out is nuts.

Besides, considering how fast Eana moves, and depending on the GM, the player could carry portions of that pool from one level to another (which opens up a whole nother can of worms since saved RS go up in experience as the character goes up in level).

I say keep it the way it is.

Keep it as it is.

As Greg has so eloquently described in his most recent reply, not only is it pure munchkinism to try to buy several skills using all the XP awarded by a level-based 'any one related skill', it would change the power level of the characters tremendously (e.g., +6 Weapon Specialization - omfg!). Simply popping a level is no reason for a PC to become a titan at 12th level. They are entitled to a spiff, yes. And at that level, the spiff is quite handsome (i.e., pretty much any single skill related to their chosen profession is open to them for free). But let's try to keep it real, folks. ;)

-bignerd

I'd agree with you except for one very important fact. Time. All of those skills take time to learn. If it were a once funny dole of a single skill, that the character simply got, no training, no time, i'd absolutely agree. But that is not the case. As for the munchkinism that you are talking about. Tell me exactly what IS the burden of spending 6000xp of the character's earned reserve when he is 12th level? Hmmmm? Nothing no nada! 6000xp spent by a 12th level character is laughable. The only restriction to that charaacter is time. If the character wants his +6 to dam to punch through walls with, do you really, i mean REALLY, think he is going to wait until he gets his paltry 6k award for gaining 12th level? Hell no.! He'll be in the mid levels, 6-8th by the time he ha purchased those skills. Further more, your talking about a 12th level character with +6 to dam. 12th level characters slay friggin dragons with 10 points of natural armor. They do titanic things, they need to be titanic. All this talk of munchkinism is making me ill. If you are looking at low level characters and seeing mega-heros, you might want to get a grip on the fact that hte exp reward is not that great and a character being able to develope with that award is important, this is a level/skill based system. Don't assume that level means everything ot that skills mean everything.