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Altered Reality (making yourself)


RPMiller

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

I'm mainly interested in if it can be done in HERO system rather than if it can be done at all. This was the original point of the thread. From the sound of it' date=' it still doesn't sound like it is feasible in HERO.[/quote']

Sure it's feasible! I've done it before with Hero (3Ed) and it worked just fine. Granted this was in the Army, so we were all in reasonably decent shape and had a fair number of game-useful skills, even if only as Familiarities. Plus we had things like PT tests, rifle qualification scores, etc to use as semi-objective guides. We came up with some guidelines for other characteristics and such, but I don't remember what they all were.

 

The challenge, as noted, is that Hero has less granularity at the "Normal" range. The keys IMHO are:

 

1) Accept that there will be some stat inflation, and that's okay. What you're really doing is creating somewhat-idealized Cinematic versions of yourselves.

 

2) As Spidey88 said, it's all relative anyway. Having a DEX of 10 or a DEX of 18 is meaningless until you compare it to someone else. Who cares if the players all wind up with DEXes in the 12-15 range, as long as the opposition is scaled appropriately?

 

As far as Skills go, stress the "An 11- means the character can make a living at it" guideline. If the player honestly doesn't think they could do so, it's a Familiarity. Interaction skills are perhaps the hardest to judge. OTOH, if a player can't convince the group that he has Persuation skill, then he probably doesn't. ;) I'd recommend keeping KSes fairly broad, or some players will fill up the sheet with them.

 

As for points, my suggestion would be to take everyone's first drafts and see what kind of point range they're in (probably rounding down to keep everyone honest). Then issue that as a guideline so everyone starts on more-or-less the same level.

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

Have I told you those horror stories?

 

Something of them, I believe. As I've said previously, it has always ended badly in my experience. Now, I think it might be plausible with the right group of players, especially if none of them were obnoxious, onery cusses.

 

Wait... maybe that's why all my experiences have gone badly!

 

:P

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

The answer to "Can writing up the Players as Character be done in HERO" is really "Yes, at least as well as in any other system, and just as with those other systems, some players will whine."

 

The lack of fine gradations of ability at the low end of the spectrum doesn't bug me. Characteristics and Skills are abstractions anyway, and if you feel the urge you can always offer some trivial benefit for going from an INT 11 to an INT 12. The Ultimate Brick's expanded STR table is a fair model.

 

I'd say I could write up equally valid 0, 25, 50, and 100+ point versions of myself, depending on how I chose to define my skill and talent set.

 

For instance, I've been seriously at risk in violent situations at least a half dozen times in my life, yet emerged relatively unharmed each time. The 0 point version would just be assumed to have gotten lucky rolls in those situations. The 100 point version might have some Combat Luck or dice of Luck to get him out of those fixes. Both versions are valid ways of viewing the same events, and both work in the right kind of campaign.

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

I'd say I could write up equally valid 0, 25, 50, and 100+ point versions of myself, depending on how I chose to define my skill and talent set.

 

For instance, I've been seriously at risk in violent situations at least a half dozen times in my life, yet emerged relatively unharmed each time. The 0 point version would just be assumed to have gotten lucky rolls in those situations. The 100 point version might have some Combat Luck or dice of Luck to get him out of those fixes. Both versions are valid ways of viewing the same events, and both work in the right kind of campaign.

That's a good way of looking at it. Just as with any other game, the real objective should be: figure out what kind of game you want to run, and build characters for that game. The fact that the characters happen to resemble, to a greater or lesser degree, the players themselves is almost irrelevant -- or at least secondary -- to the question of whether they fit the game that's planned.

 

In other words, as with many other gaming problems, worrying too much about reality isn't always a good thing. :)

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

The biggest secret here is most players will agree what an average person is. (It is clearly defined in the book and everything)

 

Most people will argue, honestly, that they are above average. I think that was one of the most clever thing done in 5th edition. NPCs are just 8 and you, true believers, start out with 10. Not enough to make any skill rolls better, but you're a 10 in a world of 8s. You are Noteworthy.

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

Another thought: if your idea is to run a "normals" game but you're worried your players are going to inflate their stats into heroic-land, one possibility might be to say each character can have at most one stat above 13 (or 15 or wherever you choose to draw the line). That way it becomes a game-balance mechanism, rather than dissing your players' real stats.

