Hermit Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 All the talk of Cap's tactics and Bat's deduction has me wondering. I've never made (nor tried to make) a character with a 20- on a particular skill. Now I'm wondering if that wouldn't be fun just for a lark. I'm sure others of you have though, and want to know how it went. What skill did you have in the 'oh my gawd!' levels, for what character, and how did it work out in game play if ever? Bribery 20- "Gravitar, give up the world conquest and I'll give you this neato wheat penny!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 For the 750-point campaign I'm currently in, I helped our first alternate player (the guy who will come in if anybody drops out) make a character who is pretty much the Grand Admiral Thrawn of his home universe... Deduction 21- Tactics 21- KS: Military Science, 21- KS: Military Strategy, 21- KS: Military History, 21- And the 'Super-Deduction' non-powered power from "Dark Champions". (Precognition, Vague and Unclear, Requires a Deduction Roll, Only with minimum amount of data, etc.) The character concept is 'One of Istvatha V'Han's best generals, who's defecting to Earth because the Empress has betrayed him and ordered his murder for no reason. '(*) (*) It has to do with a very grave secret that the Empress is trying to keep at all costs, and her fear that this super-deductive/intuitive genius on her staff was getting too close to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JmOz Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 One power to consider adding to that guy +2 All combat skill levels, UBO x8, Range, Must communicate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patriot Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 the best A doctor with 20 some-odd sceince skills at 25- and his Ps:Doctor and Surgeon at 33-... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pattern Ghost Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 I can see a lot of supers or even very skilled heroic types having skill rolls over 18 or less, to compenesate for negative modifiers. The guy with a 14- in PS: Surgeon is going to be great in a trauma center, but send him into a coal mine without the proper equipment, where he has to relieve brain pressure with a hand drill, reach under a beam to stop the bleeding in a crushed arm without seeing what he's doing, and recycle someone's abdominal bleeding, and he's going to be hit by some serious situational penalties, while Doc 20 or less is going to walk away with three saves. (Yeah, I watch Everwood, so sue me. ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lupus Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 Played with a ninja with stealth 24- once. That was pretty obscene. Guy was constantly pulling -10 stunts like disappearing in plain sight and that kind of stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kristopher Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 No. I don't believe in "The Best." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 Originally posted by JmOz One power to consider adding to that guy +2 All combat skill levels, UBO x8, Range, Must communicate Actually, he's the team's mentalist -- he comes from a race of telepathic warrior adepts. They're more on versatility than raw power (i.e. -- they use telepathic Power Pools, not multipowers), but as a very high-end adept of his race, he's got an 80-point Telepathy Pool. And his race long ago learned the trick of everybody in a unit mind-linking up, and then everybody who had enough points left buying 1 8-point Combat Skill Level, UBO xhowever many they got, Only with mind-Linked. In the campaign, Istvatha V'Han uses the warrior lodges of the Ceran race as a sort of Imperial Sardaukar... and three guesses who the big cheese used to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fedifensor Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 I once did a jack-of-all-trades in a 75+75 Fantasy game. It's amazing what 5 Overall Levels can do for you...he was better than anyone else at any skill he bothered to purchase above a Familiarity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebuchet Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 My character Zl'f has a 22- Acrobatics roll. She was supposed to be an Olympic medallist in gymnastics even before she got her superpowers. Her other DEX-based skills are 18- (43 DEX). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormraven Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 Checkmate Chalis. So-named because he has a PS: Chess of 32-. He routinely plays multiple opponents, always takes black, and always wins. Of course, playing him, I've heard the 'I don't believe in 'the best' argument before. Usually, it's framed as 'there's always someone better'. But someone is going to be the ultimate. Someone is going to be able to defeat all comers in that skill - so why not a PC, as long as the skill isn't abusive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selganor Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 I recently spent quite a bit on someone who could "drop dead" in an instant (Simulate Death 21-) If he can't die he can at least seem to be dead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 Only one. Audra Blue, my hacker, has exceedingly high Computer related skills and Security Systems. She's supposed to be the best in her field and has designed bullet proof systems for many of the world's biggest corporations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phydaux Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 Who needs to be the best when 14 or less succeded 90% of the time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffreyWKramer Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 Originally posted by phydaux Who needs to be the best when 14 or less succeded 90% of the time? Well, two ideas come to mind. 1) Character concept - someone's concept may be that the character is *the* world expert in something - electronics, gadgeteering, chess, hopscotch, whatever. 