Tomb Raider Hero

[Marcus Impudite]

Anyone here ever write up stats for Lara Croft? If so, please post them. If not, I'm planning to do the job myself and I'll greatly appreciate any and all suggestions.

 

BTW, it's good to see the boards back up at last.

[keithcurtis]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

I was considering a post about Lara Croft, since I finally played my first game of Tomb Raider last week. Mostly I'm dumbfounded by some of the genre conventions. Lara Croft eats food she finds on the floor. How gross is that? I mean, she keeps that adventurous(?) figure by eating old discarded candy bars?

And she finds enough medical equipment just lying around to stock a small Peace Corps clinic.

 

Keith "Nevertheless, my heart stops on every jump" Curtis

[Marcus Impudite]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

Mostly I'm dumbfounded by some of the genre conventions. Lara Croft eats food she finds on the floor. How gross is that? I mean' date=' she keeps that adventurous(?) figure by eating old discarded candy bars?[/quote']

 

Simple enough, she does alot of cardio.

 

Anywho, just off the cuff, I imagine she has 13-15 STR, 18 DEX, maybe 15 CON, not sure about BODY, at least 15 INT and EGO, 15 PRE, 18-20 COM, at least 5 PD/ED, 4 SPD, maybe 6 REC, and roughly 30 END and STUN. I'll have to do some research for her skills and stuff, but obviously she has the Filthy Rich perk, SS: Archeology (sp?), a boat load of AKs, CKs, and KSs; tons of Agility Skills, and WF: Common Melee and Small Arms at a minimum.

 

Comments? Contributions?

[Lethosos]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

Mind Control, linked to Seduction Roll.

 

What, you expect me to disregard her bountiful endowments?

[Nolgroth]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

I would imagine, in true Pulp style, that she has contacts all over the globe and probably more than a handful of favors to boot. I would probably give her an average to slightly above average Body characteristic. As overused as it has become, Combat Luck may also be a requisite.

 

So what point base are we talking? It might be interesting to see a few different takes on the subject.

 

(Edit)

Looked at Surbrook's Stuff. Nothin' there.

 

It comes to me that I have only played the first game and I've seen the movies. I really would have no idea what kind of contacts she actually does have, though I could imagine it would involve art dealers, museum curators and maybe a few shady characters like black market antiquities dealers. In the movies she techinically has followers as well, though I don't know if that exists in the video games.

[Steve]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

I would rate Lara as between 150 total points to perhaps 200 or 250 at most. If you create her based on just what you see in the games, I'd say a credible version could be done on 150-200 points. If you add in Contacts and the like, it pushes the points higher. I'd say she has maybe 90-100 points in stats. Beyond that, Acrobatics and Breakfall seem fairly obvious, maybe an inch or two of extra Leaping and Running. She does have Two-Weapon Fighting with her guns as well, as far as I can tell.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

Since Marcus started this thread, it inspired me to work on stating her out. The version I am currently working on comes out to a whopping 255 points and I think she is underpowered in the combat skills. Now this does include a ton of skills and a few "unnamed" Contacts. I figure the Contacts can be customized for individual GM/Player use.

 

I've noticed that Transport Familiarities are a little expensive when bought in bulk.

 

I've created her at the Heroic level so that her basic equipment is free (points-wise). Seems to make sense, otherwise her points go up a lot. I really need to get Dark Champions so that I can see the equipment rules I've seen mentioned here a few times. Seems she would be better at the Dark Champions level of points and might even fit better into that kind of campaign.

 

Comments? Contributions?

So Marcus, do you have HERO Desinger? I could post what I've come up with. I could also export into the VBasic code and post here to the message thread. Let me know.

[Steve]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

255 points does not seem too bad, but it all depends on how those points are spent. Dark Champions characters on 200 points (100+100) make for pretty potent heroes, and I would put Lara in there easily. At around 250 points, you are in the Very Powerful Hero range, but special abilities can eat up points quickly. Lara Croft comes across as a mix of modern-day action hero with some Pulp Hero added in. Running some quick numbers: 13 STR, 20 DEX, 15 CON, 15 BOD, 18 INT, 14 EGO, PRE 18, 22 COM , PD 6, ED 5, SPD 4, END 30, STUN 30 is 99 points already. I could imagine her skills easily eating up another 75-100 points, especially since Two-Weapon Fighting and at least two levels with guns seem necessary for the build, and she does have 5-10 points of Wealth and maybe Rank as a noblewoman in British society. As far as Contacts are concerned, she could use her Resource Points for those, as suggested in Dark Champions, especially for the throwaway ones she needs once an adventure, like an antique dealer in Morocco or the like.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

Problem is that I don't know the first thing about Resource Points. I really need Dark Champions...

[Marcus Impudite]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

So Marcus' date=' do you have HERO Desinger? I could post what I've come up with. I could also export into the VBasic code and post here to the message thread. Let me know.[/quote']

 

Not yet, but the guy at the shop says he has it on order for me (knock on wood). If possible, a .doc will work in the meantime. Thanks.

[Steve]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

Problem is that I don't know the first thing about Resource Points. I really need Dark Champions...