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

Lots of threads on this, and a good old chestnut. I think I did this the first time playing Villains and Vigilantes about 25-26 years ago.

 

From a playability perspective, I'd just give everyone 25 points, tell them to take 25 points in disads, and leave it at that. If the Navy Seal in your group insists he's a 550 point character, explain that it's a 50 point game. If the depressed unemployed wiccan in your group insists that he has 225 points in disads, explain that he gets points for 25 and everything after that isn't worth anything in the game.

 

If anyone insists on "realism", I'd take them into my weight room and have them demonstrate their deadlifts, then open the Ultimate Brick. That give you their STR score (which of course doesn't really work out, as HERO STR is an abstraction). The other stats are harder to guestimate, but I'd usually say 7 or less = very young, ill or very poorly developed, 8-10 = unexceptional, 11-13 = developed and enough to build a hobby or modest career using that stat, 14-17 = exceptional, draws considerable praise, can build a solid career on that ability, 18-22 = enough to earn lasting, wide spread acclaim in your field if you have the skills to support it, 23+ = world class and almost certainly famous for it unless you're a complete emotional wreck and therefore incapable of holding down a job.

 

The guys in your office probably have an 8-10 in most stats, and maybe an 11-13 in the stat they use to make their living or pursue their hobbies. If they're really passionate about a hobby or making a really good living based on raw ability, 14-17 is possible, though I'd take it with a grain of salt. 18+ is very unlikely unless you're gaming with top athletes and researchers.

 

Skills follow, imo, the same pattern. 7- is what most people remember 5 years after they studied a subject, 8-10- in hobbies or whatever they use to make a basic living, 11-13- if they're notably good at their job, 14-17- if they're acknowledged as experts, 18- or higher if they're genuine leaders in their fields.

 

The high school kid who goes to Karate once or twice a month when he remembers may have KS: Karate 7-. The twenty something who's at the dojo 2-4 days a week because he wants to impress the hot girl who works in Starbucks may have a KS: Karate 8-10- and a few skill levels in Punch/Block/Dodge. The competitive Karateka has a KS 11-, 10+ points in maneuvers, and a few levels with his martial art.

 

Alternative: Just grab a Dark Champions package and go from there. It's only a game.

 

I went through a phase in the 90s where I ran Hero games (usually occult adventure) with the players playing themselves, with guidelines very close to this. It worked out pretty well with only a couple of cases of griping about low points or thinking a favorite stat was 5 points higher than anyone else thought it was. If the players are mature and cool, it can be a blast. Especially suited for an apocalyptic game. Everyone loves showing off how resourceful they think they would be.

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

I agree with many of the benchmarks and such mentioned earlier. STR can be calculated by how much weight you can deadlift. INT can be estimated by IQ/10. Skills should be on 8- for things where you know more about or are better at a given skill than most people, but aren't at the level of a full-time professional. 11- or higher means at least full-time professional-caliber ability. Rolls over 14- or so are quite remarkable.

 

As an exercise in demonstrating by example, here's my take on... well, me. :)

 

 

Derek Hiemforth

 

Val Char Cost

13 STR 3

8 DEX -6

8 CON -4

14 BODY 8

16 INT 6

8 EGO -4

13 PRE 3

8 COM -1

 

3 PD 0

2 ED 0

2 SPD 2

5 REC 0

16 END 0

25 STUN 0

 

4" RUN -4

2" SWIM 0

1 1/2" LEAP -1

Characteristics Cost: 2

 

 

Cost Power

5 Eye-Hand Coordination: +5 DEX; Eye-Hand Coordination Only (does not add to CVs, DEX-based Skills, or any other DEX-based tasks other than those based solely on eye-hand coordination; -1 1/2), No Figured Characteristics (-1/2) [Notes: My reaction time, agility, balance, whole-body coordination, fine motor control, and so forth are all unremarkable. But my eye-hand coordination, used in tasks such as hitting a ball or playing video games, is quite good.]