2) That other 10%. Sucks to blow the roll when you really, really need it, and Murphy's Law will sometimes come into play. I once played a character who was filthy rich due to his intuitive business acumen. One problem is, I personally know crap-all about business and finances, so I bought his relevant skills up into the 21+ range and defined it as he'd just know what to do in those circumstances. In a long-ago DANGER INTERNATIONAL game, my Bond-esque character had Seduction at 19-, which of course had its in-game uses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theron Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 Apart from creating the campaign world's best martial artist, I've never really seen the need to take things above a 17-, and that's only for character concept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 Inspired by Mr. Miracle, a favorite of mine, I've done the escape artist idea (though mine was extremely weird and different) with lockpicking extremely high, as well as complimentary contortionist roll and double jointed. IIRC he also had a high security systems roll, though not as over the top as lockpicking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkham Posted November 5, 2003 Report Share Posted November 5, 2003 None of my characters have, but two of the PC's in one game I've run have had truely obscene skill rolls for some things. Note that this was an 800 point game, so they had points to throw around a bit. One was Golem, a robot secret weapon of the Israeli government with of course an eidetic memory and always on internet connection. So he purchased a very broad skill, KS: Internet at 50- The other was a cosmic traveler silver-surfer type where instead of trying to decide all the star systems he's been to and getting AK for them, he just purchased AK: Milky Way at 40- so he'd have a good ( almost certain ) chance of knowing any general info about any system he might encounter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebuchet Posted November 6, 2003 Report Share Posted November 6, 2003 Originally posted by phydaux Who needs to be the best when 14 or less succeded 90% of the time? Well it's nice to have a bit of extra capability when you do superheroic things like dive off a roof, bounce off a flagpole six stories down and catch a falling infant at the top of the arc, somersault to a nearby awning, bounce off the awning, and land safely on a nearby rooftop all without the baby waking up from his nap and your GM tells you "That's a -5 on your Acrobatics roll for all that. Roll three dice." For my character Zl'f, a -5 Acrobatics roll is a routine stunt since she would have a 17- to succeed. Even if someone were to neutralize her powers she would still be an 18- at Acrobatics. She's the best in the world at gymnastics; she'll never run into anyone her equal or superior unless there's a Goddess of Acrobatics. She makes Acrobatics rolls by 10 or more all the time. She not only succeeds at near-impossible stunts, she looks good doing it. Besides, 90% chance of success isn't good enough when you're saving a falling baby (or the world). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vondy Posted November 6, 2003 Report Share Posted November 6, 2003 Do Stuff: 21- Know Stuff: 21- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinecone Posted November 6, 2003 Report Share Posted November 6, 2003 I agree it sometime is nice to be able to have a 17 or less With a -5 modifier...that feels like "the best"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebuchet Posted November 6, 2003 Report Share Posted November 6, 2003 Originally posted by pinecone I agree it sometime is nice to be able to have a 17 or less With a -5 modifier...that feels like "the best"... For me it's a central part of the character concept. Even when I first designed her in 1992 as a 250 point 4th edition character she had a 21- Acrobatics roll. When we converted to 5th I upped it to 22-. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kristopher Posted November 6, 2003 Report Share Posted November 6, 2003 Originally posted by Stormraven Checkmate Chalis. So-named because he has a PS: Chess of 32-. He routinely plays multiple opponents, always takes black, and always wins. Of course, playing him, I've heard the 'I don't believe in 'the best' argument before. Usually, it's framed as 'there's always someone better'. But someone is going to be the ultimate. Someone is going to be able to defeat all comers in that skill - so why not a PC, as long as the skill isn't abusive? No one is "the best." There is no "ultimate." Everyone loses eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Posted November 6, 2003 Report Share Posted November 6, 2003 I had a High Priestess of Thoth once. She had 40 int and a zillion science, magic, and knowledge skills. She also had 2 overall levels and +6 to Int based skills OIF Thoth's Books of Knowledge, Magic, and Divinity, RSR. She kept these books in a pocket dimension when they weren't in use, thus OIF instead of OAF. That was a final 25- to virtually every Int based skill you can imagine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent X Posted November 6, 2003 Report Share Posted November 6, 2003 Originally posted by Kristopher No one is "the best." There is no "ultimate." Everyone loses eventually. Then why can we find those words in the dictionary? Hmmm? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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