Stating Lt. Columbo

[Astromancer]

Yes this Columbo. Columbo is clearly the Anti-Holmes. He's the working class policeman who exposes the crimes of the rich. The normal Detective fiction character is equal to or better than the people he hunts in terms of social status. Columbo is always below the Murderer in status. The standard Detective is always far better educated and more knownledgeable than the Murderer. Columbo is smart, he knows stuff, but the Murderers are often well educated experts.

So Columbo has to be both smart enough and savvy enough to trap socially superior and high cunning prey.

Columbo is clearly smart, where in the 13 to 15 range in GURPS IQ. Falk could do acrobatics, but there isn't any evidence that Columbo is as agile as Peter Falk was. Columbo is at least ST and HT 10 but is the any evidence that he could be higher?

Columbo clearly has rank, Contacts, a Patron, and Allies.

Columbo has at least a small amount of Charisma.

The advantages of Empathy, Intuition, and Common Sense, are all indicated.

Columbo follows procedure, but he rarely lets that be too obvious. Columbo has a good memory, but he relys on his notes and his allies for help, he might not have a memory advantage.

Columbo is open-minded and though easy to impress, never lets that get in the way.

Could the Hivemind help me stat the Lieutenant?

[Culture20]

He's got a little bit of Trickster and definitely a Quirk of a catchphrase.

[Phantasm]

I would probably put points into the Natural Copper talent and his Criminology skill. He's constantly checking his notes, but it's more of looking for patterns in the notes and making sure he's got the quotes right than any other factor I can tell. I'd shoot for Criminology-15 at minimum.

I'd also give him a good Per score, probably higher than his IQ. He's the kind of guy who notices when something's wrong with the story he's being told or when there's a physical clue that's not readily apparent; a high Per definitely helps.

At best, his social stats are Police Rank 1 (homicide detective; he doesn't have many direct underlings, but can count on support when asked for), Legal Enforcement Powers 1 (he can make arrests, but he's not allowed to break the law himself in pursuit of it, and his jurisdiction is a lone city), Status 0, and I would probably say Wealth (Comfortable) (since he's a senior detective with 30 years on the force, he's pulling down more than others of his rank due to time-in-service alone). YMMV on the last part; I'd also give him a Quirk so that he dresses as if Wealth (Average) for his era (either that or just a Dislikes Neckties quirk).

If using Pulling Rank, his Police Rank may actually be slightly higher, giving him a better Assistance Roll.

[Purple Haze]

The thing about Columbo is that he is an excellent actor, at least at the one role he uses. He is not of low social status, he is at least as well educated in general terms as his adversaries, and better when it comes to things relevant to a detective. That is how he traps them. He annoys them: how can so dim, so plodding a person be a detective, I will just explain to this fool how to do his job to hurry him on his way. They should realize that: he is of higher rank than he appears to be, makes more money than he appears to, is better educated than he appears to be, and much more accomplished. After all how can this doofus be a detective? It is not by walking a beat for twenty years. If they asked around, called their attorney for instance, it should be easy to find that he has cracked many difficult, high-profile cases. But they never do. They've been lulled into a false sense of security.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Purple Haze

The thing about Columbo is that he is an excellent actor, at least at the one role he uses. He is not of low social status, he is at least as well educated in general terms as his adversaries, and better when it comes to things relevant to a detective. That is how he traps them. He annoys them: how can so dim, so plodding a person be a detective, I will just explain to this fool how to do his job to hurry him on his way. They should realize that: he is of higher rank than he appears to be, makes more money than he appears to, is better educated than he appears to be, and much more accomplished. After all how can this doofus be a detective? It is not by walking a beat for twenty years. If they asked around, called their attorney for instance, it should be easy to find that he has cracked many difficult, high-profile cases. But they never do. They've been lulled into a false sense of security.

With this in mind, give him Acting-14, or so, as well as Body Language-14 and Detect Lies-14. Maybe I'd give him a point in Psychology, but I'm not sure that's necessary (although it would fit). He's going to have a decent skill in Forensics, maybe a 13 or so, but most of his style of detective work seems to focus on human interactions. He definitely needs Interrogation at 14, at minimum.

[AmesJainchill]

You guys are making me want to watch this on Netflix.

[Donny Brook]

Professional Skill (Police)
Criminology
Interrogation
Observation
Detect Lies
He might have Intimidation, Acting, and Diplomacy.

[Icelander]

One of the primary skills would be Acting, to play the persona of the dull, plodding detective. Very few people ever see through that role and most of them do not do so until he's revealed such surprising competence that he's all but willingly dropping the mask.

I don't remember many villains, if any, who immediately saw through Columbo's obfuscating stupidity, without having any prior knowledge of him; which is what would happen if any of them could win in the Quick Contest between Acting and IQ or Detect Lies. So, he has Acting at high enough skill to win 99% or more of Quick Contests, even against brilliant sociopaths who are themselves good at Acting.

I'd give him a Perk, Technique or both to make his effective Acting skill for the purposes of playing his chosen role and for causing himself to be underestimated is much higher than his skill at playing other roles or deceiving people about something else.

He's not a human chameleon, who can assume nearly any personality or fake any emotion, in order to deceive people while interrogating them. He's got a role that's an unassuming version of himself that he specialises in playing. That's a textbook case for Perks and Techniques that give a high effective skill level, to distinguish Lt. Columbo from a character with such a high skill in general Acting.

His other primary skills are Criminology, Detect Lies, Intorrogation and Observation. He has other professional skills, such as Diplomacy, Forensics, Intimidate, Professional Skill (Law Enforcement) and Search, but they are not as often crucial to him cracking the case.

Criminology covers understanding the criminal mind as well as checking alibis, constructing a working theory, etc., and might allow him to solve many cases, but I'd argue that he is good at Psychology (Applied) as well. He doesn't just understand the motives of the criminal, he is very good at reading the witnesses as well, their state of mind, fears and reasons for giving imprecise or untrue testimony that are not necesarily criminal, just human.

On that note, aside from skills, Columbo might well have the Empathy Advantage. He mostly solves cases by figuring out motives and personalities, interacting with suspects and reading more into their words, gestures and significant silences than they want to reveal. The point of the show isn't forensic technology or tough-guy investigation by intimidation and action sequences. It does have element of logical puzzles and clues, but mostly as a way to trip up the suspect in his interrogation. Lt. Columbo is about the human angle, for all that he insists on just the facts.

[Phantasm]

Perhaps a good One-Task Wonder (Acting for the purposes of being unassuming) Perk? I seem to recall something more specific in Power-Ups 2: Perks for this, but I can't recall it offhand. That seems to be more in line with his whole schtick than a general human chameleon Acting.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

Perhaps a good One-Task Wonder (Acting for the purposes of being unassuming) Perk? I seem to recall something more specific in Power-Ups 2: Perks for this, but I can't recall it offhand. That seems to be more in line with his whole schtick than a general human chameleon Acting.

For that to work, he'd have to have IQ at least 5 higher than every single suspect he meets and preferably 10 higher. As that's ridiculous, I'd prefer to have his effective skill at this be much higher than his IQ.

Lt. Columbo has general Acting at some level, just not high enough to fool everyone, all the time. His dull, plodding detective persona, however, is at an effective skill level that is precisely high enough for that.