ghost-angel Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases I can't think of any ... I form personalities when I make characters and people have the oddest little quirks... lessee. I got the Talent: Perfect Rhythm for Silence, variant on Perfect Pitch, because I figured for some reason she could just DANCE. I seriously doubt that will ever come up in gameplay. ever. Other than that, nah no shallow stuff here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases Getting a summon Amorophous Horror spell for your Demonologist so you have someone to walk your poodle. Caimpaign never did get off the ground though. Howabout a summon poodle spell to feed your Amorphous Horror? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BNakagawa Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases I spent 9 points on an ability whose principle function is to allow my character to type while wearing mickey mouse gloves. Also, the ability to converse with cats. Braile. Haven't actually found a use for it yet, as there aren't any blind people in the campaign. It would be even more useless in a FH campaign if you didn't buy literacy with it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebuchet Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases Let's see... Zl'f bought Riding (Horses) and Animal Handler (Equines) to reflect her hobby of horseback riding, despite the fact she can run 200 MPH/320 KPH. She took "Ice Skating" as her free Transport Familiarity; then bought TF: Automobile with XP. She bought Combat Driving (Skis) but not with cars. In our Champions campaign, each PC gets a free 8- KS and PS and a free 11- KS and PS. Her free 11- KS is chess rather than something actually useful. She bought both PS: Executive Assistant 12- and Bureaucratics 12- with XP so she'd actually be good at her "day job" as executive assistant for a billiionaire industrialist/philanthropist who is also a member of MidGuard (as if Tony Stark's secretary Mrs. Arbogast was also a super-powered member of the Avengers). She also bought High Society 12-because that day job often requires her to interact with the movers and shakers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodstone Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases In concept, but thus far a total waste of points: we have speedster that only ever fights with his fists (and the occasional object of opportunity thrown at hyper sonic speeds). In an event, he never uses guns. Not much point, since bullets are just so damn slow Regardless of that, he bought Fast draw (Small Arms) so that if he ever needs to be the fastest draw in the west, he will be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Anomaly Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases 57 languages?? Da-yum, just buy a protocol droid, will ya. Sure, it would have been cheaper -- a lot cheaper -- to just buy Universal Translator. And with Dr. Anomaly's INT of 40, it's not like the UT roll wouldn't have been up in the practically-never-fail range, either. The problem with UT, though, is that you don't actually know the languages...you just sorta are able to figure them out "on the fly", and can then figure out how to make yourself understood in return. I didn't want that. I just liked the idea of a really, really, smart guy who collected languages as his hobby. That means he needs to be able to actually know them, not just be able to figure them out / make himself understood the way UT would. So...I spent a bunch of points...far more than I'd need to get the same end result using UT...in order to have the character "collect" a bunch of languages that, to date, I think I've had call to use 3 or 4 of (and that includes 'dead' languages, the literacy to read Egyptian heiroglyphics, and so on). Not exactly an "efficient" use of points, but it makes the character and myself happy, so what the heck, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiree Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases The problem with UT' date=' though, is that you don't actually [i']know[/i] the languages...you just sorta are able to figure them out "on the fly", and can then figure out how to make yourself understood in return. I didn't want that. I just liked the idea of a really, really, smart guy who collected languages as his hobby. That means he needs to be able to actually know them, not just be able to figure them out / make himself understood the way UT would. Wouldn't UT with Eidetic Memory be sufficient? What ever language you were able to figure out, the memory would kick in to make sure you remember it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawgstar Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases I enjoy the odd Perks that I promptly forget and then remember when it becomes useful (well, every now and then - how ironic is I forget that my character has Eidetic Memory?). Lightning Calculator is a favorite. Wealth's another good one, as is the odd point or two of COM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebuchet Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases Not exactly an "efficient" use of points' date=' but it makes the character and myself