athlete, genius and other.

[Riposte]

just to know, what is the characteristic of an olympic athlete? A world champion boxer? A poylmath? I m always hesitant when i have to put this in number.

[bigbywolfe]

Well, Champions puts max human stats at 30, but a 30 STR is well beyond what’s possible for a normal human in the real world. It’s really a matter of scale. If every vigilante out there has a DEX of 18-23 than maybe the Olympic gymnast has a DEX of 25-30. On the other hand, if you are comparing to “normals” with Characteristics in the 8-10 range than maybe the Olympic gymnast has an 18 DEX but an Acrobatics 20-, Breakfall 15-, PS: professional gymnast 15-, and a few DEX skill levels. It’s less about how the numbers stack up to the real world than how they scale to the game-world you are using. A polymath might have a 25 INT and a decent list of skills or they might have a 15 INT and a crap ton of skills and a few INT Skill Levels that can be used with one skill at a time.

Do you have any idea on the type of setting you are looking to play in? That might help you figure out a baseline, or help us suggest one…

[Lucius]

While it can matter to look at the context of the setting, I say you should first ask "what can the kind of person I'm thinking of DO?" and then build to that.

For an athlete, for example, if you can define "how much can they lift?" it's easy to figure out what the STR should be. If you can answer "How fast can they run?" you can figure out the combination of SPD and Running that equals that. Most athletes probably have good reflexes and reaction times, so a SPD of 3 or maybe 4 is appropriate. And remember that if you increase SPD, even if you don't touch Running, the character is moving faster. If you give an olympic gymnast a SPD of 4, you may even want to buy Running down to keep them from being unrealistically fast on the ground. It should probably go without saying that a gymnast needs Breakfall and Acrobatics, a marathon runner needs extra END and REC, etc. Any decent athlete is probably going to have a minimum CON 13, and above starting level REC and END, and probably higher Combat Values (good coordination and reaction time, remember.)

A champion boxer is probably going to need, at minimum, STR 15 to 20, CON 13 or 15, SPD 3, OCV and DCV of 4 or 5, PD 6, REC 6. They should have a Martial Arts package for Boxing, and some Combat Skill Levels applicable with Boxing. A world champion is probably going to exceed these in one way or another; more STR OR extra Damage Classes, either higher PD OR more STUN and REC, maybe SPD 4, etc. (Be SURE to buy down Running if you buy up SPD for a character like this, unless you want a champion boxer to also be a champion sprinter.) It may help to ask how the boxer should compare to the "man in the street" - if you think your champion should be able to "one punch" an average person easily, they should have at least one punch doing at least 6d6 damage. If you think the boxer should barely feel an average punch from an average guy (2d6, average STUN 7) make sure they have 7 or 8 PD.

A polymath will definitely need one or all of the skill enhancers, such as Scientist or Scholar. Depending on what you think they should be able to do, Talents such as Speed Reading, Lightning Calculator, or Eidetic Memory may be called for. Cramming is good if they can learn new things quickly, and if you really want a universal genius, very general skills like "Science Skill: All Science" could be used - just remember that to know any one specific fact with such a general skill will probably take a huge penalty. Most such characters will have a high INT, but an "absent minded professor" type may actually have INT 8 (or less!) and lots and lots of skills and skill levels and talents.

Lucius Alexander

Professional Skill: Palindromedary Rider

[Peregrine]

First, get over the ideas that "gymnast = ne plus ultra of DEX" and "DEX and STR are mutually exclusive". Even if you can't let go of the former, some of the strongest athletes in the world (pound-for-pound) are male Olympic gymnasts, and that's exclusive of the cinematic context that is the default for Hero.

Second, understand how your game is scaled. As noted above, the absolute human max is 30 for STR, DEX, etc. while the explicitly optional characteristic maxima are actually cost breakpoints, and not maxima at all. Now, a local gaming group can house-rule all of this to be otherwise, so take any such house rules into account.

World/international class athletes will have physical characteristics in the top of the range for the campaign/setting, plus relevant skills, including one (or more, if the athletic competition is a major part of the campaign) PS covering the sport. As for a polymath, literary precedent (Doc Savage, Richard Seaton [Skylark series], Batman) says that such characters have both world-class physical characteristics and mental characteristics to match, plus a plethora of skills of all kinds.

[Riposte]

it seems to be very good advice... i currently work for a dark champion campaign with a little urban fantasy touch... and some of the players will be kind of olympic champion, another is a modern sherlock holmes.