New Talents
 

I was curious if anyone had any new talents (beyond those in PU3), that they would want to share. I will share a couple:

Natural Farmer 5 CP/level

Skills: Animal Handling, Farming, Gardening, Meteorology, and Veterinary

Reaction Bonus: Fellow farmers

Alternative Bonus: +1/level to HT rolls of animals and plants under your care to survive disease

Wise Woman 5 CP/level

Skills: Diagnosis, Esoteric Medicine, First Aid, Pharmacy (Herbal), and Veterinary.

Reaction Bonus: Former patients and other wise women

Alternative Benefit: -1/level penalty for using improvised equipment

Re: New Talents
 

I have a few I've created throughout the years:


Animal Instincts: 10 points/level. You retain an animal's natural sense of how to fend for itself and survive in the wild.

Skills: Brawling, Climbing, Intimidation, Jumping, Running, Sex Appeal, Stealth, Survival, Swimming, Tracking and Weather Sense.

Reaction bonus: naturists, uplifted animals and pre-historic men.

Graceful: 5 points/level.You move with uncommon fluidity, efficiency, and grace.

Skills: Acrobatics, Dancing, Light Walk, Performance, Sex Appeal, Stealth.

Reaction Bonus:Anybody who has just seen you perform or compete in athletics.

Wolf Talent: 5 points/level A racial talent for a species of sentient wolf.

Skills: Area Knowledge (Hunting Territory), Brawling, Running, Intimidation, Survival, Tracking).

Reaction bonus from: Wolves and other pack-hunters.
Or Alternative Benefit: Gives its bonus to rolls to memorize scents as described in Discriminatory Smell.

Re: New Talents
 

I collected my original and revised Talents (over a dozen) onto one page:
http://www.gamesdiner.com/gurps-dfrp...e-new-talents/

I'd be happy to copy-paste here, but the whole thing would make for a pretty big paste. Pop on over if interested, and nab any you like –

Re: New Talents
 

Any Talent can be shaped for a social role. It lets you smuggle those aspects of "Character Classes" You might like into the game.

Re: New Talents
 

Here's a couple I just came up with:

That Would Be Kewl talent:

Stealth, Power Blow, Body Language, Fast Draw, Lariat, Sex Appeal


What This Character Needs talent:

Leadership, Ship Handling, Fast-talk, First Aid, Swimming, Diplomacy, Fast Draw, Observation, Climbing, Savoir Faire.

Re: New Talents
 

Those are thematically rather problematic.

Specifically, Talents are not meant to be a list of skills that a character wants bonuses to. If that is allowed, spending points on skills and Attributes is definitely suboptimal and there is a perverse incentive for all characters to be mechanically the same (with a Talent for every skill they need). Also, to me, a character that can't meaningfully be described in real world terms (i.e. 'has high emotional intelligence' or 'good hand-eye coordination'), is less interesting, so I prefer Talents that believably group together tasks that correlate with each other.

Re: New Talents
 

Some talents from the Marvel Reboot thread/document/not-a-wiki:

Classic Homemaker: Animal Handling, Artist (Pottery), Cooking, Gardening, Housekeeping, Professional Skill (Brewer), Professional Skill (Distiller), Professional Skill (Dyer), Professional Skill (Tanner), Professional Skill (Vinter), Professional Skill (Weaver), and Sewing. Reaction bonus: Folks that value "traditional family values" and clean homes in general. 10 points per level. (Intended for a low-TL world, TL0 to 2.) (Originally built for Athena.)

Gamecrafter: Connoisseur (Games), Current Affairs (Sports), Gambling, Games, Mathematics (Applied and Statistics), Professional Skill (Game Designer). Conditional Bonus to Body Language, Carousing, Computer Programming, and Writing when dealing with making, modifying, and playing games. Reaction Bonus: Gamers, fellow game/sport enthusiasts. 10 points per level. (Originally built for the Grandmaster.)

Martial Artist (Military): Broadsword, Judo, Karate, Knife, Shield, Shortsword, Spear, Staff, Stealth, and Wrestling. Reaction Bonus: Military leaders. 10 points per level. (Intended to represent combat training for low-TL soldiers and some special forces. Originally built by someone else whose name I can't remember for Red Guardian, also useful for Captain America.)

Natural Swordsman: Broadsword, Force Saber, Force Sword, Knife, Main-Gauche, Rapier, Saber, Shortsword, Smallsword, Two-Handed Sword. Reaction Bonus: Swordsmen, swashbucklers, swashbuckler wannabes, sword-fighting movie enthusiasts. 10 points per level. (Originally built for my Ranoc setting, used by Matador and will eventually see use on Swordsman.)