1 20-10 Vision: +2 versus Range Modifier for Normal Sight

2 Massive: Knockback Resistance -1"

Powers Cost: 8

 

 

Cost Skill

1 Acting 8- [Notes: Not a professional, but I've done over 20 plays (plus, of course, many years of roleplaying).]

1 Animal Handler (Lagomorphs) 8-

1 Computer Programming 8-

3 KS: General Knowledge/Trivia 12- [Notes: I used to read encyclopedias as a kid, and have an unusually broad base of miscellaneous knowledge. I can count the number of times I've lost at Trivial Pursuit on the fingers of one hand.]

2 KS: RPGs 11-

2 KS: "Offbeat Theories" 11- [Notes: Catch-all for things like alternative interpretations of history, UFO theories, conspiracy theories (both modern like "Who shot JFK?" and historical like "Did the Illuminati engineer the American Revolution?"), occult lore... basically all the kinds of stuff Ken Hite writes about in his Suppressed Transmission books.]

1 KS: Baseball 8- [Notes: Although not knowledgeable enough to be a full-time professional in a baseball-related field, I'm a HUGE baseball nut, and know a lot about Sabermetrics and general baseball lore.]

1 Oratory 8- [Notes: Not a professional, but I've won awards for public speaking.]

0 PS: Computer Support Geek (My Free PS) 11-

1 PS: Singer 8- [Notes: Not a professional, but a former vocal music major in college, and an experienced amateur.]

1 PS: Writer 8- [Notes: Not at the level of someone who writes professionally full-time, but not too shabby I hope.]

Skills Cost: 14

 

 

Cost Talent

3 Ambidexterity (-2 Off Hand penalty) [Notes: I do some things naturally left-handed (writing, eating, batting), and other things naturally right-handed (throwing, bowling, feats of strength). I'm not truly ambidextrous, but can use either hand reasonably well for most tasks, and I don't favor one hand nearly as strongly as most people seem to.]

Talents Cost: 3

 

Total Character Cost: 27

 

Pts. Disadvantage

15 Distinctive Features: Extremely Obese (Not Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses)

10 Physical Limitation: Extremely Obese (Frequently, Slightly Impairing)

5 Physical Limitation: Attention Deficit Disorder (Infrequently, Slightly Impairing)

20 Psychological Limitation: Compulsive Overeater (Very Common, Strong)

10 Psychological Limitation: Curmudgeonly (little patience for stupidity, exaggerated sense of own cleverness, and so forth; Common, Moderate)

5 Social Limitation: Extremely Obese (Frequently, Minor, Not Limiting In Some Cultures)

Disadvantage Points: 65

Base Points: 0

Experience Required: 0

Total Experience Available: 0

Experience Unspent: 0

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

Derek' date=' that leaves your KS:Hero System at a mere 6-.[/quote']I got special GM permission to treat the "KS: RPGs 11-" as functionally identical to "KS: HERO System 12- (INT-based)" and "KS: Other RPGs 8-". ;)

And what about PS: GM?
Whoa, do you know anyone who can make a living (even part-time) as a professional GM?!? I want in on that action! ;)

 

Seriously, I'm my own worst critic when it comes to my GMing. Even if I thought PS: GM was worth a separate entry from KS: RPGs, I'm not sure I'd have it. :)

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

Whoa, do you know anyone who can make a living (even part-time) as a professional GM?!? I want in on that action! ;)

 

Um, sort of, yes. :)

 

As an English Conversation Teacher in Japan working for one of the big language schools (NOVA, AEON, Berlitz) your main job is to take a group of 2-4 students and teach them a language item or function in 35 minutes; then 5-10 minutes are set aside to roleplay using that item or function. Pedagogy varies a bit from company to company, but the role play element is almost always there. You're not quite GMing, but it's close.

 

I've also known a couple of professionals in the sex industry who were effectively LARP GMs.

 

So, the possibility is there. ;)

 

Seriously, I'm my own worst critic when it comes to my GMing. Even if I thought PS: GM was worth a separate entry from KS: RPGs, I'm not sure I'd have it. :)

 

Having been in one of your games, I think you're being too modest there.

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

I agree. One player (the guy I'm saying 'arrivaderci' to in Da Rules thread) always plays a character with the same personality' date=' which seems to be an idealized (to his own exceptionally testosterone-addled ideals) version of himself, and thus takes it rather personally when he gets beaten on, or his swaggering machismo doesn't impress someone.[/quote']

Well at least you didn't call me out by name...

