08-17-2019, 06:13 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Professor Planck [250 pt]
Apropos of nothing: I'd love to know what that Pilot skill is getting that build-from-default bonus from. I generated the character via GCA and I can't figure out why it did that.
Professor Planck [250 pt] Attributes [160]: ST 10, DX 11 [20], IQ 17 [140], HT 10 Advantages [122]: Appearance (Beautiful) [12], Charisma (1) [5], Gadgeteer (Quick) [50], Gizmo (3) [15], Magery (3) [30], Magery 0 [5], Versatile [5] Disadvantages [-60]: Code of Honor (Comics Code) [-15], Curious (12 or less) [-5], Honesty (12 or less) [-10], Secret Identity (Serious Embarrassment) [-5], Sense of Duty (Humanity) (Entire Race) [-15], Trademark (Uses tech gear as a prop for magic) (Simple) [-5], Truthfulness (12 or less) [-5] Quirks [-5]: Delusion (I am doing regular science.) [-1], Distractible [-1], Imaginative [-1], Likes Fiddling with electronic and mechanical junk. [-1], Vow (Stay optimistic and friendly.) [-1] Skills [33]: Boxing DX/A - DX+1 12 [4], Computers! IQ/WC - IQ-3 14 [3], Diplomacy IQ/H - IQ-2 15 [1], Guns/TL8 (Pistol) DX/E - DX+1 12 [2], Inventor! IQ/WC - IQ-2 15 [6], Magic! IQ/WC - IQ+1 18 [6]*, Performance IQ/A - IQ-1 16 [1], Piloting/TL8 (Flight Pack) DX/A - DX+1 12 [3], Scholar! IQ/WC - IQ-3 14 [3], Science! IQ/WC - IQ-3 14 [3], Scrounging Per/E - Per+0 17 [1] *Includes: +3 from Magery. Stats [160] Ads [122] Disads [-60] Quirks [-5] Skills [33] = Total [250] Professor Planck (mundane identity, Mary Pham) knows that she’s doing science, darn it. I mean, sure, she’s got super powers. That’s kind of obvious. But it’s not mad science, or anything like that! What she really has is simply the ability to manipulate forces at levels below the Planck length; down there the laws of physics are finally more or less optional, and at the command of a sufficiently determined observer. Like, say, Professor Planck. Convincing the Professor otherwise might prove difficult, because it’s hard to say exactly where she’s wrong. Is Professor Planck an atypical telekinetic / clairvoyant with incredibly good control, or is she a wild mage operating under the delusion that she needs to focus all of her abilities through gadgets? The stats above assume the latter, but her Gadgeteer powers and Wild Card skills do still work in no-mana areas. Professor Planck’s abilities simply seem irreconcilable as a consistent power set. But resolving that particular conundrum will likely take several years, if not a couple of decades. As for right now, Mary Pham is a college student at a major city university who is trying her best to make sure her teachers don’t notice that she’s far brighter than they are. This is proving harder than it looks, because Mary has a bad case of the four-colors; her instincts tell her to be forthright, honest, brave, and truthful -- which last can make secret identities difficult. Fortunately, Mary’s still in the stage of her college education where she can hide in big classes, but that will start changing once she hits the 300 and 400 level courses. Hopefully she can think of something else, like possibly chronic laryngitis. It kind of worked in junior high, after all. Abilities: Professor Planck has all the advantages of a mage who has theoretical access to any spell -- and all the disadvantages of a mage who lacks Powerstones, extra FP, or even the ability to improve her mastery of any one spell. For patrols, the superheroine typically uses her Quick Gadgeteer skill to kludge together basic reflex armor, a tangler pistol, and/or a helipac, and Gizmo to make sure that she has the right gadgets for on the fly improvisation. She is absolutely not bulletproof, knows it, but if Professor Planck can get away from a fight when it’s going badly she can heal herself up fairly quickly. Personality: as above, Mary takes the entire idea of the superhero ideal extremely seriously. Couple that with a naturally pleasant personality and outlook (not to mention a stunning personal appearance), and she’s poised for a rapid climb in superheroic status and reputation. The problems for her right now are, first, that Mary is young; and that her abilities are broad, but not deep. At the moment she’s best suited for street-level heroics, where she can easily overpower a single or pair of members of a street gang, or use her abilities to pick off larger numbers one by one. She’d also respond well to a good mentor -- but not to someone who would treat Professor Planck as a sidekick. Mary simply does not have the right mindset to be a sidekick. 300 point version: Increase FP to 15 [15], add Combat Reflexes [15], add Observation 16 [1], Search 16 [1], and increase Magic! To 20 [18]. Above this point, start adding things like Wealth, Reputation, increasing DX and HT, and increasing other wild card skill levels. PDF found here: http://moelane.com/2019/08/17/profes...anck-gurps-4e/ |
08-17-2019, 08:45 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Nov 2004
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Re: Professor Planck [250 pt]
At a guess,the default is from Inventor!. You could probably suss it out by altering each of the other skills one at a time and see when Piloting changes.
