Stat Challenge: Ebenezer Scrooge

[David Johansen]

Here's a more cinematic version:

Ebenezer Scrooge
83 points

Attributes:
St 10 [0]
DX 11 [20]
IQ 13 [60]
HT 10 [0]

Per 11 [-10]
Will 15 [10]

Advantages:
Very Rich [25]
Status 1 [0]

Disadvantages:
Reputation Predatory Business Man -3 on 12- [-15]
Miserly [-10]
Callous [-5]
Stubborn [-5]
Intollerance (poor people) [-10]

Quirks:
Hidebound [-1]
Solitary [-1]
Doesn't Celebrate Christmas [-1]

Skills:
Accounting 15 [8]
Area Knowledge (London) 13 [1]
Dancing 1 [10]
Economics 13 [4]
Interrogation 13 [2]
Intimidation 13 [2]
Mathematics 13 [4]
Merchant 13 [2]
Scrounging 12 [1]
Broad Sword 10 [1]

[Pursuivant]

I'd go for:

Ebenezer Scrooge (34 points)
5'8", 130 lbs., Thin build, underweight, scowling expression.

Attributes
ST 8 [-20] - Middle aged, relatively sedentary, has less than a year to live if he doesn't shape up.
DX 10 [0] - Nothing about him suggests that he's particularly fast or dexterous.
IQ 11 [20] - Reasonably well-educated by the standards of his time, but not so clever that he's at the top of his field. Chose business instead of, say, law or medicine.
HT 9 [-10] - Still capable of walking to & from work, but prone to dyspepsia and other ailments. Will die within the year if he doesn't shape up.

Secondary Traits
Per 10 [-5] - Nothing to suggest that he's particularly perceptive.
Will 12 [5] - Useful for Intimidation skill. Also represents relative ambition, drive & willingness to put up with hardship. Not at Navy SEAL level, but his most impressive stat.
FP 8 [-3] - Middle aged, relatively sedentary, has less than a year to live if he doesn't shape up.

Advantages

Night Vision 1 [1] - He's used to living in a house with minimal lighting and working in a gloomy office.
Reputation (+1, Successful Businessman, Small Group (Colleagues), 12-) [1]
Status 0 [0] - Could be Status 1, but he lives below his means.
Temperature Tolerance (Cold) 1 - He can put up with a cold house, even if it's killing him.
Wealth (Very Rich) [25]

Perks

Elegant Handwriting [1] - Due to enforced practice at boarding school & years spent as a clerk. Gives +1 to Reactions in written communications with people who care about such things.

Limited Legal Enforcement Powers [1] - Scrooge effectively has the ability to bring down the law on debtors, resulting in them being sent to debtors' prison or similar bleak institutions.

Social Regard (Feared by past & current debtors) [1] - A consequence of his LEP.

Disadvantages

Appearance (Unattractive) [-4] - Due to scowling, pinched expression, somewhat shabby & unfashionable clothing, and deterioration due to age & poor diet.

Destiny (Minor Disadvantage) [-5] - Will die within the year, mourned by no one. His spirit will be damned to wander Earth for eternity due to his wicked ways.

Intolerance (The Frivolous, Idle, and Poor) [-10] - His perceived need to be "professionally callous" to collect on debts has made him intolerant of anyone who isn't an ideal lending risk. He can be plenty nasty towards middle class people if he thinks that they're spending their time or money foolishly.

Miserliness (6-) [-20] - He's the type specimen for the disadvantage.

Odious Personal Habit (-2, Toxic Personality) [-10] - He's the original Boss From Hell. He's angry at the world, professionally callous, cynical, joyless, and more than willing to take out his negative feelings on others.

Reputation (-2, Merciless Businessman, Small Group (Past & Current Debtors, Colleagues, All the Time) [-4]

Unfit [-5] - Due to anorexia, poor living conditions, etc.

Maybe:

Bad Sight - Not canonical, but common in cinematic depictions. Quirk level Bad Sight (or just being too cheap to get glasses - which were expensive at the time) might explain his tendency to squint, stare, or disbelieve his eyes.

Workaholic - Explains his general lack of a social life and inability to appreciate those who want a more appropriate work/life balance. (OTOH, Victorians worked ridiculously long hours by modern standards, so his long hours might be normal for his time.)

Quirks:

Expression ("Bah, Humbug!") [-1]

Fears Poverty [-1] - Explains the Miserliness and his general contempt for the disabled & poor, as well as his horror that he might end up in little better than a pauper's grave.

Guilty Conscience [-1] - Why he ends up being a reformed character rather than telling the ghosts to get stuffed. Even before they showed up he presumably had a suitably Victorian belief in a just and wrathful God and the certainty of the Resurrection, Final Judgement and Eternal Salvation or Damnation.

