Short cut Characters

[Ninja-Bear]

Hey Herophiles,

 

I was just wondering has any used what I’m going to term Short Cut Characters? A short cut character is where the author of a boom tells you that if you need a certain character, take a specific existing character ( and this use to be from the Core book) modify him (or her) and violla! You have a new character.  For example using Seeker as a Base Character for Samurai in Watchers of the Dragon.  I Use to think that this was lame and “cheating”. You should have complete and nee character sheets for everyone! No more. I see how this is a real time saver for the author and GM. I see how this saves precious room in a book. And since this is Champions, you’re not beholden to the build either.

[Grailknight]

I don't mind doing it for a game or tournament if the base is supplied. I absolutely hate when a published supplement does it. It's asking me to do the work I paid you to do and requiring me to have another resource that's probably not free.

[Ninja-Bear]

1 hour ago, Grailknight said:

I don't mind doing it for a game or tournament if the base is supplied. I absolutely hate when a published supplement does it. It's asking me to do the work I paid you to do and requiring me to have another resource that's probably not free.

If it refers to a source other than the Core book I agree with you 100%.

[Asperion]

I have never seen any problem with this.  Done right,  it leads to many great characters each with their own abilities, strengths,  weaknesses,  quarks,  etc. However,  it is extremely easy to use this as some "cookie-cutter " operation that quickly leads to many characters who are effectively clones of each other  - no flavor, distinctive,  quark, etc. I have used this trick many times and achieved both results. 

[Steve]

I’ve been doing this for a while. It’s pretty easy to turn a villain into a hero by swapping out Complications and sometimes adjusting skills and powers. I don’t use the same character twice in a campaign, so flavor is generally preserved and avoids copycat issues.

[Duke Bushido]

I have no issues with it, but by the same token, I have no problems with "half characters" as NPCs, either: just the relevant stats and skills /powers they may need for their scenes, and nothing else.  Usually jot it on an index card.  I have enough practice as a GM-  more than enough at this point- to say "about thirty points of skills / talents and about twenty across the characteristics" and deem this to be a character with ten to fifteen years of experience- I dont need to spend all the other points as I dont expect their other abilities to come into play. If something does, I can jot it down and deduct from whatever points plus experience balance I deem them to have.

 

I put them on index cards (something my first Champions GM used to do; I thought it was "cheating" until I finally saw the light).  I typically list any carried items or special permissions / contacts on the back. 

 

What I really dislike is similar to what someone above mentioned:  thank you for spending your hard-won money on this product.  You will need to buy two additional,forty-or-more dollar books to populate it with the NPCs we have selected for the plot.

 

That rankles like a dried out dog turd in shag carpet.

 

If you want to use existing characters, great.  But if you do, maybe a few hints as to what important schticks the NPCs need in case I have to use my own:

 

The heroes Will face Fuego (see Villains of Spain, available ten or eleven years ago for $34.99).  If the GM would like to substitute a villain of his own, this villain should have some form of Desolidification (though he need not be able to pass through solid objects) and an Energy-based blast with advanatges that allow him to target an an area of at least four hexes.

 

 

"Sweet!  I can swap in the Electrocutioner!  He has his electrical spectre form, and his electric arc multipower has a spot with 8d6 Explosion.  Perfect!

 

 

It wouldn't be That awful to whip up a quick half-character, but even that is tougher than it has to be when you don't know why they asked for a specific character, anything about that character, or where to get thirty-five bucks and a time machine.

 

😠

 

 

 

 

[Chris Goodwin]

The Champions Character Creation Cards would be ideal for short cut characters like this.  I think one of the original use cases was to put the cards together on a photocopier, made a copy, and use that as your makeshift character sheet!

[steriaca]

Basically I don't think it is wrong IF it is a book everyone has assess to (the Champions character and villain writeups in HERO System 6ed for example, if there was any writeups in book 2, else Champions Complete). Beyond that, since not everyone who even plays Champions has, say, a Champions Universe book or the three core Champions Villains Volume books, then absolutely no to that.

 

It is basically no fare doing that to reference a character in a book not everyone has assess to. Which is a good excuse to make rulebooks as slim as possible, so they can actually be affordable while still being complete rules wise.

 

(It is possible that is one of the reasons Champions: The Next Generation failed. It didn't give you the complete rules in one book.)

[Ockham's Spoon]

I create villains like this all the time, having one character sheet for 2 or 3 different villains where the only changes are the sfx of the powers and a couple Complications.  I might also give each version one unique power/ability to help set them apart, but they are basically clones.  This also makes it easier for me to run combats, because I have fewer different characters to keep track of.  Saves me a lot of work, and I find that it is more important to give the characters memorable personalities rather than power sets.

[Duke Bushido]

On 11/14/2022 at 12:33 PM, steriaca said:

 

(It is possible that is one of the reasons Champions: The Next Generation failed.

 

 

Unless you are refering to New Millennium, then I have missed something along the way!

 

Is this Next Generation a thing that happened?  

 

 

[steriaca]

7 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

 

 

Unless you are refering to,New Mullwnium, then I have missed something along the way!

 

Is this Next Generation a thibg that happened?  

 

 

No. I misremembered the name.

[Pattern Ghost]

Some of the older villains books would use that kind of shorthand. Like "Use X's character sheet, with these psych limits and change this or that skill or power." Where they direct the GM to simply swap out a couple things about an existing character. Really not a bad way to do things to save time. The game is more about the special effects and RP than the exact mechanic.

[Lord Liaden]

I did that when I started posting my "Valley of Night" sub-setting for 5E Champions (eventually compiled here). For the super-class characters I referred to villains from Conquerors, Killers, And Crooks, and creatures from The Hero Bestiary, as templates, with suggested modifications. But that's a freebie, I would never do that for a published book someone paid money for.

 

One published book for which I do think it was an acceptable practice, is Book Of The Empress. The "Imperial Battalion" is Istvatha V'han's cadre of superhuman operatives, and while several of them receive full write-ups and character sheets in that book, the Battalion's full roster is far beyond the capacity of any one book to treat that way. So BOTE just lists all the non-Master Villain baddies from the Champions Villains trilogy, and changes their names and a bit of background/motivation. You are given original villains to use, but if you really want whip up a horde of them you can go to one other source.

[Christopher R Taylor]

I kind of do this, not officially but I have a template in my head for stats and base ability for different archetypes when I build them.

[Duke Bushido]

I have to assume that in one way or another, _most_ GMs do this.  I mean, Hackler has now written two books that specify that their exact purpose is doing precisely this.