CIA Special Activities Division PMO Skill Set

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Randyman

Rather than "one template to rule them all", let the PCs "stack" templates ...

There's another way of doing this which is mechanically easier, although it doesn't try so hard to simulate a career.

Design the baseline PMO template. That has the minimum attributes, advantages, disadvantages and skills to be a PMO: the standards that every PMO has to meet, irrespective of their specialisation(s). You don't stop here, because (I presume) nobody is sent into active service as a PMO with only the baseline training.

Then set up a set of lenses (see p B.449). Some of these are for things that come from previous training (e.g., the Special Forces Weapons Sgt's broader and deeper Armoury, Guns, and Gunner skills), and some of them are for specialisations in the PMO training. Quite a few of them will probably have flexible clauses like "Ten points in languages and cultural familiarities of Central Asia" or "Six points in Forward Observer and two or more specialisations of Artillery." There are a lot of "Special Skills" paragraphs in 3e Special Ops that are actually lenses, it's just that the term hadn't been coined when that book was written.

Depending on the structure of the training, the entry routes to PMO training, and the point cost of the lenses, establish valid combinations ("One from list A and two from list B"). The points in the character budget that aren't consumed by the template and lenses are available for the player to use for customisation, along with permissible personal disadvantages.

[Randyman]

Originally Posted by johndallman

There's another way of doing this which is mechanically easier, although it doesn't try so hard to simulate a career.

Design the baseline PMO template. That has the minimum attributes, advantages, disadvantages and skills to be a PMO: the standards that every PMO has to meet, irrespective of their specialisation(s). You don't stop here, because (I presume) nobody is sent into active service as a PMO with only the baseline training.

Then set up a set of lenses (see p B.449). Some of these are for things that come from previous training (e.g., the Special Forces Weapons Sgt's broader and deeper Armoury, Guns, and Gunner skills), and some of them are for specialisations in the PMO training. Quite a few of them will probably have flexible clauses like "Ten points in languages and cultural familiarities of Central Asia" or "Six points in Forward Observer and two or more specialisations of Artillery." There are a lot of "Special Skills" paragraphs in 3e Special Ops that are actually lenses, it's just that the term hadn't been coined when that book was written.

Depending on the structure of the training, the entry routes to PMO training, and the point cost of the lenses, establish valid combinations ("One from list A and two from list B"). The points in the character budget that aren't consumed by the template and lenses are available for the player to use for customisation, along with permissible personal disadvantages.

Your way is probably far more elegant, actually.

[TheOneRonin]

Originally Posted by johndallman

There's another way of doing this which is mechanically easier, although it doesn't try so hard to simulate a career.

Design the baseline PMO template. That has the minimum attributes, advantages, disadvantages and skills to be a PMO: the standards that every PMO has to meet, irrespective of their specialisation(s). You don't stop here, because (I presume) nobody is sent into active service as a PMO with only the baseline training.

Then set up a set of lenses (see p B.449). Some of these are for things that come from previous training (e.g., the Special Forces Weapons Sgt's broader and deeper Armoury, Guns, and Gunner skills), and some of them are for specialisations in the PMO training. Quite a few of them will probably have flexible clauses like "Ten points in languages and cultural familiarities of Central Asia" or "Six points in Forward Observer and two or more specialisations of Artillery." There are a lot of "Special Skills" paragraphs in 3e Special Ops that are actually lenses, it's just that the term hadn't been coined when that book was written.

Depending on the structure of the training, the entry routes to PMO training, and the point cost of the lenses, establish valid combinations ("One from list A and two from list B"). The points in the character budget that aren't consumed by the template and lenses are available for the player to use for customisation, along with permissible personal disadvantages.

EXACTLY!

This is what I've been trying to do from the beginning!

So I've been working on a core template, and here is what I have:

Base SAD/SOD PMO (225 points)
ST:12 [20]
DX:13 [60]
IQ:13 [60]
HT:12 [20]
PER:13 [0]
HP: 12 [0]
WIL:13 [0]
FP: 12 [0]
BS:6.25 [0]
Dodge:9 [0]
BM: 6 [0]

FIXED ADVANTAGES
Cultural Familiarity (USA) [0]
Language (Native-English) [0]
Cultural Familiarity (CHOICE) [1]
Language (Native-CHOICE) [6]
Fit [5]
Combat Reflexes [15]

FIXED DISADVANTAGES:
Duty [-20]
Code of Honor (Soldier) [-10]
Fanatacism (USA) [-15]
Sense of Duty [-10]

