Quote Originally Posted by TheOOB View Post
The priority system used in 1-3e actually was pretty good and a worked with the system.

The 4e BP system is pretty terrible, it's costs are unbalanced and it encourages players to super specialize, and it really easy to break. A well made karma creation system would be better, but the guy who made the current karma creation system is insane. Also the 4e priority system also sucks.
I don't know that I can entirely agree with you. The priority system was inflexible, we later systems grafted on or supplanting it to provide the flexibility they were looking for... allergies, which initially gave bonus points to skills, attributes, and/or money, which gave way to build points from disadvantages, which gave way to a full BP system.

The 25pts for capstone also means that most people avoid super-specialization... you see a lot fewer natural 6 stats because they're so expensive, and hardly worth it. Combined with the change in the mechanics (where a skill single point, backed by solid attributes, is enough to show proficiency, if not competency), we have gotten people more willing to spread some dice around to non-core skills for their concept... you don't NEED a 6 in the skill at chargen anymore, because decent attributes give you acceptable dice pools. In 1e-3e, a single point was practically suicidal... one die was useless. In 4e, you shouldn't do it with anything you're a specialist at (and, I can say from experience, when your plan involves blowing something up, 1 rank in demolitions between the three of you is not enough).

What I do see a lot of is people maxing out their point expenditures on Attributes... because those 8 figure into every roll. I also see a lot of 1 rank Skill groups... "Yeah, I'm not the face, but I want that 1 Rank in the Stealth and Influence skill groups, just in case." Heck, we've got a mage with a rank in Electronics so he can use his commlink well.

TL; DR? My experience is that the system in 4e encourages a bit of spread of non-essential abilities. People are willing to sacrifice that 6 in Quickness to spread out and be at least minimally competent in other things.