[DF] A Good 5-Point Talent With Brawling and Intimidation

[Sunrunners_Fire]

I'd suggest: Brawling (DX), Jumping (DX), Stealth (DX), Tracking (Per), Intimidation (Will), Survival (Per) with an alternate benefit of being able to use Danger Sense to notice unnatural (to notice "Squid", seeing how they themselves are "Bunny") threats on a successful ((IQ - 4 + Talent) or less) check rather than a reaction bonus.

That'd make them a hybrid between chasing, hijacking and pouncing predators with an additional emphasis on environmental adaptability. Name it, "Carnivore".

[Stripe]

Out of curiosity, can you cite any canonical references for an alternate benefit to a reaction bonus?

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by Stripe

Out of curiosity, can you cite any canonical references for an alternate benefit to a reaction bonus?

Power-Ups: Talents

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by Stripe

Out of curiosity, can you cite any canonical references for an alternate benefit to a reaction bonus?

GURPS Power-Ups 3: Talents, pg 18 - 19.

This one specifically: "• Access to a feat that the untalented can’t attempt – in the spirit of the Per roll for Danger Sense (p. B47), or the IQ roll for Empathy (p. B51) or Intuition (p. B63). The target number should start at attribute-4 and receive a bonus equal to Talent, so that someone with the standard maximum of four levels is trying a straight attribute roll."

... or did you mean specific talents with alternate benefits? 'cause that is a much larger list. Heh.

[Stripe]

Thanks! I don't have Power-Ups 3: Talents, nor did I even recall there was such a book!

A whole book dedicated to something I don't really like. Maybe it will change my mind! :D

[Xplo]

Originally Posted by Stripe

I'm not a big fan of talents in Fourth Edition. They just seem like free points to me with little justification for receiving them. That's one reason I posted. I figured if it passed the forum's inspection, then I can allow it.

I actually think they're (mostly) overpriced. Unless you have a character who will use all or nearly all of the skills in a Talent regularly and rarely any others, you're probably better off just buying high stats.

[Stripe]

That's another reason I don't like them. Often, when they aren't giving points for free, they're overpriced.

However, the primary reason I don't like Talents centers on the reaction bonus for the "natural aptitude." To me, that just muddies the water between a guy with a Talent for a skill and a guy with higher attribute regardless of the reduced hours of learning time. It's just an added layer of complexity that I don't think is necessary and in some cases, goes against my understanding of social relationships and interaction.

Hell, I've seen and experienced as much resentment and jealousy form being a particularly quick learner as anything. Walk into a poker game or pool hall as a beginner, then hold your own against the experienced and see how well all the people take it, regardless if there's money involved. Some won't care. Others will congratulate you. Yet others won't appreciate it at all. Beat a guy at an online video game—say Call of Duty or Go or Chess—who's been playing it for a long time and you've just began. See if that earns you a "+1 on your reaction roll." Sometimes, guys at gyms don't like to be out-lifted or out-fought by people they know have spent less time on the bench, on the mats or in the ring.

Call it competitiveness, Jealousy or just bad attitude, earning a pissy reaction or none at all is almost as common as being "impressed," it's been my experience.

Some of that takes the form of the randomness of the dice roll on the Reaction Table, but the fact remains, you get a bonus to that roll, one that I don't think is well represented in Talents.

Say you have a Talent for Writing and Poetry. Think that will make you more popular growing up? Sure, it might amongst the brains and teachers and girls who like that stuff (and only girls like poetry, you sissy, and I'll dunk your head in the toilet to prove that point), but with Talents, there's no built-in mechanical backlash (+1 here, -1 there). Maybe PU3 addresses that.

Just saying, Talents don't line up quite well enough with reality as a game mechanic in my view, plus it adds a layer of complexity that I don't appreciate. Not a real big deal, though. I don't mind them. To each their own. They just aren't one of my favorite aspects of Fourth Edition.

And, no, I don't like poetry, but once in the sixth grade, I did garner a scornful accusation that all too often, I used "big words," and my English teachers always loved me. That could certainly be interpreted as a Talent with a bad roll of the dice on the Reaction Roll Table. So, like I say, I'm not totally against Talents. Just not their biggest fan.

[Xplo]

Originally Posted by Stripe

the primary reason I don't like Talents centers on the reaction bonus for the "natural aptitude."

Ah, well, I can't really argue with that. IIRC PU3 suggests replacing the reaction bonuses with other perks more appropriate to the theme or member skills of the Talent.

Personally, I don't feel like the reaction bonuses and learning speed increase are all that important. If you were to axe them, Talents would be a little more overpriced, but not nearly enough so to break the game, IMO... especially since Kromm reckons they're underpriced now (or maybe it was PK that said that... or maybe I'm misremembering).