25% of Starting Points

[Bicorn]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

I think that they are seriously underestimating that amount of work and hobby skills that they have acquired over the years. At the very least, they should have a minimum of 5 points of skills for every year of life over 15. Even if all a 40 year old did was play board games for 25 years, they will have 125 points in Games, though the utility of having Games (Catan) at IQ+30 is awfully limited.

I am fairly sure the rules are not built with the assumption that everyone is gaining 5 cp per year just from living their lives.

[Ransom]

Originally Posted by Tomsdad

Yep +1 on that, also if nothing else even if you do play to win on games night, to win you only need to beat the people you are playing.

Which means that nobody is likely to get more than 2-3 skill levels above the average for their social circle before they either stagnate or start winning so consistently that the group abandons that particular game as having become unfun.

[weby]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

25 points does not produce worthwhile characters in GURPS 4e unless you are playing a campaign involving children or fuzzy woodland creatures. In my games, I generally have 5 year old children at 25 points, 10 year old children at 50 points, and 15 year old children at 75 points (with adults gaining 5 points for every year above 15 years old, though most of that is related to work and hobby skills). Of course, the PCs usually start at 250 points, so my 'average' may be more competent than other people's average.

You can definitely do worthy realistic characters in GURPS 4e with really low points as long as you allow realistic levels of disadvantages.

Heroic characters tend to require more of course.

[weby]

Originally Posted by Bicorn

I am fairly sure the rules are not built with the assumption that everyone is gaining 5 cp per year just from living their lives.

Indeed, In fact in many situations a lot of people actually lose points over time while living a normal non-adventuring life.

I am as example a lower point value character now at 50 than I was at 25.

While I have gained points in many skills, my ST is lower by maybe 2 points, My eyesight and hearing are worse, I have lost some flexibility and I have definitely lost points in many skills for not having used them for a long time and so on.

I mean I was a really high point value character by GURPS standards at 25, and while I still have high point balance it is definitely lower.

[Lord Azagthoth]

Originally Posted by weby

Indeed, In fact in many situations a lot of people actually lose points over time while living a normal non-adventuring life.

I am as example a lower point value character now at 50 than I was at 25.

While I have gained points in many skills, my ST is lower by maybe 2 points, My eyesight and hearing are worse, I have lost some flexibility and I have definitely lost points in many skills for not having used them for a long time and so on.

I mean I was a really high point value character by GURPS standards at 25, and while I still have high point balance it is definitely lower.

A lot of those lost points (physical en mental abilities) tend to go into social abilties.

[weby]

Originally Posted by Lord Azagthoth

A lot of those lost points (physical en mental abilities) tend to go into social abilties.

Not at least in my case. I have a growing number of (mostly quirk level) odious personal habits and such too... :)

But yes, many(most?) people get things like higher wealth level, contacts and more such as they live. But it is not given that things always go that way, some just stay poor and get sickly.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Lord Azagthoth

A lot of those lost points (physical en mental abilities) tend to go into social abilties.

Originally Posted by weby

Not at least in my case. I have a growing number of (mostly quirk level) odious personal habits and such too... :)

But yes, many(most?) people get things like higher wealth level, contacts and more such as they live. But it is not given that things always go that way, some just stay poor and get sickly.

Dependants are also a very high value Disadvantage, especially if they are essentially always under your care. People who need to take care of small children make very inconvenient adventurers, which is worth a lot of points in GURPS, though obviously no real person would ever consider their little bundles of joy anything but an unmitigated blessing.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Which, to me, at least, is entirely incompatible with playing board games for fun.

So you play to lose?


Jesting aside, I play to win. I don't always because, well, simply I don't invest time aside from game night to 'mastering' those games. I play when we play, not during the week away from the group.

However, when I used to play darts and pool (also both social activities I mostly only did with friends) I practiced even when not out with my friends. But then those games were also played for money (and are playable without other people)...

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by Tomsdad

Thing is you could make that argument for pretty much any advantage. Combat reflexes cost a 100pt character 15% of their CP total, but costs a 25pt character 60% of theirs, so proportionally 4x more expensive.

Except a 25-point character that buys Combat Reflexes gets exactly the same benefit as a 100-point character that buys Combat Reflexes, not one-quarter the benefit as he does with an Ally.

[AlexanderHowl]

If someone is playing with the same group of people all of the time, then their relative skill levels will presumably remain the same regardless of how many levels they progress above their attribute. Someone with Games (Catan) at IQ+30 is presumably playing with a group of people who also have Games (Catan) at IQ+30. Of course, none of them are likely to be people that you want to associate with because the only thing that they are doing is playing Catan.

On a more realistic note, people are going to acquire points in dozens of Area Knowledge, Current Affairs, Games, Hobby Skills, etc throughout their normal activities. They are also going to be accumulating points in Cooking as they make meals, Driving/Hiking as they travel back and forth from work, Housekeeping as they clean their home, etc. While the vast majority of their skills have little utility in an adventure, it does not mean that they do not exist, it just means that they have not had lived a life where combat is necessary.

In my own case, I probably have one point in Area Knowledge in four different cities, one point in Current Affairs in a dozen subjects, one point in Games in dozens of games (tabletop games and video games), and I doubt that I am exceptional. I think that realistic characters should probably have a minimum of 2 CP per year of age after age 15 in Area Knowledge, Current Affairs, Games, and/or Hobby Skills unless they have a good reason within their character background. Of course, it would also make sense for people to spend some of those points to purchase Trivia Sponge, as every gamer knows someone like that (the 35 year old gamer with the equivalent of IQ 12, Trivia Sponge 4, and 20 points in Area Knowledge, Current Affairs, Games, and Hobby Skills is a trope that exists in real life in practically every gaming community that I have been part of).