X-Files level characters

[JoelSammallahti]

GURPS Mysteries has a Police Detective template that's 60 points. With a little extra investment in more Legal Enforcement Powers, Security Clearance and maybe Rank, it produces a really nice FBI investigator. The book recommends dropping IQ by one point for an ordinary NPC homicide detective, so the template is right on the money skill-level-wise for the PCs' colleagues as-is (primary skills at 13). With all that, a 150-point character still has around 70 points left for being a kickass former Army Ranger or martial arts champion or something, or one of the world's foremost experts on UFOs and psychic phenomena.

[AlexanderHowl]

The average Army Ranger is built off a 110 point template if I remember correctly from Special Ops in 3e. A bad-ass Army Ranger would probably be closer to 240 points, similar to the average member of SEALS that is presented in SEALS in Vietnam. Anyway, FBI agents are better quality that local or state law enforcement because the FBI possesses high selection criteria and has the pick of the crop.

I agree that the average member of the FBI would be a 150 point character, but Mulder and Scully are not average (thus their 250 point starting character status). It is important to remember that they regularly survive stuff that would be challenging to the members of Special Forces or SEALS, so they are probably comparable (though less physical). If you want to run an X-Files show type game, starting with 250 points is probably best.

I would suggest the following lens to the Detective template in GURPS Horror (p. 37) to represent the average FBI Agent. FBI Agent (+70 points): DX+2 [40], HT+1 [10], Will+1 [5], Fit [5], Legal Enforcement Powers (Federal Agent) [10], Duty (FBI, 12-) [-10], Driving (Automobile) (A) DX [2]-12, Guns (Rifle) (E) DX [1]-12, Guns (Shotgun) (E) DX [1]-12, Observation (A) Per [2]-13, Research (A) IQ [2]-12, and Search (A) Per [2]-13 (FBI Agents must choose Guns (Pistols) over Shortsword). With that lens, the average FBI agent should be a minimum of a 150 point character.

[Gollum]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

I agree that the average member of the FBI would be a 150 point character, but Mulder and Scully are not average (thus their 250 point starting character status). It is important to remember that they regularly survive stuff that would be challenging to the members of Special Forces or SEALS, so they are probably comparable (though less physical).

They do survive amazing dangers, indeed, but don't do it by their own abilities. They never fight brillantly or elaborate any amazing battleplan, for instance... Most often, they are just lucky, someone help them at the last moment, and so on... Brief, their success is more due to the scenario rather than to their capabilities.

In GURPS terms, they would probably have Luck and their players would spend a lot of CP to assure successful actions or plot twists.

[Flyndaran]

Serendipity, because so many supernatural and/or dangerous mundanes acted really dumb. But that's genre convention for most "outclassed" fiction.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Serendipity, because so many supernatural and/or dangerous mundanes acted really dumb. But that's genre convention for most "outclassed" fiction.

And weirdness magnet!

[Gollum]

Yes, and I didn't notice any outstanding combat skill, nor athletic one, nor stealth one, nor driving or piloting one... They are very, very far from James Bond or Jason Bourn...

Actually, except their high skill levels in their respective domain of knowledge (medicine/biology for Scully and UFO/occultism for Mulder), they are quite mundane people.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by ericthered

And weirdness magnet!

I'd say that virtually every protagonist in fiction has some form of that.
Soap opera characters probably have the most extreme versions, if you think about it.

[JoelSammallahti]

I don't agree with your calibration, but I think it's ok to disagree.

I think Seals in Vietnam is another instance of post-Basic Set inflation in point totals and skill levels. The Basic Set puts Navy Seals and world class scientists at 100-200 points and ordinary cops at 50-75 points, with seasoned cops and star athletes in between at 75-100 points. I think those are good guidelines, and I'd go by them.

So, 75 or maybe 100 points for most FBI agents and 150 points for the PCs. And yes, a 150-point character can easily be a former special operator or star athlete (like Johnny Utah in Point Break), emphasis on former. It's perfectly reasonable for physical attributes, advantages and skills to have degraded by about a level since your active days, which is easily good for a 30-50-point savings.

[Andreas]

Originally Posted by JoelSammallahti

I think Seals in Vietnam is another instance of post-Basic Set inflation in point totals and skill levels. The Basic Set puts Navy Seals and world class scientists at 100-200 points and ordinary cops at 50-75 points, with seasoned cops and star athletes in between at 75-100 points. I think those are good guidelines, and I'd go by them.

That might not be the case. The SEAL template has skill levels of 14 or lower except a single one at 15. That does not seem at all unreasonable given the guidelines in the Basic Set. Also as the description of the template explains, real SEALs often had flaws which the template lacks and it recommends that "For more variation in a squad, players could opt to reduce some attributes by one or two points rather than increase them".

If you do that, the template could fit into the 100-200 point range.

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I'd say that virtually every protagonist in fiction has some form of that.
Soap opera characters probably have the most extreme versions, if you think about it.

There are plenty who don't. You don't have wierdness magnet if you encounter wierd things because someone you know has wierdness magnet, because you sometimes choose to seek out wierd situations through your own actions or because you possess some other trait which makes you more likely than average to encounter wierd situations (some Reputations for example).

[sir_pudding]

Characters in mainstream fiction and literature usually don't have weirdness magnet, because weird things don't happen in the those kinds of stories.