happy, so what the heck, right? [/quote']That is, of course, both the topic of this thread and the ultimate purpose of this game. Efficiency, eschmiciency! As long as we're all having fun and actually building characters as opposed to columns of numbers and power descriptions, we're on the right track. It's those little inefficient dabs of "color" that often make a character feel more real to player and GM alike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases I suppose if we're going into "not always useful in the game, really not useful in combat" way ... I always get lots of KS that have nothing to do with anything but that the character should know. Liks KS: Blues Hangouts. Because sometimes you just need a good seedy bar with a guy on guitar slamming out the blues all night into a crappy PA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wcw43921 Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases OT, but the way I've done it in the past is to just give the character a large Multipower with the special effect of 'the powers actually come from his genie/demon/magic teddy bear/whatever'. Often with the limitation Incantations on the MP, as you've got to tell them what to do. I guess I could also do an OIF for the lamp, if one such is needed. Does that sound game-legal to any of you? That's what occurred to me, but with an Activation Roll on the powers to reflect that the character has to "persuade" the magical entity to help out. The lower the Activation, the more obstinate the entity-- MEL: "Magica, I need you to transform Lord Monstrous' flaming sword into something harmless!" MAGICA: "Mmmm--I don't know if I want to." MEL: "What! But--but why?" MAGICA: "I changed my appearance and you didn't--even--notice!" MEL: "What? You look the same as before! What did you change? Your hair? Your makeup? What? WHAT??" MAGICA: (Sits and pouts) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lumbering Ox Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases Howabout a summon poodle spell to feed your Amorphous Horror? Much better the other way around. Summon AH, give out the sacrifice and then AH: I will do your bidding, who do you wish to me destroy. DS: Oh nobody, I want you to walk my poodle cuddles. C: yap yap yap AH: What! you dragged me all the way from hell and you want me to walk your dog? DS: Yes. AH: Sigh, wouldn't you rather I kill somebody, maybe take out a village, torment a princess? DS: Nope, just walk cuddles, better hurry, he needs to go. And no eating him either. AH: Sigh, [picks up leach with psudopod and lurches towards the door with cuddles jumping around him yapping happily. Feeding poodles to AH's just dosen't compare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases Starguard, who is one of the most powerful magic-based VPP wielders on her home planet and embodies the power of an archangel (trapped in the body of an 18-year-old girl), has PS: Cooking, 15-, PS: Singing, 16-, and PS: Waitress, 11-. And she's rapidly picking up PS: Maid, as well... in addition to being the New Sentinels' mystic powerhouse, she's also the housekeeper. (She /likes/ domestic work -- it's something where she actually knows what the heck she's doing, and it doesn't involve making life-or-death judgement calls on incomplete knowledge. Unlike her day job.) Oh, the singing? She's got a spectacularly beautiful singing voice, always has, even if it's largely untrained. Nothing supernatural about it. Dr. Pain is a ex-pro-wrestling-champion turned brick. His conception is that he's big, strong, tough, and good at putting bad guys into joint locks and figure 4's. I also gave him Weapon Familiarity (Small Arms, Blades, Clubs, Fist-Loads, General Purpose/Heavy Machine Guns, Grenade Launchers, Shoulder-Fired Weapons), Transport Familiarity (Basic Parachuting), and Weaponsmith (Firearms) 12-, and PS: Soldier 13- to reflect the fact that right after he got thrown out of college and right before he went into wrestling, he did a 4-year hitch in the 82nd Airborne. (He also got Tactics and Navigation (Land) out of this, but that's not a 'fluff' purchase.) Likewise, despite my buying him a contact for an extremely skilled agent/financial manager, I also gave him PS: Business Management at 13- and KS: Business Law and KS: Finance at 12-, representing the fact that he's got a net worth in the millions and has learned how to manage it competently. And then I gave him KS: Classical Literature and KS: Philosophy to represent the fact that while he looks like a big dumb bruiser, he actually does read books with big words from time to time. AAMOF, looking back, quite a /lot/ of his character sheet is "soft" purchases -- my reaction on the DM telling us that he was upgrading our 350-point campaign (which was his original design) to a 425-point one was largely to pile on fluff and little odds and ends for concept, and not to upgrade his power level very much beyond the original 350. Although he did get an extra point of SPD and some CSLs out of it. Baron von Darien -- wrath of ye gods, his skill list stretches from here to there, and it's at least half full of things that will almost never actually come up in play. He's highly