:winkgrin:

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

Yeah, this has come up for my group(s) on many occasions. From playing V&V back in the day to a DnD game where we played our selves, we'd dealt with it quite often. GURPS worked quite well, because it's designed to handle fairly normal people, but I think it's do-able in HERO.

 

There are a couple of keys, though, and I honestly think these apply just as well when statting out, say, superheroes from comics. You MUST have a grasp on the statistics behind the mechanics. For instance, given the attributes and skill levels assigned to an average cop, say, how does the DEX you just gave your character situate him in a fight with one of those guys? What is his raw percentage chance to hit you? What is yours to hit him? Same for other attributes.

 

Related to that, it's important to remember that while the Normal CHAR Maximum for the "normal" stats is 20, that they basically describe a bell curve. 10 is average, and the stdevs are at about 13, 16, 19, and 22. Now, interestingly, those generally fall fairly close to the stat-roll and CV break-points. Thus, you can conceptualize someone who has a native stat-roll of 14- (23 stat) as being about 4 stdevs off normal, or slightly less than 1 in 100,000. In fact, that's probably pretty generous, but still, it serves our purposes. For instance, if some player told me that he had a 23 INT, I'd inform him that unless he was as smart as or smarter than everyone in a random sample of 100k adults, then he needs to sit down and be realistic. If he's ever met anyone in his life that he even thought might be as smart or smarter than he is, the odds are he doesn't have a 23 INT.

 

My last group was pretty honest about these sorts of things; the highest INT anyone claimed was about a 15, and I let it ride, since he's a self taught computer programmer who was making near on a hundred grand a year before he turned thirty, not to mention that he taught himself to play about six different musical instruments and had other talents to boot. He's a smart guy. Now, a previous group I had was ridiculous about it, largely, I think, because they were insecure. I had guys who never visited a gym, never played sports, and who took martial arts for about three months ten years ago telling me that they couldn't take Normal CHAR Maxima because they needed to be able to buy a 21 DEX. Uh huh.

 

One other thing would help - know how many "levels" in a skill represents what sort of investment of time. Suppose a 3 point base skill buy represents a couple of years of training - like an apprenticeship or an undergrad degree or maybe a slightly longer period of OJT or self teaching. Average people will have an 11- at that point, so that's about right. Anyone who claims a stat that would give him something like a 15- with it right out the door is full of it; he's claiming that with a few years of study he can become a thoroughgoing master of the skill. I don't think so. There's not a lot of granularity in this stuff at the human end. I wouldn't let anyone except people I KNOW to be demonstrably world-class at something have more than a 12-, maybe a 13- with a skill given just a 3 pt investment. It's just not plausible.

 

As for PSs, that doesn't seem like too much a problem to me, or at least no more a problem than for any game. The scope of the PS is up to the GM, and you can basically buy one for anything you could make a living at. I have PS Student, as I have essentially made a living at it for years, now. (heh) Not all jobs will get you a PS. I was a network tech, but I was a crappy network tech - I do not, and did not even at the time, have PS Network Tech. There's a reason I don't do that anymore. Plus, some jobs require no significant training, or no training that qualifies as a skill. I knew a guy who worked at a convenience store, but he didn't have PS Convenience Store Clerk, because if he went to another convenience store job, he'd have to relearn the only things he did learn on that job because every place does the piddly organizational things differently. A PS is portable, not just the result of learning where things are kept and how they're filled out where you work now. That's a function of native intelligence. I don't need a skill to tell me how to get home. I just know where I live. I got by in this fashion on my network tech job; I knew how things were done at that company, and I could coast by on anything more complex by getting someone else to do it. I had no portable skills, though.

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

I just recently "thumbnailed" myself for another thread in Hero Games Discussion. Didn't include any gaming related skills or the ubiquitous KS: Trivia.

 

Don Schamun (casualplayer)

 

STR 12 DEX 6 CON 11 BOD 13 INT 12 EGO 13 PRE 10 COM 8 PD 4 SPD 2 Everything else straight figured so 11 pts in stats.

