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Unaging Characters and Skills


Anaximander

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In my supers campaign, I have two characters that are effectively unaging who have been around for a few decades.  It seems that an old character who has his wits should possess a significant knowledge capital.  What is the best way of represent that knowledge without spending boatloads of CPs to buy skills.

 

I am asking here and not in the supers forum because the answer could be relevant for some sci-fi and fantasy campaigns as well.

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KS: Worldly Knowledge 25- INT-Based (Assuming 17- INT Roll) 8 RP

 

The 25- allows for multiple factors. I run it as... (Assuming Your Supers Campaign, But Change This If You Want To Represent Something Different).

 

25- For General Knowledge (Earth)

23- For Slightly More Specific Knowledge (North America)

21- For More Specific Knowledge (USA)

19- For Even More Specific Knowledge (Texas)

17- For Very Specific Knowledge (Dallas)

15- For Extremely Specific Knowledge (Dallas Music Festival)

13- For Ridiculously Specific Knowledge (A Specific Singer At The Dallas Music Festival)

 

You can adjust this amount up or down if you wish.

 

 

As Words Die, I Advise You Pair Eidetic Memory With KS: Worldly Knowledge!!!

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Hero System Skills covers several ways of handling this. Page 210 covers what JohnnyAppleseed098 wrote for KS, although his modifiers are (significantly) different.

I just prefer to use the system I use. It makes things simpler for me! Besides, I don't own Ultimate Skills, so I wouldn't quite know what they put for modifiers. If you could be a saint, quote the book please!

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I just prefer to use the system I use. It makes things simpler for me! Besides, I don't own Ultimate Skills, so I wouldn't quite know what they put for modifiers. If you could be a saint, quote the book please!

I wasn't implying there was anything wrong with how you run this in your game, or that you have to own the Skills book.

 

Along with other options for handling the OP's question, p.210+ defines multiple KS categories and applies a -5 penalty for each step out of the category the skill is bought at.

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In my supers campaign, I have two characters that are effectively unaging who have been around for a few decades.  It seems that an old character who has his wits should possess a significant knowledge capital.  What is the best way of represent that knowledge without spending boatloads of CPs to buy skills.

 

I am asking here and not in the supers forum because the answer could be relevant for some sci-fi and fantasy campaigns as well.

 

For pure Knowledge Skills I would recommend the Universal Skill options from APG1.  It works in a very similar manner to Universal Translator combined with the default Skill Enhancers.  My version of Reed's high 21- rolls below is due to his 60 INT.

 

from my rookie version of Mr. Fantastic for 6e:

20    Universal Scholar 21-

[Notes: APG1 page 49.]

20    Universal Scientist 21-

[Notes: APG1 page 50.]

 

IF you want to include non-knowledge Skills as well I like Lord Liaden's Skill VPP which could include its own 'activation roll' of sorts to remember the relevant Skill.

 

:) HM

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I'd like to point out that even if an immortal character's memory is good, old knowledge might simply no longer be accurate. Things change over time even in a fantasy world. Just something to keep in mind.

 

As for how to represent an immortal's store of lore, a generic Knowledge Skill as has been mentioned is good, or a special Detect: Answer to Question or Detect: Information could be created, or using the Perk: Computer Access to represent the character's own "memory banks." A lot depends on just how often you want it to come up and how useful you want it to be. Something like Eidetic Memory with No Conscious Control puts it all in the hands of the Game Operations Director, but the character could know almost anything that they could hypothetically have learned over the centuries.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

KS: Palindromedary Lore

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I agree with Lord Liaden regarding Hero's versatility.  All of those idea are pretty good, and I have a few idea of my own to toss in.  One, as the GM, I like tailoring player knowledge around the character concept and background.  I like rewarding players for well-thought characters; so, age could just be a sort of special effect to the concept which I think works well when describing the difference between 40 year old character and 19 year old character, but I think it breaks down over longer ranges.

 

I have also thought about by skill levels that only work in situations where older knowledge might handy.  Like knowing how to crank start a Model A Ford or knowing who won the World Series in 1939 without either being a gear head or sports fanatic.  Those sort of things aren't likely to happen often; so, I don't want to require a large cost, but in a campaign world where characters can visit alternate timelines and other worlds, it could still be handy enough to be worth something.

 

And, going over the list, I think either the VPP idea mixed with either one of the Universal advantages or the KS: Personal Trivia ideas look the best for my tastes.

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I always loved how Hero can provide you multiple legitimate ways to do almost anything, depending on the "flavor" you want. :thumbup:

Often in Hero the question is "how do you WANT it to work?" You don't want to force a player to spend a bundle on something that won't come up often as helpful, nor to spend a pittance on something that will be useful on a regular basis.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

How much for that palindromedary?

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Go and talk to an old person: they've been round a good few decades.

 

Do they have mad skilz?

 

They do not.

 

They know more than you do about black and white TV and rationing, but that is about it.  If you have to represent this, perhaps KS:History, but don't make it too high a roll because if you ever go and actually check up on what an old person is telling you, it is often wrong.

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They don't have mad skills for sure, but they are often a treasure trove of forgotten information, but at the same time, they are treasures troves of useless but occasionally interesting information; so, I think some sort of KS would useful, but not one that is always dependable.

 

Besides, in some genres, characters retain information and abilities longer than they would in real life.  In a more realistic genre, I wouldn't even make an issue of it, but for more cinematic genres, it would be more useful to have a rule.

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Sometimes I think I'd like to see a rule about FORGETTING Skills and maybe other abilities.

 

Someone who musters out of the military with a couple Combat Skill Levels with small arms may not still have them after ten years of once a month target practice with no more at stake than the price of a drink.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

On the other hand I can't imagine ever forgetting my palindromedary

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As someone who is approaching 50, I know that I don't have all of the skills and abilities that I used to, but I can still sometimes surprise myself, but there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to what I remember and what I don't.  Maybe, some kind of VCC that is limited to only stuff that the character could have known and some kind of activation roll to determine if the character actually remembers it.

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For general life experience with age, I like skill levels for INT and Knowledge Skills. Frex, +1 per 10 years of life, with time span doubling for each +1. (+1 at 10 years; +2 at 20 years; +3 at 40 years; +4 at 80 years; etc. You know how this works.) This allows for expanded experience without being a comprehensive history of everything.

 

Also, everybody should get an KS: Obscure Trivia for the really random things that old people always seem to pull out of nowhere. "Most people don't know this, but Mussolini refused to eat strawberries."

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