intelligent, greatly motivated, and has been alive for 1100 years -- he /should/ be well-read, for a value of 'well-read' that adds up to 'multiple libraries full'. ... come to think of it, /all/ of my characters blow a lot of the point budget on fluffy stuff, as opposed to things of immediate use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases Much better the other way around. Summon AH, give out the sacrifice and then AH: I will do your bidding, who do you wish to me destroy. DS: Oh nobody, I want you to walk my poodle cuddles. C: yap yap yap AH: What! you dragged me all the way from hell and you want me to walk your dog? DS: Yes. AH: Sigh, wouldn't you rather I kill somebody, maybe take out a village, torment a princess? DS: Nope, just walk cuddles, better hurry, he needs to go. And no eating him either. AH: Sigh, [picks up leach with psudopod and lurches towards the door with cuddles jumping around him yapping happily. Feeding poodles to AH's just dosen't compare. Yes, but you see... I dislike little yappy dogs immensely. Whereas I find large protoplasmic horrors from beyond kinda cuddly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lumbering Ox Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases Yes, but you see... I dislike little yappy dogs immensely. Whereas I find large protoplasmic horrors from beyond kinda cuddly So you would summon a yappy dog to walk your AH through the village? I wish I had artistic skills, that would make for an interesting drawing. Dammit I wish I kept my standalone FH. Sigh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Anomaly Posted September 11, 2005 Report Share Posted September 11, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases Oh, yeah, I forgot...Dr. Anomaly also has TF: SCUBA, because he likes to go scuba diving on his vacations to the Bahamas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted September 11, 2005 Report Share Posted September 11, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases Oh' date=' yeah, I forgot...Dr. Anomaly also has TF: SCUBA, because he likes to go scuba diving on his vacations to the Bahamas. [/quote'] New use for the skill VPP: Back Story Skill Pool: Variable Power Pool, 5 base + 3 control cost, Cosmic (+2) (11 Active Points); Limited Class Of Powers Available Very Limited (Only Skills that will almost never be used in the campaign; -1). (8 real points) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted September 11, 2005 Report Share Posted September 11, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases Assault's biggest waste of points is his 25 points of Life Support and his 15 points of Enhanced Perception. These are the main reasons why he has to be built on inflated points to be a decent combatant. If he could put those points into combat stuff, he could be easily built on 350 points. The 16 COM is pure vanity, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebuchet Posted September 11, 2005 Report Share Posted September 11, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases Oh' date=' yeah, I forgot...Dr. Anomaly also has TF: SCUBA, because he likes to go scuba diving on his vacations to the Bahamas. [/quote']On a similar note Mentor's character Cyberknight, who in his Secret ID as billionaire industrialist and philanthropist Dr. Eric Thorssen is married to supermodel Cathy Ireland, bought TF: SCUBA because IRL Cathy Ireland is an expert-rated SCUBA-diver. Obviously Dr. Thorssen would want to share his significant other's favorite hobby. And who wouldn't want to go swimming with Cathy Ireland? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshairCollie Posted September 17, 2005 Report Share Posted September 17, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases Does an AE Minor Transform (Dirty Room to Clean Room) to represent a super-speedster doing housework count? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted September 17, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases Does an AE Minor Transform (Dirty Room to Clean Room) to represent a super-speedster doing housework count? Might, but that doesn't make it any less spiffy and/or understandible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaxiMan Posted September 17, 2005 Report Share Posted September 17, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases Stretching and Growth, Limited Body Parts. Seduction. I stay away from the hard stuff, like Mind Control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaxiMan Posted September 17, 2005 Report Share Posted September 17, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases Oh, come on people! I was just kidding!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted September 17, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases I've bought pheromones once for a character, so I sure can't throw stones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby Posted September 17, 2005 Report Share Posted September 17, 2005 Re: "Shallow" Purchases Er, I had a PC who had two DNPCs: girlfriends, just so I could have someone have a threesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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