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Originally Posted by johndallman
I'd put the Intelligence Analysis default on the sheet, and maybe put a point or so into it. The Truth-Seeker talent (PU3p17) would also be worth considering: this chap looks like he'd have a conspiracy-orientated worldview.
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IA is a good point. As mentioned elsewhere in the thread, three talents may already be pushing it; but maybe "Higher Purpose: Acquire Knowledge" (pMH1-24) might be a suitable replacement for a level of it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Brackin
I would be afraid that you had created an NPC. No Skills particularly for use in the field and absolutely not even basic aptitude for it (reduced HP, HT, Dodge and Move). This guy should probably be left behind at HQ and called on only when his Research skill was necessary. That appears to be what he'd want too.
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This is more a matter of play and setting style. Some of the inspirational characters for this one are from the CSI and DC superhero TV shows, the support-team members who send data to the heroes through wireless headsets; but the expectation is that there aren't going to be any front lines vs hidden bases, as soon as the AI (or whatever) once again figures out where the PCs are and that they're a threat, they'll have to pack up and move. The plan is to emulate the Cyberpunk 2020 RPG nethacker: give him his digital gear, stuff him in a van, and add 'escort the squishy data guy' as a secondary goal to any other plans.
With some luck, depending on the nature of the universe, once the nature of the threat is revealed, some power-ups will be able to be acquired.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Brackin
You've probably got too many Talents and it's possible none of them make sense for your character compared to more IQ. In particular having only 1 level of Talent almost never pays off. An efficient fit for choosing even a 5 pt Talent usually requires that you need 4 or more Skills covered by it all at an equally high level.
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Now there's some crunch I'll need to calculate. I've had some sort of impression that it's easier to upgrade an existing talent than to buy a new one from scratch, but that doesn't seem to be even a house-rule.
Let's see - CompOp and Research are both high enough that it takes at least 4 points to improve them, so any Talent that gives at least one level of either, plus at least one point in another skill, would be worth the cost. Computer Wizard improves CompOp and Expert CompSec; Academic improves Research and Writing; and Antiquarian improves Research and History. So in all three cases, using the talents seems to be cheaper than buying relevant character skills.
As for buying IQ, I've already bought it up to 13 to save on skill points. Almost all of the IQ skills are now 1-pointers, so I didn't think it was worth buying up to 14, but let me see. IQ comes in 20-point chunks - 10, if I buy back down Per and Will; CompOp, Research, and Speed-Reading are all in the 4-point-per-level range; so if I buy up IQ one more time and them down one level, I'd save 2 points (and increase all the other IQ skills to boot). If I did that again, Research only costs 2 per level, so it would be a net gain of 0 points (but all the other IQ skills would rise, so it's still worth doing).
Well, it looks like I've got some fiddling to do, since after that, the costs of the Talents come back into question. Thanks for pointing it out. :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by sir_pudding
The number of Perks appears to exceed the suggested limits.
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"What suggested limit? There's a suggested limit on Perks?" (finds pPU-3). Ah - so there is. Hm.
The individual perks that seem most relevant to the character are the SOP, 2 Dabblers, and 2 Efficients; should the perks I've bundled up with other Dis/Advantages should be counted separately?