Perfect Throw: Bolas, Dropping, Innate Attack (Projectile), Lasso, Sling, Spear Thrower, Throwing, Throwing Art, Thrown Weapon. May also give a conditional bonus to various Sports skills that use throwing, such as Sports (Baseball) and Sports (American Football). Reaction Bonus: Sportsmen, fans of sports involving throwing, warriors of pre-TL4 cultures. 10 points per level. (Originally built for Bullseye.)

Psychotronicist: Electronics Operation (Psychotronics), Electronics Repair (Psychotronics), Engineer (Psychotronics), Expert Skill (Psionics). Reaction Bonus: other psychotronics experts. 5 points per level. (Originally built for the White Queen.)


Several of these should probably have alternative benefits.

Re: New Talents
 

I agree; those Talents lack a unifying theme. There is an option for "Job Training" to cover somewhat disparate skills - provided they apply to a given job or you can justify them being trained concurrently. I cannot find any justification for Fast-Talk, Fast-Draw, and Shiphandling in the same talent.

It sometimes makes sense to add multiple Talents to a character to cover all the angles.

Re: New Talents
 

Dominatrix: 5 BP/level

Reaction Bonus: Submissives who are attracted to your gender.

Skills: Judo, Intimidation, Knot-Tying, Psychology, and Whip.

Alterative Benefit: +1/level effective damage when inflicting pain from locks using Judo or Whip.

Notes: Men and women are equally capable of taking Dominatrix despite the name, though it is more common in women than men.

Re: New Talents
 

Here's another one I just thought up:

Who Wouldn't Want a Cheap Bonus on These talent:

Acrobatics, Autohypnosis, Blind Fighting, Breath Control, Detect Lies, Diplomacy, Intelligence Analysis, Judo, Mind Block, Naturalist, Physician, Psychology, Staff, Sleight of Hand, Sling, Tactics.

And this one:

Point Crockadile Dundee talent

Climbing, Jumping, Running, Hiking, Throwing, Stealth, Swimming, Driving (or Riding depending on TL), Brawling, Wrestling.

Re: New Talents
 

I added Disguise (Animal) and Weather Sense to Outdoorsman, because the vanilla version seemed a little underwhelming for me.

Knight
Axe/Mace, Broadsword, Lance, Riding, Savoir-Faire, Shield. 5 points/level.

This is also a power talent for the Chivalry power, making it worth 10 points per level in toto.

Re: New Talents
 

I thought about creating a thread like this, but dedicated specifically to martial talents. One that I've been working on in my head, but would like suggestions for:

Horse Archer, 5 points

Skills: Animal Handling (Equines), Bow, Fast Draw (Arrow), Riding (Horse), Soldier.

Reaction Bonus: +1 per level from other horse archers, and military commanders who use them.

Alternative Benefit: <Not sure; suggestions?>

Thought about adding Armory, but wasn't sure it would fit.

Re: New Talents
 

Indubitably! I should have given it more thought.

Re: New Talents
 

Las Vegas Dog Catcher talent

Animal Handling, Driving, Area Knowledge, Gambling, Net.


Ironman Church Minister talent

Running, Bicycling, Swimming, Religious Ritual, Theology, Public Speaking


Singing Cowboy talent

Singing, Performance, Musical Instrument (Guitar), Animal Handling, Sport (Rodeo), Survival (Plains)

Re: New Talents
 

Donny Brook, I must say, I am seeing a total *LACK* of common theme in the skills of your talents, excepting the singing cowboy one.

Could you explain the logic behind them, starting with your first collection? Thanks in advance.

Re: New Talents
 

You've caught me. I'm being a sarcastic instigator. I think that Talents have been allowed/encouraged to creep far beyond their original and appropriate mandate and restrictions. It seems like these days (certainly since PU3) any old collection of skills can be justified as a talent as long as some sort of moniker can be slapped on them.

Re: New Talents
 

In general, I forbid talents that do not have a narrative theme associated with them. Just grouping skills together so players can have cheaper PCs is a point crock (though it is less of an issue in my games because I give a -1 to penalties to a skill for every 4 CP invested in that skill and its associated techniques).

Re: New Talents
 

The fact that some people didn’t spot that immediately suggests a tragic shortage of awareness of irony round here...