 

Resource Points are simply an off the character sheet method of accounting for a character's stuff. For example, 60 points in equipment, 10 points in vehicles and 5 points in other (such as Contacts). This is explained in much more detail in Dark Champions. They don't cost the character anything points-wise, but they are a method of limiting the amount of junk they can lug around in an adventure.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

Okay, Marcus, here is what I have so far. HD doesn't export as .doc files, so I exported as .rtf, which is simple to read in most office apps. I'm sure it can be tweaked a little here and there, but I wanted to keep it both generic as possible and still be identifiable as Lara Croft. Good luck.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

Resource Points are simply an off the character sheet method of accounting for a character's stuff. For example' date=' 60 points in equipment, 10 points in vehicles and 5 points in other (such as Contacts). This is explained in much more detail in [i']Dark Champions[/i]. They don't cost the character anything points-wise, but they are a method of limiting the amount of junk they can lug around in an adventure.

 

Definitely interestin'. Well, of all the Champions books, Dark Champions is the one I was and am most interested in. Now, I really want to get it and see what fun I can squeeze out of it. Sigh. Add another to the Wish List.

 

BTW, the above posted character does not use anything like resource points. It doesn't even look at the idea of charging for equipment.

[Marcus Impudite]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

Thanks nolgroth, I'd have a look at the file and let you know.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

I just purchased and downloaded the Dark Champions book. Looking at the Resource pool changes a lot of the perspective from which this character is built. I think I may have to post an update soon. Maybe an alternative to the non DC version. Very interesting.

[Edsel]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

I really like the resource pool rules. I think it is one of the best things about the new version of DC. We used a homebrew system that was very similar to it back when I was running original DC. We called it TEA (Total Equipment Allowance) from it we exprapolated a pool of all the team's equipment that was called the TEA Pot. The recource pool is a bit more elegant that what we used to use and our version only handled equipment.

 

If you don't already have it, you might also want to check out the Heroic Action Points rule from Pulp Hero. They are really just an eloboration on one of the optional Luck rules. Some good analogies would be Force Points from Star Wars, or the Hero Points from the old James Bond RPG. Essentially they allow a character to avoid having a good plan fall victim to bad dice rolling or lucky enemy fire. Of course major NPCs can use them as well to prevent premature demise or failure when the storyline still needs them.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

Are these Heroic Action Points similar to the Fame and Fortune points from the orginal Top Secret or the Karma Points (later Karma Pool) from Shadowrun? If so, I kind of get the idea. The question (which can be answered with Pulp HERO) is how do you get them? Sounds like your typical 5 points per die of Luck. Also, didn't Fifth Edition Revised have a similar mechanic?

[Edsel]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

The Heroic Action Points are a large expansion of the second optional Luck mechanic in 5th Edition (it replaces luck). Since it is all a set of optional rules it gives you a choice of how characters get them in the first place. You could only allow characters with Luck to have them or you could simply assign a base number to each player for the game. An interesting variant is one in which the GM keeps track of the players HAPs. This keeps the players from "pushing their luck" too much lest they run out at a critical time. I don't think that I will be using HAPs in our DC campaigns since we are more of a "cold reality" group.

 

Unfortunately I am unfamiliar with the Top Secret or Shadowrun rules so I can't really guess about the similarities.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

Unfortunately I am unfamiliar with the Top Secret or Shadowrun rules so I can't really guess about the similarities.

No problems there. Sounds pretty similar. Allows for automatic successes or re-rolled failures, that kind of thing. Dark Champions was my purchase for the quarter. Maybe later I can get Pulp HERO, though I'm not much for Pulp unless it's in my orange juice.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

Just reworked the character into a "playable" version. Cut down on a lot of the extra skills and increased the Disadvantages. I'm not sure that this is particularly better suited to represent the Tomb Raider character from the video games, but it does a fair job of creating a version that would fit into a possible game.

 

And now I am done with this fine concept and can move on to the next one.

[specks]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

Filthy Rich is 15 points, not 11 unless you know of a rule I don't.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

Filthy Rich is 15 points' date=' not 11 unless you know of a rule I don't. [/quote']

Hmmmn. Maybe an error in Hero Designer. I just selected it from the list there. Let me delete it and try again.

 

Edit: Indeed, unless there is an optional rule in one of the supplemental books that would change Filthy Rich from 15 to 11 points, there is an error in Hero Designer. I imagine that there must be some scaleable Filthy Rich perk in one book or another (sort of like the scaleable Well Off and Wealthy perks). However, since I don't have this option (to my knowledge) in any of the supplements I own, I propose that the Wealth perk on the character sheet be changed to Wealthy 10 Pts 5,000,000 a year. Gives you a free point. Spend it wisely.

[Steve]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

Wealth does scale in the 11-15 point range, but the rulebook does not spell out specifically what they cover like it does with lower point values. Lara probably tops out at 10 points of Wealth anyway, since that is roughly $5 million in income a year.

[Ura-Maru]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

Lara Croft eats food she finds on the floor. How gross is that? I mean, she keeps that adventurous(?) figure by eating old discarded candy bars?

You think that's bad? You should see what Nethack characters have to eat!

 

---

"This storm giant corpse tastes terrible!"

[Nolgroth]

Re: Tomb Raider Hero

 

You think that's bad? You should see what Nethack characters have to eat!

 

"Killed by a dead kobold on the 2nd level."