Hierax Posted February 1, 2004 Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 What "Everyman" Skills do you give for free in your Fantasy Hero campaign? How much of a difference do you give between different races/species, cultures, etc.? Do you give different races, cultures the same number of free everyman skill points to work with? How do you decide which skills to make as "everyman" and which ones to charge points for in the racial and/or cultural packages? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farik Posted February 1, 2004 Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 We used the everyman skils listed in Fantasy Hero but each culture we create gets a cultural fam (8-) and a Transport Familiarty of their choice. Also in addition to each characters native language each character gets 3 language points which can be spent on additional languages and/or literacy(s). We thought the language option allowed the usual Fantasy convention of a variety of languages being known. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleepyDrug Posted February 1, 2004 Report Share Posted February 1, 2004 I generally follow the fantasy everyman list with one or two cultural / regional skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherSkip Posted February 2, 2004 Report Share Posted February 2, 2004 Everyman skills in my homebrew: 4 ponts in Mother Toung 2 points in another language (1)Familiarity with Climbing (1)Familiarity with Conversation (1)Familiarity with Stealth (1)Familiarity with Trading (1)KS: History of Home Country (1)AK: Home Country (1)Familiarity with survial in Home Country (1) WF:Clubs, Fistloads and Thrown Rocks. However, unusal Pc’s and NPC’s who have sufficiently good background choices may not necessarily have these. Those with a differing background will get something appropriate for whatever differences they "suffer". Each Country of origin also reflects itself in giving two additional abilites in the Every Character section, listed below. These are directly related to the national character of each nation. Paen (1)Familiarity with Streetwise (1)Transport Familiarity with Carts and Wagons Sunblessed (1)Science Skill: weather watching (1)Transport Familiarity with Horses Arbelest (1)Transport Familiarity with Horses or Boats (1)KS: Racing Faustone (1)KS: Minerals (1)Transport Familiarity with Stone Sleds Tzz Ch’k (1)Transport Familiarity with Chariots or Boats 1 Language: Tradespeak Desnari (1)KS: History of Desnari or History of Magic (1)Transport Familiarity with Sleighs and Sleds Glabe/Lupus The Twin Duchies (1)Familiarity with Concelament (1)Transport Familiarity with a type of riding animal. Borderlands/Barrens/other less than kingdom areas* (1)Familiarity with Concelament (1) +1" of Running, only while fleeing (-1) In additon, in a breaking away from the typical ruling of both 4th and 5th edition. These are considered to be addable to by spending points. ie having a familiarity with Survival does not mean you have to buy the skill at full in order to raise the skill with Survival. Thusly, characters may be slightly cheaper than other characters in similar campaigns. * This choice may cause problems socially speaking for the players, but is still an option. And lastly in order to enforce regionality I generally require the purchase of a kingdom package. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eosin Posted February 2, 2004 Report Share Posted February 2, 2004 [4] - 4 points in Native Language [2] - 2 points in another language [1] - Familiarity with Climbing [1] - Familiarity with Conversation [1] - Familiarity with Healing [1] - Familiarity with Riding [1] - Familiarity with Stealth [1] - Familiarity with Trading [2] - PS: Profession, 11- [1] - KS: History of Home Country, 8- [1] - KS: Native Religion, 8- [1] - AK: Home Country, 8- Mine is pretty similar but I added religion, plus I keep riding and Paramedics (Healing). EDITED - Added PS and points for clarity -- total 17 points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hierax Posted February 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 It seems to me that the amount of free Everyman skill points given in a particular campaign should be equal. The distribution of the points can vary from package to package but, to be fair, the amount of points worth should be the same. But how many points? FREd (p.29) gives 10 points worth of free Everyman skills and Fantasy Hero (p.84) gives 17 points, and Hero System Bestiary gives animals 7 points worth. Above, in this thread, Farik's comes to 23 points, AnotherSkip's and Eosin's to 16. How many points is enough, how many is too much? Looking at the variety of official Everyman Skills, the ones mentioned in this thread, and other mentioned in other threads such as this (http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=13943) It seems that a fair number of skills could be appropriate. Personally, I like round numbers and erring on the side of more detail, so I'm thinking of 20 or 25 free Points for Everyman Skills. Would this seem excessive to you if I used this in future write-ups? The only other fair way to do it if the same amount isn't being offered for each package is to not have everyman skills be free at all and to charge points for them, but that would inflate the costs of many write-ups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hierax Posted February 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 I Posted a Poll on this to see what other HEROphiles