GURPS Assassin's Creed

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by rosignol

IIRC, back in 3rd edition, there was the option of bumping the difficulty of Area Knowledge up a notch and broadening the area the skill applied to. Did that go away in 4th ed?

No, it didn't.

On the other hand, the kind of Area Knowledge that someone learns by pacing street from street is not very applicable to the larger region.

[Crakkerjakk]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Granted, this character is very capable. But he's no more capable than the other PCs in the campaign and he's deliberately not very point-efficient. For example, he has 7 points in Area Knowledge and Current Affairs in places where he can't really go because of his curse, but if he didn't have those, he'd be pretty implausible as a professional informant and spy from that city.

I think you've more than achieved the goals the player set out for you. I was just pointing the difference between what you've built and a 370 point DF Half-Elf Assassin/Thief/Mage. From the player's description I'd drop the +1 to defenses and give him Peripheral Vision and Danger Sense. And if you went back to Rapier instead of Shortsword, I'll note that he'd have a 16 parry when retreating. Oh, and I'd seriously try to find 15 points to buy Luck.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk

From the player's description I'd drop the +1 to defenses and give him Peripheral Vision and Danger Sense.

I'd still be 5 points short. I could be persuaded to drop Enhanced Dodge, but Enhanced Parry is such a part of the Riposte combat moves that I'd hate to see it go.

Nothing else I could economise on?

Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk

And if you went back to Rapier instead of Shortsword, I'll note that he'd have a 16 parry when retreating.

That was a deliberate design decision, partly to avoid duplicating the look and feel of other PCs.

With the merchant-type rocking a saber and main-gauche and the herald brandishing a smallsword, using Shortsword Fighting seemed like a distinct style. Aside from fitting the character's role.

Note also that with Mobile Parry*, the character does have a +2 Retreating bonus when he's not encumbranced.

*One of the Perks from my game.

Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk

Oh, and I'd seriously try to find 15 points to buy Luck.

Don't I know it.

Oh, I guess he'll have to make do with spending CPs to buy uses of Luck, the way other PCs have done before they bought it.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by rosignol

Tone it down to 'can kill multiple mooks in seconds' and 'can kill a superpowered ninja in 4-6 seconds' and you can probably make your point budget. :D

Mook = skilled swordsman (skill 12 or so).

Don't use the mook rules in my game, but on the other hand, the PCs do have point budgets that should allow them to treat ordinary mortals without high skills and various Advantages as being pretty mook-like.

I add that this is my toned-down version. The previous version had skill 20 in the melee skills and maxed Feint and Counterattack for Shortsword skill. Also, should really have Danger Sense, Luck and Peripheral Vision.

[Xplo]

Hm. Why did you give him High Manual Dexterity?

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Xplo

Hm. Why did you give him High Manual Dexterity?

Pickpocket, Lockpicking, Sleight of Hand, Filch, Traps, etc.

Getting into houses, obtaining small items of interest, planting evidence on people, etc.

[Xplo]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Pickpocket, Lockpicking, Sleight of Hand, Filch, Traps, etc.

Getting into houses, obtaining small items of interest, planting evidence on people, etc.

So, it's for the part of his character concept that's not like Ezio?

It occurs to me that your player might be asking for too much. There's no question that Ezio is already a pretty powerful character - and he wants to add a bunch of magic and also round out his thief skills too?

OTOH, it also occurs to me that maybe this guy's PC doesn't actually need to be able to do everything Ezio does. My guess is that he played AC2/AssBro, thought "hey, this guy is pretty cool", and he wants that same cool for his PC.. but if you can figure out what he thinks is cool about Ezio, you might be able to isolate the really important bit and save points not buying the rest.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Xplo

So, it's for the part of his character concept that's not like Ezio?

It occurs to me that your player might be asking for too much. There's no question that Ezio is already a pretty powerful character - and he wants to add a bunch of magic and also round out his thief skills too?

This, of course, is possible.

On the other hand, I've already slimmed down my perception of what stats Ezio should have. Lowered ST massively from the 20+ Ezio has, trimmed weapon skills and techniques. Also gotten rid of the more cinematic aspects of Parkouring and climbing (otherwise, he'd have Super Speed (Climbing), Super Jump, Catfall, etc.) and dropped Eagle Vision.

Originally Posted by Xplo

OTOH, it also occurs to me that maybe this guy's PC doesn't actually need to be able to do everything Ezio does. My guess is that he played AC2/AssBro, thought "hey, this guy is pretty cool", and he wants that same cool for his PC.. but if you can figure out what he thinks is cool about Ezio, you might be able to isolate the really important bit and save points not buying the rest.

That's a sound suggestion. Last info I got was 'combat moves'.

[Icelander]

Right. I've made some changes to the character.

For those scoring at home, I came to the conclusion that having almost 200 points of abilities rendered useless by an arcane curse when within 100 miles of the home base of the PCs in the setting was worth points. I arbitrarily decided on -20 points.

Used those to add languages I had forgot to give him and improve the spellcasting features a bit. Also, add the Feint (Shortsword) technique, which goes a long way to make him more dangerous with a sword.

I also dropped Enhanced Dodge and added Peripheral Vision.

Still no Danger Sense, but he'll have to use Sense Danger and Sense Observation spells instead. Also, with Peripheral Vision and Observation at skill 18, he'll be quite hard to surprise anyway.

[Cid SilverWing]

It's been forever since I got back into this, but I've played the series enough to have an overview.

By AC:B, Ezio has what looks like extremely limited Regeneration (if you lose only half a square of health, it regens when out of combat), Proud/Arrogant and age-based disabilities (he needs a pair of corrective climbing gloves to pull off his Super Jump from the previous game).

People here are also overlooking that Ezio has a bizarre FP pool, seeing as how he can practically jog across the rooftops and intricate platform sections without consequence, so he is at minimum Very Fit. Also consider High Pain Threshold as he isn't prone to stuns or limping when injured in combat or through falling.

Owing to his ambidextrous training, he is also capable of killing 2 enemies in one go with his dual wristblades. In-game this is only possible when standing directly between two enemies on ground level or when you Air Assassinate (jump-stab from above) two perfectly lined-up guards.

As for crowd stealth, in-game this can only be done when you have crowds of 3-5 people. This can safely be ignored in GURPS because the game uses strict "zones" to dictate where you must stand to engage this type of stealth. Quite unrealistic IRL (especially since he's the only one who wears all-white and frankly sticks out like a sore thumb). That translates to Shadowing with no limitations.

Then comes a favorite topic of mine that's never been properly addressed - Ezio can taunt the enemy to provoke them into All-Out Attacks (+ to damage, - to hit), to better counterkill them with his elaborate insta-kill animations. This isn't even Rapier Wit or any of that sort, as the enemy GURPS-wise look like they fail a self-control roll VS a 1-second Berserk ("Must attack provoker") over what can technically be translated into a Free Action.