Re: New Talents
 

I think a lot of those would really better be covered by Wildcard skills. Supers and other comic-book characters who are just arbitrarily really good at everything within their theme, with little logical justification but buckets of “because it’s what they do”, are really what Wildcards were made for. Whereas Talents are at least sonewhat realistic.

Re: New Talents
 

I agree that they probably can be made Wildcards with a little elbow grease. The Natural Swordsman one could easily just be Blade!, after all. (And while it's a house rule, I let Talents work as conditional bonuses to Wildcards; someone with Inventor! and Psychotronicist can invent anything, but is better at inventing psychotronics that project illusions into a mind at a distance than a new radar-absorbing completely non-ferrous jet plane.)

IMO, the Classic Homemaker one is a case of "Job Training", with the "job" as "doing low-tech housework". Natural Swordsman is just as useful in a low-tech swashbuckling or swords-and-spaceships space opera game as it is in a superhero game.

All that said, I think they have a better unifying theme for games that permit Talents but not Wildcards (I've been in a few of those) than some Talents in this thread.

Re: New Talents
 

Why do I find it hilarious that I thought the exact same thing? Probably because I should have been born British. :)

Re: New Talents
 

One use for Talents is to emphasize style issues. Example: I could see separate Talents for Hard-boiled Detective and Country House Detective. After all, Mike Hammer and Miss Marple do things differently. If you throw in Superhero Detective, to allow Batman in the group, the three could spend most of their time driving each other nuts.

Still, the separate Talents would allow the characters to be in genre and work together.

Re: New Talents
 

My view is that's not a sufficiently strict criterion to reflect how Talents were originally conceived. For example, I don't think a 'narrative theme' would prevents the 'Singing Cowboy' Talent I posted here as an example of a faulty Talent.

I think more emphasis needs to be placed on the text in Basic Set:


In view of the text I bolded, I think that a mere coincidence of skills being used by a certain profession or even being common to a certain trope or role niche is not sufficient justification to be a Talent, since there is no believable natural aptitude that joins (to take the case of the excluded Ninja for example) Stealth and Poisons, or (to take the published example Born Spacer) Navigation and Vacc Suit. If Navigation and Vacc Suit can both be part of a "believable inborn aptitude", then so can Animal Handling and Guitar, or indeed, anything whatsoever.

The relaxation of criteria also creates a minmaxing issue, when Talent skill inclusion is driven by a desire for a specific cost for a Talent (e.g. wanting it to be 5 points instead of more), rather than the number of skills which an aptitude should believably assist, for example if a Talent that includes Gardening for no obvious reason excludes Farming.

Re: New Talents
 

Depends on whether you care about realism or not. In a non-realistic campaign (i.e., 90% of what people play)... well, you can ease that restriction.

Fisticuffs!
Boxing, Brawling, Judo, Karate, Sumo Wrestling, Wrestling. 5 points/level

Reaction Bonus: Fistfighters!

Re: New Talents
 

My concern, however, is not about realism, but about CP cost balance and character design.

Re: New Talents
 

Herr Doktor
Chemistry, Diagnosis, Pharmacy, Physician, Physiology, Surgery
+1/level to Fright Checks caused by body horror.

Witchcraft Works
Alchemy, Chemistry, Hazardous Materials (Magical), Pharmacy, Poisons, Thaumatology

Re: New Talents
 

Talents eventually cost more than just raising base stats, as such I stopped caring about "thematic" a long time ago. I'd rather see a PC with 80 points in Talents that provide anywhere from +1 to +6 to the different groups of skills covered than them buying IQ +4.



Agreed. I'm firmly in the "any group of skills with a moniker" camp.

For instance I recently put this one on a Character I made:

Assassin Craft [5/lvl] +1 Climbing, Connoisseur (Poisons), Escape, Poison, Stealth


Though upon reflection I should have called it Third Story Poisoner or something... leaving me wiggle room for other "Assassin" themed talents for the Character.

Re: New Talents
 

Racial Talents can already be made however the GM wants, and then PU3 went further into how to make talents in general (including the even more intense Job Training).

Re: New Talents
 

The Kid From Around the Way talent:

Bicycling, Games, Area Knowledge, Connoisseur (e.g. candy, kids shows), Diplomacy


Inner City Teen talent:

Streetwise, Area Knowledge, Heraldry (Gangs), Sports, Current Events (e.g.Pop Culture), Fast-talk


Homeless Wino talent:

Urban Survival, Streetwise, Filch, Panhandling, Connoisseur (e.g. cheap booze, restaurant dumpsters), Scrounging


Alpha Ape talent:

Area Knowledge, Survival, Intimidation, Brawling, Leadership, Brachiating

Re: New Talents
 

Actually, some of those aren't entirely bad. If I need to explain Talents, one of the things I can say about a lot of them is that they can represent innate general intelligence which has been developed in a limited, focused, but effective form thanks to obsessive interest or narrow education.

