Okay, over in the Training Packages Poll, the discussion took a little bit of a twist, and the idea emerged of Training Paths.
Training Packages -- basically, this idea was to group together some skill ranks in various skills that were related to a specific profession or job, and to charge the player a single cost for them. However, deciding what that cost might be was problematic because the player often got to select some skills as Favored, so even doing a separate cost for each Class would have been difficult.
Well, in our discussions, it was mentioned about how some Training Packages, in addition to coming with contacts, also came with other rights and responsibilities (a Knight being one such), and a suggestion was made about having Training Package Trees. And idea that I did not like because it required allowing more than one Training Package, and I felt that they were already possibly unbalancing.
Then, in the discussion, I had the idea of turning it around. Instead of the package giving free ranks in skills, it instead set goals for the character to meet. And once the character met the goals, he could then purchase (well, I guess it would be similar to certain Talents) the "Training Path" which then allowed the character to use the associated title and to also gain some other perks and responsibilities.....
For example, a Guild Mage - once he reaches Journeyman status, he might be able to rent rooms in the local guild hall more cheaply, and be able to freely use the guild's library for researching new spells. He might also be required to devise at least one new spell each year that he resides within the Guild hall. and/or to enrich the Guild in various ways, such as paying a yearly dues, and/or acquiring magical items and artifacts for the Guild (for the Masters to study and experiment with).
A non-Guild mage, on the other hand, might be charged daily fees to use the library for research, and not allowed to rent rooms in the Guild Hall. Or, depending upon the setting, even hunted down as some sort of dangerous renegade.
And yes, there could be Training Path Trees, and there is no reason why a character couldn't follow multiple Training Paths. Afterall, they are the results of doing the training.
So, I hope that you come by the forums and vote in this poll, to let me know what you think of this idea...
Thanks!