Secretly Miserable [-1] - He's suffered a fair bit of personal tragedy. He was lonely in school, probably bullied, and keenly feels his sister's and former employer's deaths even decades afterwards. He might feel grief and guilt over his partner's (Marley's) death, since Marley was the closest thing to a friend that he had. The emotional pain he's suffered might be what's driven him to living a solitary, straitened existence.

Uncongenial [-1]

Skills

Accounting (A) IQ+3 [12] - 14 - His primary skill.

Area Knowledge (Neighborhood) (E) IQ+1 [2] - 12 - He knows his neighborhood well, but he doesn't get into the really scary or posh areas of London.

Carousing (A) HT-1 [1] - 7 - Rusty due to years of neglect. (He was apprenticed to Mr. Fezziwig, who knew how to have a good time, and he didn't start off being awful.)

Dancing (Social) (E) DX-1 [1] - 9 - Rusty due to years of neglect. (Ditto.)

Detect Lies (H) IQ-2 [1] - 9 - Good for shaking down debtors when combined with Interrogation & Intimidation.

Economics (H) IQ-2 [1] - 9 - He's a money lender, not a professor of finance. Anyhow, the science of economics was in its infancy in the 1840s. He's heard of Adam Smith, maybe read his book.

History (British) (A) IQ-2 [1] - 9 - The remains of a boarding school education.

Interrogation (A) IQ-1 [1] - 10 - A useful secondary skill, but he's a money lender not a police detective.

Intimidation (A) Will [2] - 13 - He's professionally scary when he wants to be. A necessary secondary skill for a debt collector.

Law (British Business Law) (A) IQ-2 [1] - 9 - Necessary for a man who deals in lending contracts.

Literature (Classical) (A) IQ-2 [1] - 9 - The remains of a boarding school education.

Mathematics (Applied) IQ-1 [2] - 10 - Good enough for professional competence, but not something he uses often. You can bet he remembers the Compound Interest formula, however.

Merchant (A) IQ+1 [4] - 12 - Another secondary skill, but he's a moneylender, not a storekeeper.

Professional Skill (Moneylender) (A) IQ+2 [8] - 13 - His other primary skill.

Psychology (A) IQ+1 [4] - 12 - Good for evaluating a potential debtor's character on the fly. Useful for a money lender in an age before credit reporting services existed.

Theology (Church of England) (A) IQ-2 [1] - 9 - Chapel was mandatory for British boarding school boys until sometime after WW2. Can sing the doxology from memory.

Writing (A) IQ-1 [1] - 10 - The remains of a boarding school education. Also necessary for keeping records, writing letters, etc.

Languages
Ancient Greek (Broken) [2] - Can read or recite a few lines from The Illiad or The Odyssey under duress.
Classical Latin (Written (Accented)/Spoken (Broken)) [3] - Might still be forced to conjugate Latin verbs in his nightmares, but not so good at carrying on a conversation.
English (Native) [0]

Cultural Familiarity
Western (Native) [0]

Christmas Miracle Scrooge (+108 points)

Attributes:
ST 9 [+10]
HT 11 [+20]

Secondary Characteristics
FP 11 [+3]

Advantages
Add:
Destiny (Minor Advantage) [5] - Will help many people and will be greatly mourned when he dies. His soul will go to Heaven.
Reputation (+2, Generous, Kindly, and Full of Good Cheer, Large Group (Colleagues & Neighbors), All the Time) [10]
Status 1 [0]

Perk
Add Unusual Background (Miraculous transformation) [1]

Disadvantages
Remove all Disadvantages (+58 points)

Maybe: Sense of Duty (Friends, Family, & Neighbors) [-10]

Quirks
Remove all perks (+5) and replace them with: Cheerful [-1]; Generous [-1]; Kind [-1]; Loves Christmas and all it represents [-1].

[Witchking]

Even though my favorite Christmas greeting is in fact: 'Bah Humbug!', I do applaud and appreciate the efforts here.

My $0.02 would be this:

I agree that Scrooge fits appropriately at IQ 13.
He has many faults but he is smart and fairly quick on the uptake. What he misses he is mostly choosing to ignore.

I know someone up thread pointed out his lack of social skills as a point for a lower IQ value. However social skills do need to be learned and even if you do have the skills you can choose to ignore them. 'Social convention says to say X, but I will say Y since I know that will torque him off.'

It has also been posted upthread in one or two places that he would have a level or two of Business Talent. I would heartily agree. IIRC he started poor as someone else's clerk, he rose to the wealth he now possesses on his own talents. With no Capital to begin with, only what he scrimped and saved. In an era of bare-knuckle Capitalism to boot. IQ 13 plus 1 or 2 levels of Business Talent strikes me as just about right.