Misspent Youth-Lockpicking, Security Systems, Trading

SuperTrucker-Combat Driving, TF: Large Vehicles, Construction Equipment, KS: Midwestern Highways, KS: Interstate System, Bump of Direction

California Redneck-Animal Handler, Survival: Forest, 2 levels w/ Firearms, Environmental Movement: Forest

Given Time I Can Fix It-Mechanics, Electronics, KS: Light Carpentry

Fought Family When We Got Bored-2 levels w/ HTH

Quick Hands and Reactions-+4 Lightning Reflexes for all actions

Devours Books-Speed Reading

Can Work All Day-1/2 END on 8 STR, x2 END on 12 STR

Can Hold a Room-+3 PRE costs END (this is an addition/edit to the previous posting)

Perceptive-+2 w/ all PER Rolls

Excellent Night Vision-+2 Sight PER only for counteracting darkness penalties

Bad Knee--2" Running also Burnout 14- on remaining 4"

 

Looks like somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-60 pts on Skills and Talents, making me ~ a 75 pt character.

 

I also in the past have played V&V and statted up friends. It did not go well when I gave my girlfriend of the time lots of skills but mediocre stats when she thought she had much higher raw stats, influenced by her D&D history. I slept cold that night.

 

I've also been statted up then powered up twice in HERO and once in Marvel SuperHeroes. Those times all went well, and made for fun games.

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

My last gaming group made a routine habit of taking real-world items, scenarios, and characters and items from movies and discussing them in game terms. This was usually done after the game and after "the girls" (the GMs 8 and 12 year old daughters, who were the finest role-players I have every had the privelege of playing with) had gone to bed.

 

(You wouldn't believe how many ways there are to write a leatherman.)

 

Naturally, the subject of writing ourselves would eventually come up, so we made a project out of it.

 

Our stats and disads were determined by everyone else, so as to avoid ego-based inflation. Where possible, we used real-world tests. We went to a gun range to see how many times in a 12 second turn we could move 6 meters and fire a 9mm reliably and accurately (which, btw, averaged at about 3) to determine our in-game speeds.

 

As far as skills went, we used published package deals wherever appropriate and feasable. The rest were "eye-balled" and were always subject to group debate. We didn't really worry about "percentages" or degrees of skill. The question was "Can you reliably and realistically do X?" if yes, then the skill was assumed bought at a standard characteristic roll.

 

At the end of it, my friend Randy - who was going through army ranger training at the time - came out highest at around 120. I came out second at around 100 because I hold dan ranking in a martial art and am proficient with most hand-to-hand weapons.

 

Handled constructively, it's a very entertaining exercise. We never got around to playing ourselves, though.

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

Ugh. I turn out to be about 11 pts, with 25 pts in Disads. Around 26 pts in skills, most of which are Knowledge Skills that I actually have some basis for believing I can make a living with (i.e.: I do and/or have done so). I didn't buy anything like KS: Gaming or KS: Trivia, although I again have a solid reason for believing I have the latter - I lettered in Quiz Team in undergrad. I suppose with those and some other miscellaneous "hobby" skills, my total skill expenditure should come to about 30 pts, bringing my grand total to around 15 base points and a total of 40 with Disads.

 

Wow, I'm depressed now.

 

At least I can say my stats have started to come up somewhat, since I started hitting the gym five days a week (two for strength, three for cardio). Not great, mind you (yet), but better than they were. Which isn't saying much. They had no where to go but up.

 

On the other hand, I am relatively free of major Disads. Aside from a Social Lim (Grad Student) that keeps me tied to my university and a nearly insignicant Phys Lim (Occasional Insomnia) that screws with me from time to time, I'm pretty free and clear. No Dependences or DNPCs, no major Phys Lims. I have a general Psych Lim (Essentially Altruistic and Law Abiding).

 

Yup. Pretty boring. No Martial Arts, no skills like Combat Driving or anything like that. I do have Oratory, from my experiences in front of a classroom and at conferences. Yippee.

 

Yeah, I'd need a superpower or SOMETHING to make me useful in a game.