FIXED/BASE SKILLS
Acting IQ/A [2]
Administration IQ/A [1]
Area Knowledge (CHOICE) IQ/E [1]
Boating (Motorboat) DX/A [1]
Body Language PER/A [1]
Camouflage IQ/E [1]
Climbing DX/A [1]
Computer Operations IQ/E [1]
Current Affairs (CHOICE) IQ/E [1]
Detect Lies PER/H [2]
Diplomacy IQ/H [2]
Disguise IQ/A [1]
Driving (Auto) DX/A [2]
Electronic Ops (Communications) IQ/A [1]
Electronic Ops (Surveillance) IQ/A [1]
Escape DX/H [1]
Expert Skill (Military Science) IQ/H [1]
Explosives (Demo) IQ/A [2]
Fast Draw (Ammo) DX/E [1]
Fast-Draw (Longarm) DX/E [1]
Fast-Draw (Pistol) DX/E [1]
Fast-Talk IQ/A [1]
Filch DX/A [1]
First Aid IQ/E [2]
Forced Entry DX/E [1]
Forward Observer IQ/A [1]
Gesture IQ/E [1]
Guns (Rifles) DX/E [8]
Hiking HT/A [2]
Intel Analysis IQ/H [4]
Interrogation IQ/A [2]
Judo DX/H [4]
Karate DX/H [4]
Knife DX/E [1]
Knot-Tying DX/E [1]
Leadership IQ/A [2]
Lip Reading PER/A [1]
Lockpicking DX/A [1]
Navigation (Land) IQ/A [2]
Navigation (Sea) IQ/A [2]
Observation PER/A [2]
Parachuting DX/E [1]
Running HT/A [2]
Scrounging PER/E [1]
SCUBA IQ/A [1]
Search PER/A [2]
Shadowing IQ/A [2]
Solider IQ/A [2]
Stealth DX/A [2]
Survival (choice) PER/A [1]
Survival (choice) PER/A [1]
Survival (choice) PER/A [1]
Swimming HT/E [1]
Tactics IQ/H [4]
Teaching IQ/A [1]
Throwing DX/A [1]
Tracking PER/A [1]

Then I'm going to have some specialist and background lenses for 30 points each, and the players will be able to pick three.

After that, that, they will have 35 points left. I'll have a bunch of small 5, 10, and 15 point packages they can pick from, along with a list of advantages they will be eligible for.

So what does the community think? Is there anything I'm missing.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by TheOneRonin

So I've been working on a core template, and here is what I have:

I'd add a point of Will to that, and raise Soldier by a level, but it looks solid apart from that.

Then I'm going to have some specialist and background lenses for 30 points each, and the players will be able to pick three.

Don't sweat it if those lenses aren't all exactly 30 points.

Leave the players some freely-chosen points; these characters will have hobbies and outside interests, and because they're types who want to do stuff well, they'll have a few points in them.

Another player customisation would be to add a relevant Talent: there are several in Power-Ups 3: Talents that would be applicable.

[jason taylor]

I should think that would be Extremely Hazardous Duty

Secret(anything someone else doesn't Need To Know)

It would probably be either Tactics(Guerilla) or Tactics(infantry)

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

It would probably be either Tactics(Guerilla) or Tactics(infantry)

Tactics doesn't have specialisations in 4e; they got a bit out of hand in 3e.

[TheOneRonin]

Originally Posted by johndallman

I'd add a point of Will to that, and raise Soldier by a level, but it looks solid apart from that.

Gotcha. So increase Solider by 2 CP, and 5 more CP for +1 to Will. Makes sense.

Originally Posted by jason taylor

I should think that would be Extremely Hazardous Duty

It is, hence the -20 (-15 for Frequency, -5 more for Extremely Hazardous). Though that would be more apparent if I listed it as such.

Secret(anything someone else doesn't Need To Know)

How many points do you think it would be worth?

[DocRailgun]

You probably should have said at first that you didn't care if the templates were realistic or not.
Yes, this is a game, but you'll find that on these forums one of the things that people always try to do is be as realistic as possible unless cinematic things are specified.
But now you're going to get suggestions of "Hard To Kill" and "Unkillable", etc.

Originally Posted by TheOneRonin

Even if it isn't a 100% accurate depiction of what these guys can do in real life, it's what I want the PCs to be capable of.

So rather than trying to refute sources and claim what's out there as "just propaganda", lets figure out how to stat these guys as if they were actually "superman" or "batman" or whatever the hell flavor of hyperbole you all want to use.

This is, after all, a game.

[TheOneRonin]

Originally Posted by DocRailgun

You probably should have said at first that you didn't care if the templates were realistic or not.
Yes, this is a game, but you'll find that on these forums one of the things that people always try to do is be as realistic as possible unless cinematic things are specified.
But now you're going to get suggestions of "Hard To Kill" and "Unkillable", etc.

To be fair, I started the thread by posting a snippet from Wikipedia and asked the community how to translate that quote into GURPS skills, and what those skill levels would be.

I wasn't looking for anything cinematic. In fact, I'm looking to run a fairly realistic campaign.

But after 6 pages of having most of the community refute the very premise that I started with, I just threw my hands in the air and gave up.

Personally, I DO see those skills and levels as inside the realm of plausible, based on my personal interactions with the Special Operations community, and the numerous non-fiction books I've read on them.

And yes, I'm aware that there is probably some embellishment on the part of the authors of those books.

But is it criminal to actually have characters with those capabilities outside of a "supers" or "cinematic" campaign?

And what I don't understand is how many people on these boards will argue to their death that certain units can't possibly have a skill at level N or higher because that's just not realistic. And then when you get down to the mechanics of doing what that unit HAS to be able to do, you come out with the unit NEEDING to have N+2, by the rules, to be able to meet those requirements.

[safisher]

You need to look over this document, specifically page 10 and following.
http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...7&postcount=21