Vestnik Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 (Caveat: I only have 5E.) I'm building a character part of whose power set is preternatural intelligence ("preternatural" = coolest word ever). I want her to have the ability to, using her prodigious intellect, be able to become reasonably proficient at almost any skill (in the short term, i.e., one adventure) given enough time to learn the basics of it. Originally, I had built this easily as Cramming plus 4 Overall Skill Levels, thinking this would give her a 12- on any skill she had crammed. However then I read the fine print on Cramming stating that the 8- role "cannot be increased in any way." So that idea didn't work out. The obvious way to build this is with a Skill VPP, but I know these are heavily frowned upon for balance reasons. Is there any kind of obvious other solution I haven't thought of? Thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Checkmate Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Re: Build Question: Quick Learner I think those are pretty much the only way. You could always ask your GM if he'd allow you to use your Overall Levels on Cramming. I mean you paid 45 points to pick up a 3 point skill, that seems fair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndianaJoe3 Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Re: Build Question: Quick Learner (Caveat: I only have 5E.) I'm building a character part of whose power set is preternatural intelligence ("preternatural" = coolest word ever). I want her to have the ability to, using her prodigious intellect, be able to become reasonably proficient at almost any skill (in the short term, i.e., one adventure) given enough time to learn the basics of it. ... The obvious way to build this is with a Skill VPP, but I know these are heavily frowned upon for balance reasons. Is there any kind of obvious other solution I haven't thought of? Thanks!! What sort of skills did you want the character to learn this way? If you're only using it for Background Skills, than a skill VPP isn't overly powerful. Intellect and Interaction skill pools aren't that bad either. Agility and Combat skill pools are problematic, but they don't seem to be the kind of skills you would be using it for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vestnik Posted January 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Re: Build Question: Quick Learner I was thinking mostly of intellect and background skills, PSs, the kind of things you could theoretically learn by watching and studying if you were fast enough. I have in mind the archetypal supergenius who, say, is abandoned in a tribe of fishermen and within a week is fishing as well as they do, or who can gain an understanding of particle physics by going through the books in a decent library in a few day's time. A lot of Edgar Rice Burroughs characters seem to do this kind of thing. I actually tried building a VPP version of this super-Cramming, but it wound up costing not much more than Cramming while being much, much better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Re: Build Question: Quick Learner Consider KS: Things I've Studied Lately PS: Things I've Studied Lately Sci: Things I've Studied Lately In the case of skills that don't fall into those categories, perhaps they can be complementary skills assuming you're allowed to use something complementary to Cramming. Cramming Autofire - Doesn't give you a higher roll but allows multiple rolls each time (assuming whoever is running the game allows that interpretation of Autofire.) Overall Levels with Limit: Only with Cramming. Detect: Answer to Question or Solution to Problem. Based on the build for Lightning Calculator, this would be an expensive Detect but it would have to be limited to Things I've Studied Lately Lucius Alexander I just cram stuff into the palindromedary's saddle bags Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nexus Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Re: Build Question: Quick Learner If you have The Ultimate Skill and your Gm allows the new "Universal" skills might help you out. Basically they're versions of Universal Translator except for Ks's, Ps's, etc. You could get them with a Limitation "Must have studied recently". Another options from that book is to get Some really board base skills (PS: Terrestrial Occupations) and and PSLs to offset the penalties for trying for more specific information with a similar limitation about having to have studied or observed the skill in question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshairCollie Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Re: Build Question: Quick Learner Were it I, I'd just consider it justification to spend XP on skills with minimal training time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtelson Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Re: Build Question: Quick Learner How I generally handle this type of character is to start with a wide range of broad skills, and with the GM's permission maintain a bunch of experience/character points and buy the skills 'on the fly'. This type of character will also usually have a few blocks of cramming and a limited form of universal translator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Cross Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Re: Build Question: Quick Learner I'd also recommend a few Skill Enhancers as well,say Scholar & Jack of All Trades at a bare minimum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Cross Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Re: Build Question: Quick Learner And Linguist too.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinecone Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 Re: Build Question: Quick Learner (Caveat: I only have 5E.) I'm building a character part of whose power set is preternatural intelligence ("preternatural" = coolest word ever). I want her to have the ability to, using her prodigious intellect, be able to become reasonably proficient at almost any skill (in the short term, i.e., one adventure) given enough time to learn the basics of it. Originally, I had built this easily as Cramming plus 4 Overall Skill Levels, thinking this would give her a 12- on any skill she had crammed. However then I read the fine print on Cramming stating that the 8- role "cannot be increased in any way." So that idea didn't work out. The obvious way to build this is with a Skill VPP, but I know these are heavily frowned upon for balance reasons. Is there any kind of obvious other solution I haven't thought of? Thanks!! Ulti-skill "takes the lid off Cramming, both for a higher base roll and skill rolls...I always alowed it anyway...those are suggestions, not rules in my mind...so check Ulti-skill, or talk to the Gm about a work around... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vestnik Posted January 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 Re: Build Question: Quick Learner Ulti-skill? You mean Ultimate Skill? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinecone Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Re: Build Question: Quick Learner Ulti-skill? You mean Ultimate Skill? Yep...sorry for the Jargon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fearghus Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Re: Build Question: Quick Learner Consider KS: Things I've Studied Lately PS: Things I've Studied Lately Sci: Things I've Studied Lately In the case of skills that don't fall into those categories, perhaps they can be complementary skills assuming you're allowed to use something complementary to Cramming. Cramming Autofire - Doesn't give you a higher roll but allows multiple rolls each time (assuming whoever is running the game allows that interpretation of Autofire.) Overall Levels with Limit: Only with Cramming. Detect: Answer to Question or Solution to Problem. Based on the build for Lightning Calculator, this would be an expensive Detect but it would have to be limited to Things I've Studied Lately Lucius Alexander I just cram stuff into the palindromedary's saddle bags I think this is the way to go... I was also thinking that you could use skill levels to simulate this... just take a custom limitation (value set by your GM) on them that it requires you to have spent game time studying the material to apply them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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