So the "Kid From Around the Way" could be a very bright kid who lives in the moment and has never been persuaded to study more broadly, but whose intelligence comes out in the things that interest him. Likewise, the "Inner City Teen" could be a darker version of the same; a smart kid, but one who's so focused on surviving in that street gang environment that his innate potential expresses itself in very limited ways. The "Homeless Wino" is similar, though I suspect that a serious booze habit would burn out that potential quite fast, so I'd rename it "Street Person" or something; it's someone who found themselves in the gutter and rapidly learned to focus down hard on their immediate urban environment and how to endure there, to the point that they can't think outside that box, because that would be pointless and dangerous.

The "Alpha Ape" would of course be a fine racial talent for a primate species with strong hierarchical and dominance-oriented impulses. (I mean, worse than humanity.) Evolution would favour that sort of wiring. A sapient race evolved from that ancestry would have some trouble forming large-scale societies, mind you.

Re: New Talents
 

Rambler

Reaction Bonus: Anyone attracted to their gender who is looking for short term intimate relationships.

Skills: Gambling, Holdout, Sex Appeal, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth

Alternative Bonus: +1/level on Per tests to notice ambushes and cheats.

Re: New Talents
 

Where can Brachiating be found?

Re: New Talents
 

Uh, pardon? Was that meant to be "Gambler", or is this some regional or generational slang I've missed?

(I'd interpret "Rambler" as either someone who likes going for long country walks or possibly someone prone to rambling speech.)

Re: New Talents
 

You've thrown down a gauntlet, sir! :)


Predatory 'Playah' talent:

Carousing, Pharmacy, Observation, Psychology, Lifting



Born Retired Civil Servant talent:

Administration, Savoir Faire, Acting, Hobby Skill, Housekeeping

Re: New Talents
 

Not a talent per-se, but I really like the idea of linking certain Powers/magic to mundane skills; i.e. the kind of person who is good at Translocation/Teleport spells is also someone who has a natural talent for Applied Mathematics and Physics; the 'natural telepath' is also a 'natural' at Body Language and Detect Lies, etc. I feel it helps to flavor the powers/spells to make them more a part of the individual rather than simply a +1 to a superpower roll.

Re: New Talents
 

Slight cultural differences between the UK and the USA. In the UK, a rambler is someone who takes long walks. In the USA, a rambler is a drifter or vagabond.

Re: New Talents
 

There's actually two nice ways to do that;
A) Make powers (and maybe all of them) have an attached skill. I'm doing that currently
B) Use regular talents for power talents (I believe Powers brings that idea up?)

Re: New Talents
 

I would generally increase the cost of a talent by 50% if it was also a Power Talent. For example, Allure [5 CP/level] would become Allure [8 CP/level] if it also enhanced Telepathy.

Re: New Talents
 

It's much easier than that. In Powers-Ups 3: Talents there is a section on page 4 that explains how much Talents are worth based on the number of skills they cover.

Find the point cost of your Power Talent unmodified, i.e. if it is a 5-point Power Talent it's equivalent to a small group of skills (6 or less), which means adding 6 skills to it makes it equivalent to a large group (10 points). It is the exact same cost as though you had gotten one level in the base Power Talent and one level in a Talent covering a small-group (6 or less) skills, so there's no reason not to just make them one ten-point advantage. Alternately, you could make them two Linked Advantages to make them even cheaper (if Linked is allowed for Talents?)

Re: New Talents
 

Found it, Powers p29. It even calls out using Magery, which is underpriced for being a skill talent (it covers more skills than the number of mundane skills!) but properly priced as a power talent. If anything, I'd rather get rid of Power Talents and make sure every power set has an appropriate mundane talent. It requires more work, but generally speaking will fit my campaigns better.

Re: New Talents
 

Almost immediately after the release of GURPS 4e people were asking why they bothered to create a unified talent system and immediately make Magery NOT follow the rules. I think they should have never tried to combine the concepts to begin with, Power Talents should have always existed instead of pretending an equivalency that was repudiated as soon as the books were out.