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

At the end of it' date=' my friend Randy - who was going through army ranger training at the time - came out highest at around 120. I came out second at around 100 because I hold dan ranking in a martial art and am proficient with most hand-to-hand weapons. [/quote']

Ugh. I turn out to be about 11 pts' date=' with 25 pts in Disads. [/quote']

Again illustrating that a lot depends on who you're gaming with. You can make a campaign work with either, but if you have both in the same group... :D

 

Personally, my physical stats have gone to **** since health problems in recent years have kept me from exercising regularly. And I fear most of my soldier/cop/etc skills have atrophied as well. Hmm...what I need is a training montage set to a driving rock soundtrack! :rockon:

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

It's a Montage!

 

Heh. Actually, the thing is, I'm a big fan of different - sometimes wildly different - power levels in one group. As a friend of mine once said, "If we set Driving and Engineering at the same difficulty level [in discussing game design], why would anyone buy Driving? I can do so much more with Engineering!" I replied, "Yes, but you can't drive anywhere with it."

 

If the less-powerful characters have useful or even necessary skills that the more powerful one doesn't, the game can be quite interesting. Of course, we've even had some success with less powerful characters who DIDN'T have unique skills. I ran a game once where the "main" character was essentially Batman, and some of the other PCs were his sidekicks (Robin, Batgirl, etc). They varied in power level from each other, but they were all less powerful than he was, and none really had much in the way of skills he didn't. But it worked alright because he couldn't be every where at once. Indeed, because he was the toughest of them all, he usually got stuck wading into the thugs while one of his junior helpers snuck over to turn off the Doomsday Device.

 

I fully admit, though, that this sort of thing would only work with a group of really mature players, and in a game where the GM was doing his best to make sure that certain objectives had to be met simultaneously.

 

That having been said, I'll pit my KS: Philosophy against anyone's 200 pts of Ranger Training anyday! Ha! :help:

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

I probably should have included my disads too.

 

Psy Lim: Cynical (Common, Moderate)

Psy Lim: Wanderlust (Common, Moderate)

Psy Lim: Lecherous (Uncommon, Moderate) Maybe this should be Wandering Eye

Psy Lim: Temper (Common, Strong) This used to be virtually an Enraged

DNPC: Family (wife, two young sons), 14-

DNPC: Destitute parents, 8-

Soc Lim: Look like a thug (Noticed, Minor) This used to be Cop Magnet but I bought it down.

 

I'm not so many base points after all. :(:o

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

Vondy

 

ST 10

DX 10

CN 10

BY 10

IN 10

EG 10

PR 10

CM 10

 

PD 2

ED 2

SP 2

RC 4

ED 20

ST 20

 

4 +2 Hearing Perception

 

2 The Patience of Job / Determined (Resistance) +2

2 Coolness Under Fire (Resistance) +2

 

3 +1 Level Small Arms

2 +2 Levels KS: Rabbinic Studies (Midrash and Agadda Only -1)

9 Linguist, Scholar, Jack of Trades

 

3 Conversation 11-

7 Deduction 13-

1 High Society 8-

1 Navigation (Land) 8-

3 Oratory 11-

3 Streetwise 11-

1 Survival 8-

 

0 CuK: American Culture 8-

1 CuK: Jewish Culture 8-

1 CuK: Israeli Culture 8-

 

0 AK: The United States 8-

1 AK: Israel 8-

0 CK: Seattle 11-

1 CK: Jerusalem 8-

 

1 KS: Jewish Studies 11-

2 KS: Rabbinic Studies 12-

1 KS: Law Enforcement World 11-

1 KS: Military, Paramilitary, Terrorist World 8-

1 KS: Judo and Krav Maga 8-

1 KS: Comparative Religion 8-

1 KS: Cultural Anthropology 8-

1 KS: Classical and Medieval History 8-

1 KS: Epistemology 8-

1 KS: English Literature 8-

 

0 LS: English (Native): Idiomatic

2 LS: Hebrew (Fully Fluent)

1 LS: Judean Aramaic (Fully Fluent); Read Only -1

1 LS: Latin (Fluent)

1 LS: Ancient Greek (Fluent); Read Only -1

1 LS: Yiddish (Basic Fluency)

1 LS: Ladino (Basic Fluency)

1 LS: German (Basic Fluency)

 

