07-11-2018, 05:58 PM | #131 |
Join Date: Dec 2017
|
Re: New Skills
Zot- You've done a great job listing many different situations that could have talents, but I think I would only rarely use them as a GM. Using these situations to create examples of how these situations could be done with existing talents ( and then creating only the talents that are not covered by others ) would be a help for players. For example, I don't see Intimidation ( maybe based on a contest of ST ) being not covered by existing talents. I would see torture as just intimidation against a weakened opponent.
|
07-11-2018, 06:11 PM | #132 | |
Join Date: Dec 2017
|
Re: New Skills
Quote:
Similarly some people seem to have a knack for learning languages when they are young, if if there was a discount on multiple languages, then having it only for beginning characters may make sense too. |
|
07-11-2018, 07:05 PM | #133 | |
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Sydney, Australia
|
Re: New Skills
Quote:
Another issue is that if you make decisions early that can limit the character later, what impact does that have on a beginner generating a new character? OK, someone's appearance suddenly getting better needs some explanation, and maybe should be foreshadowed somehow, but players and GMs working together can come up with some kind of explanation. |
|
07-12-2018, 12:19 AM | #134 | |
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Arizona
|
Re: New Skills
Quote:
I think, as a general rule, if the talent has a prerequisite, you can't try to do that thing until you've learned the talents for it, and also as a general rule, the more intellectual talents (phsyicker, for example) aren't possible either -- or, if they are, there is some kind of serious risk factor in attempting them; that is if you attempt to heal someone without the physicker talents (assuming the GM lets you make the attempt at all), there is a serious risk of harming the patient (inflicting additional hits) instead of healing them. |
|
07-12-2018, 12:23 AM | #135 | |
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Arizona
|
Re: New Skills
Quote:
I mean if a given GM wants to go down that particular path, it wouldn't be too hard to create a talent for that skill set; but speaking only for myself, I wouldn't do it. If a victim of torture were important to my story, I'd describe the victim, not the torture (though, of course, YMMV). |
|
07-12-2018, 01:04 AM | #136 | |
Join Date: May 2018
|
Re: New Skills
Quote:
The talents I listed though are ones I've used as a player or had in games I've GMed although, just to clear this up right now, I've never actually used torture in any stories I've been involved in. Nope, didn't inhale, never even in the same area with it :). One of the best examples of Intimidation I've seen in a movie, by the way, is in Unforgiven where Clint Eastwood's character clears out an entire room just by speaking in a reasonable manner. Nothing at all to do with ST. Sense Motive, the knowledge talents, and some of the culture talents I listed aren't covered by talents that I can think of. That's probably 10 or 12 talents there (7 for Sense Motive and knowledge talents and 5 for culture), plus at least 5 ranking membership talents that can potentially give you access to resources and man power through your position. So that's 15 new talents at a minimum. These talents would all work fine with contest rules for the situations I list under the categories, at a minimum: finding things out, declaring things your character knows, getting people to do what you want, and using your reputation. If people want to use the small set of rules I laid out in my Research and Knowledge post, so much the better, it provides a formalized way for the GM and player to play out the results of a research/knowledge talent use. Some people object to ranking membership as a talent but it does take a lot of time and experience to gain rank in a guild; I think it's a perfect example of buying a talent with XP. |
|
07-12-2018, 01:24 AM | #137 | |
Banned
Join Date: Mar 2018
|
Re: New Skills
Quote:
... perhaps with a line of copy stating: "... specifics of Methods and Techniques of Interrogation being left to player and GM ingenuity and taste.". And what would we balance that talent out with to determine how well a character can hold-up under and resist Torture... I mean *nondescript INTERROGATION techniques*? IIRC, I think TSR's TOP SECRET RPG *may* have dealt with this issue the same way... not sure. JK Last edited by Jim Kane; 07-12-2018 at 01:27 AM. Reason: typo |
|
07-12-2018, 01:41 AM | #138 | |
Join Date: May 2018
|
Quote:
(If you wanted to make experience factor in even more, you could add the number of attribute points a character has gained after 32-points to M, putting the max range at 8 to 26, which is closer to the max range of attributes) Last edited by zot; 07-12-2018 at 01:42 AM. Reason: typeos |
|
07-12-2018, 01:59 AM | #139 |
Join Date: May 2018
|
Re: New Skills
Derp, I was looking through the list of Ocean's 11 characters and realized I totally missed these. Six more talents:
|
07-12-2018, 02:33 AM | #140 | |
Join Date: May 2018
|
Secrecy and Intelligence Talents
Quote:
Thieves Guilds would do well to have experts in Defensive Intelligence to find out who's been "asking around" and what they've been looking for. Members with access to guild secrets should at least have some training in Defensive Intelligence. An expert Rumor Monger could start a revolt. Tyrants would need experts in Defensive Intelligence to spot rumor mongering and their own Rumor Mongers to counter it. |
|
|
|