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Old 08-27-2021, 04:31 PM   #1
Johnny Angel
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
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Default Would This Houserule Bother You: Unusual Backgrounds attached to high ability scores

For an upcoming campaign, I have been considering a houserule related to character building and spending CP.

The basic idea is that access to high ability scores would require an Unusual Background (UB)* to access spending that many CP in one area.

*Alternatively (and I would encourage doing this,) a player could use the points which would be the Unusual Background cost and use them to purchase a trait associated with the high ability.

For example, IQ of 15 would be (as described in Basic Set) "Amazing... an attribute this high draws constant comment." So, 15 IQ would be normal cost plus a Reputation, Social Status, a trait like Lightning Calculator, or something else. I may even accept a few points spent on an associated skill as taking the place of the UB.

I do not plan on being strict with what exactly the points would be spent on, as long as there is some loose connection between the ability and the traits chosen.

Right now it's a rough idea.

Part of my intent is to further prompt building characters which have some personality and/or connection to the surrounding world and also provide some cost/benefit tradeoff between players who want to choose individual skills versus those who just want to dump points into ability scores. Both ways of approaching character design is valid in GURPS, but (for the particular campaign I have in mind) I would like to encourage spending points differently but without setting hard CP-limits for different parts of a character.

I have not settle on what would be the point value associated with different levels of ability.

edit: Would this bother you as a player? Do you have any general thoughts about the idea?

Last edited by Johnny Angel; 08-27-2021 at 04:33 PM. Reason: edit: to add questions
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Old 08-27-2021, 05:01 PM   #2
Donny Brook
 
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Default Re: Would This Houserule Bother You: Unusual Backgrounds attached to high ability sco

I generally hate UB, but I would not object to your alternatives.
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Old 08-27-2021, 05:29 PM   #3
Stormcrow
 
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Default Re: Would This Houserule Bother You: Unusual Backgrounds attached to high ability sco

If my purpose is to keep characters within a certain range without restricting the possible scores, I'd set a permissible range as I want it, and then when players inevitably ask to go past that range, that's when I'd pull out the Unusual Background. I wouldn't offer it to them proactively, because I don't want them to try to push my boundaries in the first place.
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Old 08-27-2021, 06:15 PM   #4
Prince Charon
 
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Default Re: Would This Houserule Bother You: Unusual Backgrounds attached to high ability sco

This is something that the GURPS 3e ability costs were good for.
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Old 08-27-2021, 06:18 PM   #5
SimonAce
 
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Default Re: Would This Houserule Bother You: Unusual Backgrounds attached to high ability sco

Its fine for a high realism game. Generally normal stats other than ST for humans won't be above say 15 .

The old cult of stat normalization thread should be useful to you.

Strength is kind of the exception, its capped at 12 or 13 for women and 15 for men.

You might check out the old Women and Strength: The Definitive Study thread if you want to go down that route.
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Old 08-27-2021, 06:36 PM   #6
gmillerd
 
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Default Re: Would This Houserule Bother You: Unusual Backgrounds attached to high ability sco

I use unusual background for anything well out of the campaign world norm. If you are playing a stranger things game and someone wants to be an olympic class runner or archer, your dad is a politician with secret service protection, cia spy or a wizard, you are a teen rock star, you can throw a 90mph fastball, etc.

For other games that are not straight, you want to be crazy race option, you want to be a spy/triple agent, etc.

But I always spend those points on something that is an equivalent, so a duty to practicing, duty to make appearances, etc. So in the end it is really just SoD: WIOC athletics -10 (UB)

The exception to this is where you are a mage, vampire, an alien, a REALY ninja, etc in a setting where they don't exist. Then it's just a tax RAW.
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Old 08-27-2021, 06:52 PM   #7
edk926
 
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Default Re: Would This Houserule Bother You: Unusual Backgrounds attached to high ability sco

For realistic games, it makes perfect sense to have a UB for high attributes or skills. For cinematic games, I don't think a UB is needed for much of anything.
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Old 08-27-2021, 07:55 PM   #8
Pursuivant
 
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Default Re: Would This Houserule Bother You: Unusual Backgrounds attached to high ability sco

I think that it's a good idea, at least in some campaigns.

In a realistic or quasi-realistic campaign this is a very good way to make high attribute scores less cost effective while not banning them outright.
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Old 08-27-2021, 08:24 PM   #9
Johnny Angel
 
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Default Re: Would This Houserule Bother You: Unusual Backgrounds attached to high ability sco

I would not require UB because I see that as empty points.

I would figure out a way to determine a point value for what a UB for a high ability would be. A player could then either take UB or choose traits equal to that cost (which are associated with the ability in some loosely narrative way).

So, the super strong guy might choose to take Lifting ST; Reputation: Strongest Knight in the Realm; or something else.

What I have in mind for style is a starting point of feeling "real" but with some cinematic touches. People eat and sleep; fire burns; and being stabbed in the face is generally bad. The PCs and main characters have abilities beyond normal people but don't quite make it into super hero territory. I want the players to have cool abilities while still having characters who are part of the world they're in.

I'm not sure of what's a fair way to assess the UB value. At first I had considered some percentage.

I've also considered some value associated with "level." By "level," I mean the tiers of notice described in Basic Set. I'm away from books, but I think Characters mentions that 10-11 is roughly normal; 12-13 is the high end of normal; 14 is noticeable and garners praise from others; and 15+ is amazing.

3rd Edition had rising costs and games like D&D increase point buy costs for higher scores. I'm looking to do something like that while also giving the player something of value along with that extra cost. Hopefully it also has the side benefit of prompting some thought concerning who a character is in the context of the game world.
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Old 08-27-2021, 08:26 PM   #10
Fred Brackin
 
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Default Re: Would This Houserule Bother You: Unusual Backgrounds attached to high ability sco

It would annoy me with its' lack oif necessity. If you don't want PCs with amazing this that and the other things don't give them so many cp.

"But" you will say "PCs will take many Disads to get the cp they want!". Well then, this might be the thing to forbid. I'd do it by GM approsval raher than some mechanical limit ut it's a good thing to do. It's a rare Disad that creates no work for the GM.

Simple Disad limits like no more than 50% if starting total can ttally mess up a game. 75 pts in a 150 or a 1500 pt game could still turn the PC into a Hemohilliac Albino Kleptomaniac with a crippling Phobia of octopuses.

Don't let PCs do stupid things like that. The best way to handle Disads is to have the player chose them first so as to define the chartacter's background and personality. Use the pts derived from that to set abudget and then let them buy Attributes, Ads and Skills with no going back to get more Disads to get more points.
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