1 PS: Private Investigator 11-

1 PS: Restaurant Manager 11-

1 PS: Software Test Engineer 11-

1 PS: Warlike Tailor 11-

1 PS: Cook 11-

1 PS: Infantry Rifleman 8-

1 PS: Gamer 8-

1 PS: Cheesemaker 8-

1 PS: Writer 8-

 

4 WF: Knives, Small Arms, Heavy Machingun

2 TF: Motorized 4-Wheel Vehicles, Motorized 2 Wheel Vehicles, Equines

 

1 American Passport

1 Israeli Passport

1 Firearms Permit

 

20 Psychological Limitation: Orthodox Jew (Common, Total)

05 Physical Limitation: Myopic (Mild, Rarely "Correctable")

05 Physical Limitation: Allergies (Mild, Frequent)

15 DNPC: Fatherhood and Marriage X2

05 Social Limitation: Orthodox Jew (Not In Some Cultures)

 

Design Notes: I left my stats as perfectly normal and modelled things where I'm "above average" with skill enhancers, perks, or skill rolls. I take good care of myself and exercise regularly, but I'm not outstanding. I've always been a "lifter" more than a "runner," but it didn't seem worth putting points into. On intellegence tests I consistantly score way-high on social intelligence, well above average for linguistic intelligence, but am average in most other areas and fall somewhat behind the mark in mathematics and visual pattern recognition. As a result, I gave myself linguist, scholar, and jack of trades with a few key skills, but didn't bother to increase my INT. Also, I'm extremely patient and determined and keep going when most others have given up (which I attribute more success to than smarts), and have been in some extremely hairy situations without freaking out (until after the fact). These were modelled with variations on resistance instead of EGO (this is a house rule - you would have to do presence defence in orthodox hero methodology). In terms of presence, I am often told I am intimidating due to my intensity (I really am a nice guy...) and I have a good feel for people, but I don't really know what is reasonable there. I just went with social skills. I have really sensitive hearing.

 

I have an eclectic skill set. I have studied both Judo and Krav Maga and can take care of myself, but I'm not in practice and probably don't have the 10 points required to pass the maneuver threshold - thus I have a KS 8-. I'm a pretty good shot, but I'm not a marksman, and was activated as a reservist for lebanon. I probably just have Weapons Fams and 1 level with small arms when all is said and done. I have a broad interest and a good memory, and am conversant in a good number of subjects. I went with 11- in the ones that have been work related (or soon will be), and 8- for the others. I'm good with languages and think what's there is a fair estimate of my abilities. As for professional skills I gave myself an 11- in things I've done for a living (I worked in restaruants through high school, managed them most of the way through university, moved on to be a full-time private investigator and volunteer police officer, and then after my conversion went to work for microsoft. When we moved to Israel I left tech to become a warlike tailor - I don't do much with regular clothing beyond repairs. I have a degree in the administration of criminal justice, and enough credits for degrees in philosophy and history. I felt this was covered by the skills that were there.

 

81 Total Points / 50 Disadvantage Points

 

I'm probably 0+50 with 31 points of experience :D

 

Note: Using Derek's Intelligence equation I would have an 18 in social intelligence (intrapersonal and interpersonal), a 15 in linguistic intelligence, a 10 in most other areas of intelligence, and a 8-9 in mathematic and visual pattern recognition related intelligence. I wouldn't know how to do that with the INT stat as currently written.

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

Note: Using Derek's Intelligence equation I would have an 18 in social intelligence (intrapersonal and interpersonal)' date=' a 15 in linguistic intelligence, a 10 in most other areas of intelligence, and a 8-9 in mathematic and visual pattern recognition related intelligence. I wouldn't know how to do that with the INT stat as currently written.[/size']

 

Shift the Social INT to Presence, average the linguistic and "most other areas", and minor PhysLim for the math and pattern recognition?

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Re: Altered Reality (making yourself)

 

Shift the Social INT to Presence' date=' average the linguistic and "most other areas", and minor PhysLim for the math and pattern recognition?[/quote']

 

So... I'd have a 17-18 presence, a 13 intelligence, and -1 Negative Skill Level: Mathematics and -2 Negative Skill Levels: Visual Pattern Recognition Rolls? I'll take it!

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