Okay, I know what the official answer from Mr. Dever himself says, and that this answer is found all over the place at PA, and that most likely everybody is sick of it, but I'm going to bring it up. But please make sure to read all of this to see my reasoning, and not just say "Oh, THIS again. The answer is NO!" Actually, this came to mind when I started thinking about work on the Readers' Handbook. After all, on the What's New page, the Readers' Handbook is said to be "devoted to the many and varied rules," which to me says that at least some mention should be made of the many and varied ways in which people play ("house rules"). So let's talk about Skill bonuses carrying over from one series to the next. (Yes, I hear the groans. It'll be okay.) Obviously the question of whether, for example, the CS bonus for Weaponsmastery is in addition to the one from Weaponskill or not has been asked a lot. Mr. Dever himself even took the time to answer this question. The answer is "No, it's not in addition, period." So why debate it? While I admit this argument fails when one goes from Kia to Magnakai, it is valid from Magnakai to Grand Master. When a person first starts playing, the character has to be created by picking two random numbers for CS and EP. If a person starts with the Kai or Magnakai series, 10 and 20 are added to the respective numbers to get the character's CS and EP. However, in the Grand Master series, these numbers are 25 and 30. Obviously Lone Wolf has completed Kia and Magnakia training at the start of the Grandmaster series, regardless of whether or not the reader played any of those books. My thought (and I know I'm likely wrong) is that this increase is intended to include the various increases picked up during the first 12 books, that way somebody who starts with a Grand Master book still has as much of a chance as a person who started with the first book and worked all the way through. If this is the case, as it seems to be, then the player who started with book one should be able to carry all of the bonuses gained over to the Grand Master series. Otherwise, it would make more sense to start over at the Grand Master sereis (who wants to be a Grand Master with CS 13 and EP 25?). I think many players believe they should keep CS and EP bonuses from one series to the next because it feels unrealistic for Lone Wolf to lose what he has gained previously. Again, I know this argument is at best weak between Kia and Magnakia. After all, perhaps the +3CS for Weaponmastery is really only +1CS for people who played all of the Kia series, and only +3CS for people starting with Magnakia to even things out. Of course, it makes no sense that the higher Magnakia Discipline would be weaker than the Kia one, but maybe. (Yes, I really would argue this with Mr. Dever himself were I ever fortunate enough to have the chance.) To get back to the point, though, I think that mention should be made that, if one so chooses, the various bonuses could be carried over, though officially the answer is no. It's rather like "Free Parking" in Monopoly. For all that the official rules say you get nothing for landing on that space, most people play by giving some kind of reward for it. We all know you're not supposed to, but we all know most people do anyway.
_________________________________________________________________From photos to predictions, The MSN Entertainment Guide to Golden Globes has it all. http://tv.msn.com/tv/globes2007/
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