08-22-2019, 04:22 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Oct 2013
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Custom talent balancing advice
So long story short, am building up a fantasy campaign. Three major playable races (Humans, Elves, Dwarves).
Have custom combat styles ect for all of them, along with their own gimmicks, but decided to spice things up by giving each of them a custom talent that ties into their signature combat style. Am using alternate benefits from Powerups 3, and wanted to get opinions on the three alternate benefits I gave as far as balancing them is concerned. If it is relevant, the current race with gunpowder weapons (humans) only has Matchlock weapons. Musketeer Talent (5 points/level) Requires: Human Acrobatics, Guns (Musket), Smallsword, Fast Draw (ammunition), Running. Secondary bonus: Reduces reload time on muskets by 5% per rank. Ironwall Talent (5 points/level) Requires: Dwarf Axe/Mace, Hiking, Polearms, Shield, Armory (melee weapons) Secondary bonus: Add rank to ST before determining knockback. Skirmisher Talent (5 points/level) Requires: Elf Bow, Camouflage, Fast-Draw (Arrow), Running, Stealth. Secondary Benefit: Reduce armour worn DR by rank for the purposes of determining stealth penalties (Low Tech 103) Last edited by FuelDrop; 08-22-2019 at 05:31 AM. Reason: Humans had one less skill than everyone else. Because I is smart. |
08-22-2019, 04:11 PM | #2 | ||
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
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Re: Custom talent balancing advice
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And are you allowing the Gunslinging Perks from GURPS Gun Fu or GURPS Tactical Shooting (specifically I'm eyeballing the Quick Reload perk)? If you aren't, check it out and determine if 5% per level is enough (for reference Quick Reload shaves 25%/lvl off of reloading times, to a maximum reduction of 3 sec to reload a Musket). Quote:
Otherwise, they look good. Last edited by evileeyore; 08-22-2019 at 05:05 PM. |
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08-22-2019, 05:04 PM | #3 | |
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
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Re: Custom talent balancing advice
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If your answer is "once", then I'd chose a different Alternate Ability for the Musketeer as it is pointless*. If your answer is "more than once" then you need to beef that Alt Ability up a bit. * Pointless for an adventurer when most combats are over in 10 rounds. Great for ranks of Musketeers or skirmishing Musketeers who can get one additional volley off every full minute of warfare. Sidenote: Something I did for a Musketeer I had in a DFesque game I ran a few years back was to give him a Fast Reload Technique and allow him to make an Armoury (Musket) Skill roll every round he was reloading. I speed up the process based on his Margin of Success on the roll, up to "each Ready Maneuver counting as 10 seconds for reloading". So he could 'speed-load' his .45 Matchlock in 6 seconds if he rolled fantastically (it generally took 10 or so seconds, 60 seconds total regularly), but as he had matching bore pistols which reloaded at half the time, he preferred those and could reload one of them in 4-5 seconds on average (he carried three and generally switched to sword for most fights once he'd emptied them). My Fast Reload rules in a nutshell: You may attempt to fast reload during a Ready Maneuver. Failure wastes not only that maneuver, but extra costs extra seconds based on your Margin of Failure. Your MoS is subtracted from the total time needed to reload your firearm (MoF is added), up to an MoS (MoF) of -10 (+10) per Ready Maneuver. Fast Reloading Average Default: Armoury (Musket) -5. Prerequisite: Armoury (Musket); cannot exceed prerequisite skill+5. You've practiced reloading your firearm and can often do so faster than normal. If you have improved this technique up to the level of your skill, you may treat every load done with a normal reload time as a 'matched' load, doubling your ACC or reducing Malf by one step. If you further double your reloading time, you gain both benefits. |
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08-22-2019, 05:35 PM | #4 | |
Join Date: Nov 2015
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Re: Custom talent balancing advice
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08-22-2019, 06:14 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Oct 2013
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Re: Custom talent balancing advice
Apparently I wrote the Ironwall benefit poorly, as it's supposed to add to knockback resistance, not offense.
Talents are limited to level 4 as usual, so up to 20% reduction. |
08-22-2019, 06:48 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: Custom talent balancing advice
Muskets are game changers in war, even at TL4, so you are favoring humans in warfare over the other two races (especially since you give them three combat skills, one ranged, one melee, and one fast-draw). For dwarves, I would replace Polearms with Gunner (Cannon). For elves, I would replace Running with Rapier.
As for the secondary benefits, I would instead have dwarves reduce the time for loading cannons by 5% per level, have elves reduce ranged visibility penalties by one per level, and have humans reduce ST requirements for personal firearms by one per level. That would allow dwarves to be superior gunners, elves to be superior snipers, and humans to be superior infantry. Thus, you preserve the balance between the two races. |
08-22-2019, 07:26 PM | #7 | |
Join Date: Oct 2013
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Re: Custom talent balancing advice
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Elves in the setting have other tricks for range, and better magic, but their specialty is ambushes. Hence the stealth bonuses, and running to escape back into the trees once the enemy starts to organize and reform. |
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08-22-2019, 08:35 PM | #8 | ||
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
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Re: Custom talent balancing advice
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Meaningless for the average PC. |
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08-22-2019, 08:44 PM | #9 | |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: Custom talent balancing advice
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08-22-2019, 09:40 PM | #10 |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: Custom talent balancing advice
Running only adds to movement in an Extra Effort situation and at levels much less than 16 it does not do that reliably. Were I an Elf I'd find some more reliable method of outrunning my enemies.
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Fred Brackin |
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