You enter a portal and gain 25 Character points.

[Mideanon]

You are transported into a generic fantasy rpg world
alternatively you could make a 25 point native to the world if thats more your thing.
You are given lvl 1 with 25 CP to spend, on top of what you yourself already are.
You can spend CP on almost anything except time jumper, purely social advantages that require you to know/be known by people, like allies, patrons, reputation, status etc(summonable allies and the like are exempt) and anything a very reasonable and lenient GM would disagree with.
You cannot gain disadvantages for more points.
you can buy advantages as alternate abilities magic with -10% modifier, but they need to cost at least 1 FP(basically sorcery without sorcerous empowerment).
you know that in order to gain more levels you would have to put yourself into danger by going on dungeon delves and killing various monsters.
each level is worth 25 CP.
There are also villages around that would probably accept you where you could live generally risk-free.
what do you do?

EDIT: removed world jumper from list of exceptions

[Aldric]

25 points are not going to make a adventurer out of me.

My best best would probably be some kind of summon (ally with summonable) which would start with the lowest chance to be summoned to save points. Wake up in the morning, roll your summon chance, if you get it, you hit the local dungeon, if you don't, you spend the day at the tavern ;)

[Crystalline_Entity]

Is this on top of the High TL 5 [25] we'd have to buy anyway to raise a generic fantasy campaign tech level of TL3 to the characters TL8?

I'd attempt to get around the restriction on Jumper by getting a Patron (as many point as you like; Special Abilities: Reach in space or time, +100%; 6 or less) for [20], or failing that Detect (Portals and Gates - Occasional; Long-Range 1, +50%) [15]. If this was a guaranteed short holiday it would be different, but I've got responsibilities in this world, being able to get home asap would be a priority for me :)

[Donny Brook]

Taking my RW self as a starting point, and assuming (1) we can ignore a disad that I currently mitigate with 21st century meds and (2) I can already speak the local language, I'd use 25 points this way:

Advantages:
Fit [5]
Social Status 1 [5]
Independent Income 1 [1]
Ally (25%, 12-) [2]
Mind Reading (Psionic -10%, Maximum Duration 10 Minutes -50%, Trigger (very common) -10%, Temp Disad (Laziness) -10%) [6]

Skills:
Survival (local) (Attribute -1) [1]
Savoir Faire (Attribute +0) [1]
Shield (Attribute +0) [1]
Melee Weapon (Appropriate to region/status) (Attribute +0) [2]
Engineering (Mechanical? Clockwork?) TL4 (Attribute -2) [1]

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Mideanon

You are transported into a generic fantasy rpg world
alternatively you could make a 25 point native to the world if thats more your thing.

what do you do?

Well, first I'd see what's left after buying off the various things I have to take medication to control (i.e. disads with mitigators) and so on. Then I'd see about buying Longevity or Extended Lifespan seeing as I'm into the first ageing band and it'd suck even worse at the low TLs of Fantasyland.

Anything left goes into buying off Unfit and Fat, hopefully with the understanding that, having paid points for that, they stay gone.

[JulianLW]

Crude Armourer [1]

Armoury TL3 Melee Weapons (IQ/A) IQ [2]
Staff (DX/A) DX+5 [20]
Survival (Woodlands?) (Per/A) Per [2]

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Aldric

My best best would probably be some kind of summon (ally with summonable) which would start with the lowest chance to be summoned to save points. Wake up in the morning, roll your summon chance, if you get it, you hit the local dungeon, if you don't, you spend the day at the tavern ;)

This seems like a fairly reasonable option. If the Ally's kills get you XP, and the Ally can be resummoned if slain or captured, I'd see if I could get it with some sort of healing ability (to keep me in good health while I work around town) and just keep sending it into the dungeon each time I succeed at summoning it. I'd probably spend the points from later levels getting myself up to par to be able to accompany my summon (which I may slowly raise to have higher frequency of appearance), although first I'd probably want to hedge my bets with some Unaging, Unkillable, etc. I'd also start up an exercise regimen to get some "free" points building up my ST, HT, and possibly DX (as well as gaining Fit) and see if I can't get some basic combat training (probably focusing on spears).

EDIT: An abusive Ally build would be one that serves as a powerful support character. Essentially, the character would have several low-damage Innate Attacks with No Wounding (and No Blunt Trauma/No Knockback/etc) and Side Effect: Advantage (or if that isn't an option, Afflictions, although you can get considerably more bang for your buck with Side Effects), all as Alternate Attacks. Summon the Ally, have it buff you (and possibly itself) up with a lot of abilities, and then start delving.

I don't think my TL8 knowledge would be terribly useful, unfortunately, without TL8 infrastructure to go with it. My basic medical knowledge might grant me a leg up in avoiding sickness, but it's possible the other world would already have that largely covered with magic, alchemy, etc. A power that allowed me to access the internet from the other world would be incredibly useful, however, as I could leverage my Research skill (along with my ability to generally learn things quickly) to gain a good deal of applicable knowledge I could potentially turn into a comfortable living - provided I avoid getting burned as a heretic or similar, at least. I suspect such access could be doable with a budget of [25], if it's an option (the general restriction on Jumper implies not, as I assume you aren't meant to be able to interact with your old world at all). Some sort of Signature Gear sounds tempting, such as a high-quality rifle with loads of Consumable Signature Gear ammunition, but I assume you'd be paying x16 cost (going from TL 4 to TL 8) and only getting around $1000 worth of gear with each [1] (as with DF), so that [25] might not go terribly far.

