Forgetting skills | BgBB

Bridging off of Ociex' post on Respeccing Pods, I wanted to offer an alternative.

What if the threshold for forgetting skills were raised? It could remain at the rate it is now, of one point per day, even - making it take a -lot- longer to forget a skill at a higher range, but over time those points would accumulate and can then be used for other things. The Stat System would remain the same - once points are put into a Stat, those points are locked away. But skill-based UE could be swapped around provided someone is willing to spend the time necessary to forget a skill they no longer have a need for.

This would limit the amount of Respecs, if not eliminate them save for the rare occurrence. Perks remain untouched. Stats remain untouched.

Thoughts?

(Edited by Knyghtskye at 9:06 am on 2/10/2026)

By Knyghtskye at Feb 10, 2026, 9:06 AM | 0

But… why? You only get one respec, and it's not there to make major character changes by design, not to remove your high UE skill, just, well, tweak things around.

Got a skill you put quite some effort into and now do not use? That's alright. Cannot know everything.

By Froggy at Feb 10, 2026, 9:37 AM | 1

I think it would be nice if forgetting skills could apply to any level of skill, just take a reasonably long amount of time to forget, say if you're spent 3-4 months working on a skill to a high level and through roleplay and character development you no longer use that particular skill or want to change lifestyle you could spend another 3-4 months forgetting that skill entirely and move on with your life, so to speak.

I don't see any harm in that kind of mechanic, it might minimize people re-rolling arbitrarily when they have active RP going on and interrupting storylines because they get unsatisfied with their character.

By NightHollow at Feb 10, 2026, 9:41 AM | 5

I like this, tentatively, with that longer 'forgetting' wait-time involved. I think there's some valid concerns about the reasons behind not wanting people to be able to forget or respect past their initial character concept – but I also think that forcing someone to very slowly forget a skill, and then forcing them to build the skill they *want* to build all the way from the ground up, could lend itself really interestingly to rp and character development. Withmore changes people!

Sure, you might get some extreme situations (like a sickly starving artist who wants to go do a sudden heel-turn to brawling-badass), but instead of an instant respec into something completely against character, without a sick IC training montage, you're instead going to have to rp out that change in mindset, drive, and physical skill over the span of *months*. Imagine a 2+ year old character wanting to strike out for a different direction in life, and having to seek out a much younger (in game-time) character as a mentor, where it'd usually be the other way around, or having to go through that awkward feeling of being weak and vulnerable again while in the midst of forgetting a skill they'd invested a lot into. I like it.

By cata at Feb 10, 2026, 10:25 AM | 5

IMO you should be able to forget stats/skills at any level, albeit at a very gradual pace. Maybe half or a quarter of how much UE you're allowed to invest in a specific skill per day, is also how much you're allowed to refund from ALL your stats/skills per day.

By Baguette at Mar 22, 2026, 7:40 AM | 0

I see the train of thought behind this idea but I am against it because I am in the camp of discouraging forever characters, which I believe is an unpopular take but it's the one I have, as well as skillsofts being able to primarily bridge this gap except for select few skills.

If you have reached max ue and want to forget skills you came up with to invest them elsewhere over time, I think that is a perfectly logical and grounded course of action if it were real life. Happens all the time. People stop practicing hobbies and maybe even abandon them all together. However from a game standpoint I think if you want to try something new you should either be forced to augment with cyberware or begin a new story.

By Mindhunter at Mar 22, 2026, 10:00 AM | 1

i mean i was under the impression that stats and skills are more meant to just aid the roleplay, not be the core focus of the game. i don't see the problem whatsoever with "forever characters" and they should be able to re-adjust their stats and skills (over a reasonable period of time, not quickly) in order to accomodate their development

By Baguette at Mar 22, 2026, 10:06 AM | 0

I don’t believe anything I said implied that stats are the core of the game. What I said is that they help enforce identity, mechanics, lifecycle, and consequences, which are all vital to RP.

They are important though. If they weren’t, there wouldn’t be a need to reallocate them. The fact that people want to reallocate them suggests they have meaningful impact.

My concern with “forever characters” is more about the overall game ecosystem. I’ve seen mixed messaging on this, since some staff seem supportive of them, while the stat sheet itself tracks age and appears to nudge toward eventual retirement.

Personally, I think characters should live out their lifespan if they can. But over time, allowing full reallocation leads to characters gradually becoming jack-of-all-trades simply because they’ve reached max UE and have the safety to pivot. That shifts things away from identity and toward min-max cheese meta.

At that point, rerolling serves an important purpose. It resets reputation, history, conflict, and learning in a way that reinforces the world rather than flattening it.

By Mindhunter at Mar 22, 2026, 10:28 AM | 2

you seem to be treating this like currently stats and skills are the only reason anyone ever re-rolls, rather than whats usually the case ime (simply wanting to roleplay a different person)

By Baguette at Mar 22, 2026, 10:30 AM | 0

Well, I disagree. You're just taking elements of my disagreement and reframing them into something easier to dismiss.

I don’t think stats are the only reason people reroll, and I agree that a lot of the time it’s because people want to roleplay a different character. HOWEVE, My point is more about how the system shapes long-term outcomes. Even if rerolling is often driven by RP reasons, the permanence of stats and skills helps maintain distinct identities over time.

If those can be gradually reallocated, then over a long enough timeline characters can adapt into whatever they want next, which reduces the need to ever start fresh.

That’s where my concern comes in. It’s less about why people reroll now, and more about what happens to the overall ecosystem if that pressure to reroll is reduced.

By Mindhunter at Mar 22, 2026, 10:38 AM | 1

There are IC means of lowering your @stats, which I suggest everyone to find out in character.

By Reinhardt at Mar 22, 2026, 10:40 AM | 0

right, but i… just don't see the problem with that? people change, and if your concern is that it would happen too fast, that's something that can be addressed with how much UE you're allowed to refund within whatever timeframe. i don't personally see it having any huge impact on the ecosystem, as from what ive seen currently characters tend to perm out well before coming close to the UE cap anyway

and those IC means of lowering your @stats don't refund the UE for them, which is... the entire point of this thread

By Baguette at Mar 22, 2026, 10:41 AM | 0

Seek out answers ICly, please.

By Reinhardt at Mar 22, 2026, 10:42 AM | 0

this is not something that currently exists. have you read the thread?

By Baguette at Mar 22, 2026, 10:43 AM | 1

I don't know all the ways, but I can definetly think of one way to lower your stats and get the UE back.

I just highly doubt this is a realistic choice for most characters, and can potentially be rule breaking if self-imposed in an attempt to min-max your character. But also, maybe there are different ways.

Lots of things can be done icly though.

By Mikael at Mar 22, 2026, 10:45 AM | 0

Well now you guys are just talking about something that has zero to do with the OP.

By Mindhunter at Mar 22, 2026, 10:47 AM | 3

yeah lets just entirely disregard this idea because we already have some vaguely-related mechanic that you are not allowed to use for the purposes outlined within this thread. are you guys just being deliberately obtuse or what

By Baguette at Mar 22, 2026, 10:49 AM | 3

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Forgetting skills A higher threshold?

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A higher threshold?