Of course a lot of people also think the entire 'default' magic system from 4e should have been done away with for something more generic and universal, but I imagine the boys preferred to copy-pasta 3e stuff instead of having to create a massive new spell grimoire following new (better, more logical, more consistent) rules as they probably should have.

Re: New Talents
 

The reason for keeping Magic around as it is was because there wasn't an easy to understand magic system and they wanted to get Basic out the door. Then released like 20 books talking about different magic systems, including Powers talking about actually making a magic system using the advantages easily available. A theoretical GURPS 5th will most likely use the magic-as-powers approach because (like psionics) it gels better with the inherent character creation, adding on the more complex and unintuitive ones in other supplements.

I realized I didn't add a talent. Well, I found a goofy one from back in the day;

Koninja 5/level

Skills: Karate, Kiai, Knife, Knot-Tying, Kusari

Reaction Bonus: Ninja and anime enthusiasts (but not actual ninja or anime characters!)

Alternate Benefit: +1/lvl on Escape rolls to get out of bindings (to help protect against Knot-Tying and Kusari)

Re: New Talents
 

Rename the talent "Gentleman's Gentleman" and you've got a talent suitable for a number of cinematic personal assistants.

Hobby Skill represents either personal interest or knowledge of their employer's hobbies.

Diplomacy, Fast-Talk, or Intimidation could substitute for Acting.

Carousing, Connoisseur, Computer Operation/TL, Current Affairs, Driving/TL, Games, Mechanic/TL, or Photography/TL could substitute for Hobby Skill.

Re: New Talents
 

Actually, not so silly. Just rename it "Muscular Christian" and you get a Victorian or early 20th century YMCA leader or a modern "Christian Athlete."

Administration, Combat Art/Sport, Hiking, Leadership, Naturalist, or Sports skill could substitute for some of the skills on the list.

Again, not so silly for a 20th c. Matinee Movie Star if you swap Sport (Rodeo) for Riding (Horses).

Re: New Talents
 

I do not know. A Gentleman's Gentleman would likely instead have Current Events, Games, Housekeeping, Riding, and Savior-Faire.

Re: New Talents
 

All equally valid. The core skills are Housekeeping and SF.

Add Acting, Current Affairs (Crime), Driving, and Photography for a gentleman detective's valet (e.g., Bunter in the Lord Peter Wimsey books).

Add Acting, Connoisseur (Fashion), Current Affairs (Popular Culture), and Sewing for a lady's maid to an aristocratic female detective. (e.g., Dot in the Miss Fisher stories).

Add Administration, Connoisseur (Fashion), Current Affairs (High Society), and Diplomacy to get a Jeeves character. (Also add Common Sense, Higher Purpose, Indomitable, Serendipity, Wild Talent, and a ridiculously high IQ to get the real article.)

Add Animal Handling (Equines), Games (Golf), Guns, and Tracking skill for a Scottish "Ghilly" in the service of a "sporting" gentleman who rides, shoots, and plays golf - using his man as a groom, caddy, and game tracker.

The idea with all of these is to create a character who is well-adapted to a narrow dramatic role without giving them ridiculously high DX or IQ scores and keeping their overall point cost in skills down. That makes them good allies for medium point-cost PCs or allows for reasonably competent PCs in a low point-cost game.

Talented NPC Servant (25 points)
Attributes: HT +1 [10]
Secondary Characteristics: Per: 12 [10].
Advantage: Talent 2 (Gentleman's Gentleman - Modified) [10]; and up to 5 points from increased attributes, increased skills, Languages, Cultural Familiarities, or other advantages.
Disadvantages: Duty (Employer, 6-) [-5]; Sense of Duty (Employer and Friends) [-5]; and -10 points in other disadvantages or reduced attributes.
Primary Skills: Savoir-Faire (Servant) (E) IQ [1] - 12*; Housekeeping (E) IQ [1] - 12*
Secondary Skills: Skill A (A) IQ [2] - 12*; Skill B (A) IQ [2] - 12*; Skill C (H) IQ-1 [2] - 11*.
Background Skills: 2 points from any suitable skill.
*+2 for Talent.

Re: New Talents
 

And that whole nonsense about "no Ninja Talent" and then Ninja Talent showing up in Power-Ups 3 Talents* is a very large part of why I kicked the 'thematic' and 'inborn' requirements to the curb.


* Yes, I know it's a Power Talent in DF 12, but it showed up in PU 3 as a Skill Talent.

