I imagine they will be careers which can be used on either side. Soldier, pilot, spy, techs, nobles, etc. Plus maybe suggestions on using careers from EotE.

I'm hoping for simple skirmish rules that coincide with the rules we already have. Larger groups of the soldiers/rebels you are leading can be handled as minions perhaps? Expansions on the Leadership skill for skirmishes? As is the rules can handle larger battles (space or ground) by using minions, but I would like a chapter explading and clarifying this so we can have players leading a band of rebels into combat against a battalion of Stormtroopers or have larger naval battles instead of just a PC ship against a few enemies.

I dream with a far forgotten kingdoom whose princess will be kidnapped by the new "last toy" of the emperor… Then players, some, maybe, coming from The Edge of the Empire, will meet her and… or… wait, wait, this is A new hope… 

cole said:

I don't think there's a need for faction-specific careers and/or specializations.  I doubt there'd be much of a difference between the career/specialization skills & talent trees for Rebel Pilot vs. Imperial Pilot, or Rebel Soldier vs. Imperial Soldier.  Likewise, spies are going to get *very* similar training to what folks on the other side are going to get, otherwise their lack of 'standard' capabilities will get them noticed.  And Hand of the Emperor doesn't really seem like a specialization, rather than a specific character build (probably with quite a bit of play XP spent before you get anywhere *near* that position).

Voice said:

Emperor's Hands come in a variety of flavours. Pilots, assassins, soldiers, spies. It is more a title than anything else.

mouthymerc said:

I think we're agreeing on that.  I'm just adding an assumption that it's very unlikely that a starting (~100XP) character will have managed to get the Emperor's attention in any way significant enough to be named as a Hand.

Voice said:

It'd be akin to becoming the Baron-Adminstrator of large-scale mining operation, or General/Admiral in the Rebel Alliance/Imperial Forces, or even a major-league crime lord.  It's something you work towards rather than having to take specific specializations or talents to get there.

Voice said:

I completely agree with above.

There are going to be criminal organizations in EotE, so I assume Age of Rebellion will have details on Imperial and Rebel organizations.

I'm also looking forward to a new list of Obligations. We already have a scale for Crime/Infamy vs. Law/Fame in EotE. I'm assuming Age of Rebellion will have a scale with the Empire on one end and the Alliance on the other (and finally Dark Side vs. Light Side in the final book?).

Voice said:

I agree and disagree. For the vast majority of roles, like soldiers/troopers, spec ops, fighter pilots, officers, engineers, covert agents, etc, I agree that there's little need for faction-specific careers or specializations.  The skills needed to represent the skill set in any faction are basically the same.

Other roles, though, I think are specific enough to warrant faction-specific universal specializations*.  Examples include roles like Stormtrooper and Emporer's Hand (couldn't think of any good rebel-specific ones, sorry).  This lets players tack on very specific skill sets, regardless fo where they came from.

-WJL

*Universal specializations are specializaitons without careers, like Force Exile.  Originally they were described as costing an out-of-career premium unless they were purchased as the second specialization.  I'm not sure if things changed between their announcement here, and the final week's Beta update, but there seems to be a conflict between the listed costs.  Clarification provided for posters who may not be familiar with this concept as presented during Beta development.

mouthymerc said:

• "Stormtroopers are just soliders": Eh, maybe.  But there's a a whole other thread about them discussing various points of view about how they're used and how they differ from regular soliders, and I think rightly so.  Maybe we'd see an ST tree in a supplement.
• "Emporer's Hands come in too many varieties to codify": Solid disagreement with you here.  There's a wide variety of backgrounds, but none of those backgrounds would do a sufficient job training the Hands in the use of the force.  I would think that a universal spec could easily envelop the skills and force abilities that a Hand should be trained in without forcing the character into 2 or three additional specs to make it work.
• Imperial Inquisitor:  Another perfect example that would work well as a faction-specific universal spec.

Maybe revisiting the WEG's rebel Ordnance Procurer character template would provide an appropriate rebel-specific universal spec.  Essentially, this was a character that, how do you say?, redistributes? militiary materiel for the benefit of the rebel alliance.  Little reason for there to be an Imperial version.

It's also reasonable (perhaps more reaosnable) to expect these universal specs to be in supplements for AoR, instead of in the core product.

-WJL

mouthymerc said:

Well, maybe a general-purpose "dark side Force-user" could work in terms of an Emperor's Hand, as they all have that theme in common.  I know the OCR Dark Side Sourcebook had an "Emperor's Hand" prestige class (heck, the OCR/RCR had a prestige class for almost everything), but I also have to wonder just how much of the variety amongst the Emperor's Hands was due ther backgrounds with a specialization to give them a "sneaky Force-user" feel.  Though I doubt we'd see much more in the way of Force Specializations, at least nothing quite as focused as an Emperor's Hand or Inquisitor until Force & Destiny.

Although, an Emperor's Hand type character could be built already using Bounty Hunter/Assassin and F/S Exile, so there is that.

LethalDose said:

Nothing there that can't be achieved using a generic template for soldiers and their specs. At best there may be some variance based on race if they are of clone stock, but otherwise they are well trained soldiers. what do you see in a ST tree that might not be there in a soldier spec tree?

LethalDose said:

While some delve into the Force, more precisly various traditions, some are nothing more than the soldiers or pilots or spies they always were with maybe a slight dip into the Force. Nothing that can't be done using a generic specialization like the Force Exile one. I imagine we will see further Force development in the Age of Rebellion that may allow for these types of characters. Emperor's Hands vary from assassins, scientists, warriors, pilots and more.

mouthymerc said:

Yeah, I think we've just got different opinions on this.  I see them more like the wookieepdia article I linked above lists them, and I think you percieve them more like they were portrayed in the Darkside Sourcebook.  And thats fine.

I would say that some Hands, like Mara Jade, went deeply into the universal spec, while others, which  you describe as "nothing more than the soldiers or pilots or spies they always were with maybe a slight dip into the Force" would not go very deep into the universal spec, but would still pick it up.

I think you would say that Hands simply don't need a universal spec because they can be appropriate represented with existing specs.

That's cool.  We'll just have to wait and see.

-WJL

LethalDose said:

Exactly. Mara Jade, in that Darkside book, was mostly just a spy with sneak attack dice and Force powers. Don't need a spec for that, just access to Force powers through a generic Force spec like Force Exile combined with a spy or assassin spec. others, like Maarek Stele, were more pilot with just a spattering of Force ability.  Maybe there will be a spec Imperial Force Sensitive or just a Force Sensitive generic spec for either side, as you say we will have to wait and see.