[prophet42]

So, I know a few things about skill groups.

* You can gain them as part of your Skills priority selection
* You can buy new ones via karma
* You can raise them via karma
* You can break them by improving just one skill in the group

What I don't know, & can't seem to find information on, is whether or not you can build into a group skill piecemeal.
Say, for example, that your team's Face has Con 4, Impersonation 4, & Performance 3.
If she raises her Performance skill to 4, can those skills now be treated as Acting Group 4 moving forward or do they remain a trio of separate skills?

Thoughts?
Comments?
References?

[Iron Serpent Prince]

I'm going by memory only, so this should certainly be taken with a dozen grains of salt.

Core, I believe, you can never reform a broken skill group.

There is an optional rule somewhere - I wanna say Run Faster - that allows a character to reform broken skill groups, however bear in mind that a Specialization prevents the group from being reformed.

If you aren't bumping up Karma awards from what is outlined in Core, this should never really be a problem - particularly if you use training times.
The one thing to watch out for is that reforming skill groups is a way to get around the penalty of Jack of All Trades.

I personally don't mind that as I think a Positive Quality shouldn't have a penalty like that (unless it is to bring it down to a 20 - 25 Karma range).  Your Millage May Vary.

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

Skill group advancement uses special rules. If you
want to advance one skill from the group without advancing
the rest, the skill group is broken and and you
get each of the skills in the group at the former group
rating; then you can increase one of the skills. If you
want to get the skill group back (or get a new one), you
must first get all of the skills in the group to the same
rating. For more detailed information, see Character Advancement,
p. 103.

As for specializations... I'm not aware of anything that prevents them from being used on skills in skill groups post-chargen.

[prophet42]

Skill group advancement uses special rules. If you
want to advance one skill from the group without advancing
the rest, the skill group is broken and and you
get each of the skills in the group at the former group
rating; then you can increase one of the skills. If you
want to get the skill group back (or get a new one), you
must first get all of the skills in the group to the same
rating. For more detailed information, see Character Advancement,
p. 103.

As for specializations... I'm not aware of anything that prevents them from being used on skills in skill groups post-chargen.

Color me embarrassed - I've searched before for this & somehow missed it.
Thanks for pointing me to the source.

[Tarislar]

As for specializations... I'm not aware of anything that prevents them from being used on skills in skill groups post-chargen.

True, you can buy a specialization w/ Karma, but, then the skill group is broken permanently.

Pg. 89 CRB.

Players may choose to buy a specialization
for an individual skill within a skill group, but if they do so
the skill group is broken from that point forward, meaning
that all skills of the group must be raised separately.
Additionally, once a specialization is taken for a skill in
the skill group, it is impossible to reconstruct that skill
group.

Although, I might be willing to let someone purchase EVERY specialization of a skill & then convert those into a flat +2 Skill rank improvement & rebuild the group that way.
Its a worse deal in Karma unless you can find some skill that only has 2 skill specializations or your at a VERY high skill rating when you do it.

[Michael Chandra]

As for specializations... I'm not aware of anything that prevents them from being used on skills in skill groups post-chargen.

True, you can buy a specialization w/ Karma, but, then the skill group is broken permanently.

Note that on p89, it also notes you can already buy a specialization with karma during chargen for a skill group (but not with skill points).

[mcv]

Even if you can reform a skill group, I doubt you'll ever want to. Skill groups aren't all that great, and specialisations are really good.

I think skill groups should cost 4 points per level rather than 5. That'd be a meaningful difference and would make the skill group a good deal if you want just two of the three skills. At the moment, it's only worth it if you care about all three skills equally.

[Cabral]

Skill Groups should be priced such that they are a discount for 3 skills, but at two you have to weigh the discount for 2 skills against the benefit of the 3rd skill.