The Path Less Traveled is a regular series in which I’ll be examining a single specialization from the Star Wars Edge of the Empire/Age of Rebellion/Force and Destiny lines of games. The purpose and hope is to take a look at a specialization that perhaps many players might overlook or ones that are somewhat new to the game lines. We will look at strengths and weaknesses, synergies with other species and specializations, roles in a party, how to incorporate them into a campaign, and perhaps some uses which are not always obvious at first glance.
Overview
One of the consequences of loving this RPG from Fantasy Flight Games, is the fact I own every book in all three lines. One of the consequences of owning all the books in the lines is that I see dozens of character concepts and specializations that I would love to see on the table. Some more flashy than others, but I enjoy all sorts of newness in my games. So when I pore through all the books I keep finding element after element of things that I desperately want to play around with in a session. One of the specializations that I really would love to see is the topic of this week’s Path Less Traveled, the Gambler.
Gamblers are a non-combat spec in the Smuggler career. Located on page 28 of Fly Casual, the Gambler stays calm and cool in even the most intense situations. A number of character types can utilize the specialization. The Gambler can supplement most of the “face” character types, as well as pair with many combat-based specializations to add some fun spice to their builds. So lets dive into the Gambler!
Skills and Characteristics
As part of the Smuggler career, the Gambler gets Coordination, Deception, Knowledge (Underworld), Perception, Piloting (Space), Skulduggery, Streetwise, and Vigilance as career skills. They then add Computers, Cool, Deception, and Skulduggery as skills due to their specialization. This makes Cunning the key characteristic that must be invested in before moving anywhere else in this build. Notice the two free ranks of Deception and Skulduggery as well, making those skills a real key to success for a Gambler. As for as other characteristics, Agility is important when noting Coordination and Piloting (Space). If you want a pilot, this is a spec you can really look at. Agility also makes you good with ranged weapons, helping you hold your own when the blasters start firing. Vigilance and Cool make Presence and Willpower key to keeping your head straight when things go bad as well. Brawn, honestly, is the one characteristic that a Gambler can nearly ignore.
Species
Species that one should consider when making a Gambler have a high Cunning, with good Agility and Presence, and possibly Willpower, depending upon the desired outcome of the build. Leaving the Human out of the discussion as usual, the Bothan, Gossam, Neimoidian, Togruta, Weequay, Devaronian, Gotal, and Muun all have 3s in Cunning and 2s in Agility. These are your best bets for a great Gambler. However, if you don’t mind spending a bit of XP to bump up your Cunning, and you’d like to focus on Presence as well, the Gungan, Pantoran, Falleen, Twi’lek, and Toydarian make good choices. Only catch is you’ll need to pony up 30 XP at character creation to get your Cunning up to a level that’s critical for a Gambler.
Talents
The talent tree for the Gambler is unique in its paths. The far left heads straight down, and then all the way over to the right hand column, and back up. The only ways to reach the bottom row, are to head down one or both of the left two columns. Dedication, in this tree, is a tad more expensive than in most trees because it actually sits in the second row, costing just 10 XP. But the problem is that you must head all the way down the tree on the left, then over, then back up to get it.
The entire tree has a lot of tropes mixed together. There is not really a clear path with specific types of talents. So let’s dive into the tree and see what’s what.
One of the pure talents in the tree specifically devoted to actual gambling, is Up the Ante, giving you +10% on all winnings per rank of the talent. There are three in the tree scattered around. A couple ranks of Convincing Demeanor allow you to remove setback dice from Deception or Skulduggery checks in the game. There are also three ranks of Second Chances, which let you re-roll a number of positive dice per rank once per encounter. This is one re-roll every encounter! Re-rolls are very rare in the game, and if you get all three ranks, in every encounter you can re-roll up to three of your yellow, green, and blue dice. Very powerful!
Now we start getting into the really great Gambler powers. First, let’s talk about Double or Nothing. Double or Nothing has regular, improved, and supreme versions. The core talent allows you to suffer two strain to trigger this incidental. Doing so lets you increase the difficulty of the next check by one, but then doubling the amount of remaining Advantage after the dice have been rolled and canceled. This is such a narrative talent, taking any action that’s Hard for a bigger pay off of the result. Improved Double or Nothing lets you double the remaining Successes afterwards as well as the Advantages. Finally, the supreme version of the talent lets you double the number of Triumphs after the roll. But the catch is, you also double the number of Despairs! A very narrative talent, and one of the key talents differentiators for the Gambler.
Another fun talent is Smooth Talker. When acquired, you choose Charm, Coercion, Deception, or Negotiation. When making a check with that skill, you can spend a Triumph to gain additional successes per ranks of Smooth Talker. Smooth Talker is available in other specializations and should be combined with others to make this really worth while. Natural Negotiator lets you re-roll any Cool or Negotiation check once a session, and Natural Rogue does the same for Skulduggery or Stealth. Re-rolls are a key to the Gambler’s success.
Last we come to Clever Solution, a talent that lets you use Cunning for one skill check per session, instead of its usual characteristic. This really takes advantage when you boost your Cunning at character creation. When reaching Dedication, Cunning might well be what you bump up, too. Fortune Favors the Bold lets you, once a session, use the incidental for two strain. Doing so lets you flip a dark side Destiny Point to a light side one. If you’re out of points, and are in a bind, this is one real way to get yourself out of a jam.
Specialization Synergy and Character Concepts
Pairing the Gambler with any of the Smuggler career specializations makes a lot of sense and fits well narratively. So, aside from those, what are some fun combinations and character concepts I think work well? Well first, I’d love to see any one of the Age of Rebellion sort of politician specifications paired with the Gambler. What I find intriguing about this is the idea of a politician or “face” character who can re-roll a lot of checks, and increase their ability to deceive people. Imagine the ability to talk your way out of seedy bars equally as well as you can inside a Senate chamber. I just love the idea of this build.
I also think that a Gambler / Gunslinger would be amazing. Let Agility be the secondary characteristic that you boost at character creation, and you can make yourself quite combat-efficient. The Gunslinger is a fun specialization that narratively gets you into a build with the Gambler inspired by the primary image of this column. A character who can talk his way out of everything, get second chances, and even use his Cunning to occasionally fire his weapon sounds like a lot of fun to me!
I also think I’d love to see the Racer and Gambler together. Imagining a podracer who bets on his races, using his Cunning to pilot the craft sounds like a lot of fun. I’d love to have the Racer make a wrong move on the track, and then re-roll and correct and get back in the lead. I love strong narrative builds, and I think a gambling race driver would be fantastic.
What about you? Ever use the Gambler? Combine it with any creative specs? I’d love to hear about your Gambler builds.
Scott Alden
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