Of course, with anything that has a Frequency of Appearance roll (like a summon), regenerates (like Consumable Signature Gear), etc on a per-session basis - or per-hour basis, like Luck - you would need some idea of what this means to a character. Game Time +0% could be an option, but of course that's variable depending on campaign (I think the suggestion is for once-per-session to become once-per-week, but in a fast-paced campaign once-per-day may be more appropriate, while in a slower one once-per-month may be). And Game Time may not need be applied - rather, the more intensely active you are (that is, the more a game table would be "zooming in" on your actions), the more quickly things reset. If you're just doing mundane work around town, it might be days between resets of your Luck, while if you're down in a dungeon fighting, it may well reset in a matter of seconds (allowing you to use it twice in one fight, for example).

EDIT2: Of course, depending on setting, DR 5 (Force Field +20%; Flexible -20%) [25] could be incredibly useful, as you are rather difficult to injure (that's comparable to historical armor, but without any weak spots or gaps). Limit yourself to delving "beginner" type dungeons, at least until you build up some levels, and you may well be pretty well-off, provided you have some idea of how to fight to start with (or can learn).

[AlexanderHowl]

Originally Posted by Rupert

Well, first I'd see what's left after buying off the various things I have to take medication to control (i.e. disads with mitigators) and so on. Then I'd see about buying Longevity or Extended Lifespan seeing as I'm into the first ageing band and it'd suck even worse at the low TLs of Fantasyland.

Anything left goes into buying off Unfit and Fat, hopefully with the understanding that, having paid points for that, they stay gone.

Considering that I have Bad Sight (Nearsighted; Mitigator, Constant, -60%) and Chronic Pain (Severe, 8 hours, 12-; Mitigator, Daily Medication, -60%) [-14], I would not really gain anything. Now, if you were talking about being rebuilt as a 250 CP character, that would be worth something. As for the 25 CP native, I would call him 'Plague Bearer' or 'Target Practice', as that is pretty much the only value of a 25 CP character in GURPS.

The problem is that 4e is optimized for 150 CP-200 CP, and it is much more forgiving for higher CP totals than lower CP totals. A 150 CP warrior will murder any 25 CP warrior without much difficulty. As long as the 150 CP warrior possesses Luck, the 25 CP warrior is nothing more than a practice dummy.

For example, let us say that you have a 150 CP warrior with ST 12, DX 12, HT 12, Combat Reflexes, Luck, Brawling at 14, Shield at 14, and Spear at 20 (we will assume that any other positive traits are balanced by negative traits) going up against a 25 CP warrior with Shield-10 and Spear-16. The Spear-20 character will be using Deceptive Attacks to reduce the Parry of the other character by 2, to 11 with a medium shield bonus, and will still crit 10% of the time. Conversely, the Spear-16 warrior would be going up against Parry 16 with the medium shield bonus, meaning that they are probably critical fishing.

[Kromm]

Not knowing what the world has in store, I'd be tempted by Destiny (Major Advantage) [10] if the GM agreed that this meant I'd be destined not for universal greatness (that's 15 points!), but for a modicum of personal greatness that precludes being casually eaten by the rats in the barn or dying of an infected fingernail. With the other 15 points, probably another meta-game trait: Serendipity 1 [15] to routinely beg out of undesirable situations, find useful stuff, happen to resemble a respected local, etc. Sure, I'd be worthless in fights and such, but I might manage to "level up" through the tried-and-true method of comic relief: Fleeing the monsters and tripping over the lever that activates the trap that crushes them, falling through the rotten floor and finding gold, etc.

Though Wild Talent 1 (Retention, +25%) [25] would be tempting . . . lots of lucking out with obscure skills, followed by soon acquiring those skills.

Anyway, meta-game stuff like that. I don't think that any specific, "hard" set of traits would guarantee much of anything.

[Mideanon]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

The problem is that 4e is optimized for 150 CP-200 CP, and it is much more forgiving for higher CP totals than lower CP totals. A 150 CP warrior will murder any 25 CP warrior without much difficulty. As long as the 150 CP warrior possesses Luck, the 25 CP warrior is nothing more than a practice dummy.

I am pretty sure gurps decently works at any level of play assuming the GM isn't making the players do unreasonable things.
I did not mention having to fight 150CP enemies anywhere in my post, tho i think i still left a lot open to interpretation.

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

As for the 25 CP native, I would call him 'Plague Bearer' or 'Target Practice', as that is pretty much the only value of a 25 CP character in GURPS.

i don't think i explained the 25 point native thing well enough. Basically you create a 25 point character, then you apply 25 points from the level 1 for a total of 50 points.

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

Social Status 1 [5]
Independent Income 1 [1]

I guess i didn't really explain the restriction on social stuff well.
Basically stuff that requires you to have prior presence in the world is supposed to be off limits, so things like status, reputation, independent income, patrons, allies that aren't summonable beings that exist to serve etc are not supposed to be allowed.

Originally Posted by Crystalline_Entity

I'd attempt to get around the restriction on Jumper by [...] getting Detect (Portals and Gates - Occasional; Long-Range 1, +50%) [15]. If this was a guaranteed short holiday it would be different, but I've got responsibilities in this world, being able to get home asap would be a priority for me :)

And now that i think about it more, Jumper doesn't really need to be restricted(maybe time jumper since im not a fan of time travel), considering it's hefty cost of 4 levels and the fact that most good tales end with returning home(or making a new one in the portal realm).