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08-17-2019, 09:40 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Mar 2016
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Re: Professor Planck [250 pt]
2 things. First, and this isn't related to what you asked, but Truthfulness is a weird fit for someone with a secret identity. Second, no clue if this would cause any of the issues, but you don't get any benefit to putting 3 pts into a skill except Wildcard skills, so there might be some issue when it comes to defaults and total point values.
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08-17-2019, 10:31 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Re: Professor Planck [250 pt]
Pilot also defaults to IQ-6, which could be happening.
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08-17-2019, 10:32 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: Professor Planck [250 pt]
I am curious why you would have a character with Gadgeteer and Magery, as it seems that the character would benefit from more focus. In addition, Honesty is probably impossible for someone with a Secret Identity, as it is illegal in most settings for people to have a secret identity.
If you wanted to make a technomage, there are a couple of methods, though I prefer the following method. You could use the rules for RPM to create a technomagic focused around engineering and science (requiring Mathematics to learn the core skill and Engineer and/or Science Skills to learn each of the Paths). In that case, your gadgets would be charms. |
08-18-2019, 04:53 AM | #6 | |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: Professor Planck [250 pt]
Quote:
Did you change DX or IQ after you'd started buying skills? When you do that, GCA retains the number of points in skills, not the skill levels.
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The Path of Cunning. Indexes: DFRPG Characters, Advantage of the Week, Disadvantage of the Week, Skill of the Week, Techniques. |
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08-18-2019, 05:09 AM | #7 | |
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: Professor Planck [250 pt]
Quote:
--- * consider stage names, pseudonyms, or "Doing Business As". Operating publically under a fictitious name is generally legal, unless you're intentionally doing so for fraudulent purposes. This is distinct from forged IDs or identity fraud/theft (using someone else's ID). |
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08-18-2019, 08:16 AM | #8 | |
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: On the road again...
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Re: Professor Planck [250 pt]
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On the flip side of the coin, DC embraces the secret identity at all levels. In fact, at one point it was actually illegal to unmask a super's secret identity, even for medical reasons (including autopsies). A super who goes public - and there are only a handful of those - are usually the ones who really don't care about it getting out (Donna Troy), can't hide it anyway (Gar Logan/Beast Boy, Vic Stone/Cyborg), or go public voluntarily (Wally West/Flash III, Princess Diana/Wonder Woman). And sometimes, the best secret identity is to Clark Kent things; Superman obviously doesn't have a secret identity, and the world knows his real name is Kal-El of Krypton, because he gave it away in an interview (to himself).
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"Life ... is an Oreo cookie." - J'onn J'onzz, 1991 "But mom, I don't wanna go back in the dungeon!" The GURPS Marvel Universe Reboot Project A-G, H-R, and S-Z, and its not-a-wiki-really web adaptation. Ranoc, a Muskets-and-Magery Renaissance Fantasy Setting |
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08-18-2019, 10:20 AM | #9 | |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: Professor Planck [250 pt]
Quote:
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08-18-2019, 10:40 AM | #10 | |
GCA Prime
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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Re: Professor Planck [250 pt]
Quote:
Right below the User Notes box is some text that tells you what it is "Defaulted From:" and should say IQ if that, or whatever other skill if that. If you want more info, you can then click on the Full Edit Window button, then click on the Advanced... button. The 'deffrom' tag shows you what trait the skill is being defaulted from. That's what's shown on Simple Edit, too. The 'deflevel' tag shows the level you get just from defaulting, and the 'defpoints' tag shows the point investment that would get that level normally.
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Armin D. Sykes | Visit my GCA5 blog for updates and previews. | Get GURPS Character Assistant 5 now at Warehouse 23. |
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Tags |
magic, moe lane, professor planck, supers |
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