think: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14114 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted February 22, 2004 Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 I did make up a list of everyman skills for my fantasy/martial arts campaign. It seems pretty generous. Animal Handler Breakfall Climbing Concealment Conversation Gambling Language (native, 4 points) Oratory Paramedics Persuasion Riding Seduction Shadowing Stealth Streetwise Survival That seems like a lot, but I had my reasons to give them that many skills. This way, they could have a chance to get creative without having to pay more points. Since it is a pre-industrial world that is also filled with danger, some of those skills would be everyman skills in order to survive. And since it is a martial arts game, breakfall would almost be a requirement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nevenall Posted February 23, 2004 Report Share Posted February 23, 2004 I am generous in my fantasy campaign. Everyman skills add up to 25 points. This does include a Mana reserve which everyone has at a basic level, as well as points for starting money. Each culture package modifies the everyman skills, often quite a bit, but they still only get 25 points for free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eosin Posted February 23, 2004 Report Share Posted February 23, 2004 I kinda tweaked my list with a PS and added in "cost" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted February 23, 2004 Report Share Posted February 23, 2004 I'm a cruel GM, but a fair one So I give everyone 10 points of everyman skills, but vary them a lot from culture to culture, or even within cultures: a noble will not have that many things in common with a peasant. In general, in my game an everyman skill is those things that EVERYONE *will* have, not things that people might have or generally have. to take a few examples: >>Animal Handler<< This means the character is wise in the ways of training animals. Based on my own experience of farm life, you could live your entire liffe around animals and never gain this skill. It's doubly inappropriate for most urban-based characters. >>>Climbing.<<< This, on the other hand, everyone can do from the time they are old enough to lift their own weight. You don't need any instruction on how to climb. >>>Oratory<<< Again: the ability to cast a spell with your words, to lead and influence with your voice. Based on real life experience, I have sat through way too many presentations and speeches where the speaker had no oratorical skills at all to believe that all people have an 8- in this skill. And so on. Most of these skills would not qualify for my game as everyman skills, although many would be nice to have some degree of. Of course, if you want players and NPCs to have far more everyman skills, I can't see that it is going to unbalance the game - especially if everyone gets the same amount. It will make FAM:s relatively unattractive though. Most skills a player might want to buy a FAM in they already have for free. cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpCommander Posted February 26, 2004 Report Share Posted February 26, 2004 The point the point of Everyman skills is that these are skills that any boob would know. I wouldn't personally give my party a useful skill like paramedic. However common languages should be known. Certain basic skills should be known as well. Just because they are adventurers doesn't mean they all know how to swim for example. Consider your group of friends. What skills do you all have in common? Fluent in English? I can't claim that - some of my friends speak Southern but understand English! Knowlege of basic rules of the road? Knowlege of basic public services (Government, police, library, social work, etc.)? One guy has PS: 3D animator but no one else has anything even resembling passing familiarity with that. One guy has PS: engine room mechanic. Those are specific from their back ground. I think the 10 point limit is a guideline. The characters should get whatever is basically well known. If its very useful in game terms its probably not well known. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nevenall Posted February 27, 2004 Report Share Posted February 27, 2004 I give lots of everyman skills to make up for the fact that you can't try something without the skill. There are some things everyone has chance to success at. I'm terrible at it, but I think I stand a better chance then a 1/216 of pursuading someone. Thus, an everyman skill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hierax Posted February 29, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 29, 2004 Ok, if I go with the maximum here's a sample example of 25 points of Everyman Skills: Cost Skill 1 Acting 8- 1 Climbing 8- 1 Concealment 8- 1 Conversation 8- 1 Deduction 8- 1 AK: (Area) 8- 1 CK: (City) 8- 1 CuK: (Culture) 8- 1 KS: (General) 8- 4 Language (idiomatic) 2 Language (fluent conversation) 1 Paramedics 8- 1 Persuasion 8- 2 PS 11- 1 Riding (Combat Driving, Horse) 8- 1 Seduction 8- 1 Shadowing 8- 1 Stealth 8- 1 Survival (Urban) 8- 1 Trading 8- 0 TF - Horses (includes 1 free point from riding): Equines 0 WF: Clubs, Fist-Loads, Thrown Rocks, Unarmed Combat Skills Cost: 25 A bit more than the standard Hero System and Fantasy Hero books, but it works in most of what people have mentioned and comes to a nice round number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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