[SimonAce]

I like Pursuivant's version a lot though you could add terminally ill to the build It seems tailor made for his situation

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by SimonAce

I like Pursuivant's version a lot though you could add terminally ill to the build It seems tailor made for his situation

The only thing that makes his death imminent is bad lifestyle choices though. If he starts heating his house and stops starving himself he's good for a few more years.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

The only thing that makes his death imminent is bad lifestyle choices though. If he starts heating his house and stops starving himself he's good for a few more years.

Terminally Ill as a self-imposed mental disadvantage?

[cptbutton]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Terminally Ill as a self-imposed mental disadvantage?

Vow of Poverty (life-style only)?

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Witchking

I agree that Scrooge fits appropriately at IQ 13.
He has many faults but he is smart and fairly quick on the uptake. What he misses he is mostly choosing to ignore.

I was deliberately going for a point-minimized, "realistic" but completist take on Scrooge with bare minimum attribute scores.

For that sort of character, success is partially due to luck, partially due to a now abandoned Greed, Obsession, &/or Workaholic disad, and partially due to reasonably impressive combined skill levels in Accounting, Merchant, and PS (Moneylending).

I agree that a slightly more cinematic take on the character should have a higher IQ and at least one level of Business Acumen Talent. That would boost most of his primary skills to level 15+ and would negate the need for a positive Reputation for a net point increase of ~35-50 points.

Originally Posted by Witchking

I know someone up thread pointed out his lack of social skills as a point for a lower IQ value. However social skills do need to be learned and even if you do have the skills you can choose to ignore them.

In a way, Scrooge seems like he's on the autistic spectrum - good with numbers, not so good with people, and using generalized misanthropy to push people away before they're in a position to hurt him. A disadvantage like Clueless or Oblivious might not be out of place.

I could certainly see Unluckiness, Terminally Ill or Cursed as a self-imposed disadvantage for someone with a massive level of subconscious self-loathing. It's the non-combat version of On The Edge or a severe but really unhealthy Vow. You constantly make self-defeating or indirectly self-sabotaging life decisions, even if you're not basket-case chronically depressed, which will ultimately damage or destroy you.

Something like that would be the best way to model a "functional depressive" who seems normal right up to the point that they commit suicide.

Rather than Terminally Ill, however, I chose Unfit. With his unimpressive HT score, that -1 penalty to resist or recover from Disease or Injury is a death sentence in the grit & filth of Victorian London (~37% to make HT rolls, vs. ~25% with Unfit). Due to his Miserliness, Scrooge is at severe risk of getting carried off by the next cholera or flu epidemic, or dying from pneumonia brought on by the stress of living in an almost unheated building. Susceptibility (Disease) would be an equally valid choice with about the same point cost.

Of course, in Scrooge's case, he's the beneficiary of a rather elaborate miracle, so there's no reason why he couldn't lose -100 or more points in disadvantages literally overnight. In that case, Terminally Ill (1 year) magically going away is plausible.

While Dickens doesn't get heavily into the details, post-miracle Scrooge might exchange his bad habits for virtuous self-imposed advantages like Charitable, Code of Honor, Disciplines of Faith, Sense of Duty, and Vow (Atone for his previous wickedness, embody the spirit of Christmas), keeping his point cost about the same. If his "mid-life crisis" puts him on the fast-track to sainthood, he might exchange his Wealth for Blessed, Charisma 1, and Patron (Divine or Saintly).

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

Christmas Miracle Scrooge (+108 points)

Attributes:
ST 9 [+10]
HT 11 [+20]

Secondary Characteristics
FP 11 [+3]

Advantages
Add:
Destiny (Minor Advantage) [5] - Will help many people and will be greatly mourned when he dies. His soul will go to Heaven.
Reputation (+2, Generous, Kindly, and Full of Good Cheer, Large Group (Colleagues & Neighbors), All the Time) [10]
Status 1 [0]

Perk
Add Unusual Background (Miraculous transformation) [1]

Disadvantages
Remove all Disadvantages (+58 points)

Maybe: Sense of Duty (Friends, Family, & Neighbors) [-10]

Quirks
Remove all perks (+5) and replace them with: Cheerful [-1]; Generous [-1]; Kind [-1]; Loves Christmas and all it represents [-1].

I would probably give him Charitable (12) [-15].

[Astromancer]

GURPS needs a Self-Destructive Habit disadvantage. In Scrooge's case it would be SDH: Pointless Austerity .

And OPH:Sharp Tongue or OPH: Verbal Aggression is clearly needed. Ebenezer Scrooge routinely tells people how lame and dispensable they with wounding force. Rapier Wit would suit some cinematic Scrooges.