I disagree, but then again, I'd rather see a PC spend 80 points on Talents than 80 points on IQ. Heck, I'm happier if a 'knight' PC were to buy 4 levels of Heavy Cavalry Talent (Broadsword, Crossbow, Lance, Riding, Shield) than 1 level of DX.




As well (at least starting in the 70's-ish era) in the US 'rambler' means 'playah'. It's used in a number of songs to reference one who isn't tied down to any one partner.




Agreed, broadly. but I note that Power talents tend to work because Players will very often come up with new and novel uses of Powers that may require a new Power Skill during the campaign and suddenly your tightly crafted Talent doesn't fit it. If you're fine with increasing the Talent to cover it (and the cost by 1) I'm right there with you.

Re: New Talents
 

Very nice... consider it yoinked for my notes.

Re: New Talents
 

Free Runner

Reaction Bonus: People enountered on rooftops or while climbing the side of buildings

Skills: Acrobatics; Area Knowledge; Climbing; Jumping; Running

Alternative Bonus: +1/level to HT rolls to recover from injuries acquired while free running.

Re: New Talents
 

Born Mom's-Basement-Dweller talent:

Games, Current Affairs, Computer Operation, Connoiseur (Junk Food), Expert Skill (Conspiracy Theories)


Pedophile Pornographer talent:

Acting, Shadowing, Photography, Computer Operation, Driving, Wrestling



Born Phone-bank Scammer talent:

Computer Operation, Electronics Operation (Telephony), Fast-talk, Acting, Body Control

Re: New Talents
 

GM

Fast Talk, Diplomacy, Literature, History, Research, Writing. Slight-of-Hand (dice).

Charisma is very useful but Delusions are much more common.

Re: New Talents
 

That should probably include some Hobby skills. I think there's also a skill for storytelling well, but I can't recall.

Reaction bonus is actually really useful, especially for finding new players.

Re: New Talents
 

The Enthrallment skills would be useful for a GM.

Re: New Talents
 

True. Though "I have Enthrallment skills" might be a common part of the Delusions mentioned. : )

Re: New Talents
 

More like necessary. ;-)

Re: New Talents
 

You speakith TRUTH!

Re: New Talents
 

The power to cloud men's minds in general is useful.

I discovered that I had this vs. one particular player. His character had a weird and complex political agenda, and started asking leading questions. A few truthful answers later, he led the party off on a completely spurious mission. They did avoid a disaster, but not by much.

Re: New Talents
 

Storytelling is an optional specialization for Public Speaking, and yes, that should definitely be part of a GM Talent.

Depending on what kind of GM they are, I'd get rid of Literature and add Public Speaking and Acting.

Re: New Talents
 

At this point I'm wondering if GM! might make more sense.

Re: New Talents
 

And possibly Performance.

Re: New Talents
 

GM! also helps if you get food poisoning from leftovers served at the game.

Re: New Talents
 

It also gets rid of familiarity penalties for new systems and even gives you impulse points for doing things like finding the right dice, getting a new player to show up, and even add a piece of history to the setting to find and use for a realistic campaign.

Re: New Talents
 

I'd mostly forgotten that this thread existed, and almost made a new one before finding it, as I have a few ideas for Talents that could use developing. Starting off, something that occurred to me while looking through GURPS Bio-Tech, relating to Biogadgets (pp95-101, and skills on p214):

Bioartificer, 5/level

Skills: Armoury (Biogadgets?); Bioengineering (Biogadgets); Physiology (Biogadgets); Surgery; Veterinary.

Reaction Bonus: People you do work for, and biogadgets that are both intelligent and independent enough to have game-relevant reaction rolls.

Alternative benefit: <uncertain; maybe something like the ones from Green Thumb or Healer, but the ones from Artificer and Dungeon Artificer might make as much sense>

Other things I'm uncertain about:

Does 'Biogadgets' as an Armoury specialization work, and if not, what should replace it?

The boxed text on Bio-Tech p95 suggests that Physician should be used for biogadgets, but it seems to me like Veterinary or 'Veterinary (Biogadgets)' makes more sense in context, especially given the expanded information on it in the skill thread.

What do you think?

Re: New Talents
 

A somewhat meta talent I've created for my Occult WWII in India game: Devotion (religion). This gives +1/level reactions from members of the same religion, and boosts Theology (religion) and Religious Ritual (religion), plus three other religion-relevant skills, which vary by the religion, and sometimes by the worshipper's style within the religion.

For a rather mystic Sikh, they are Autohypnosis, Breath Control and Meditation.

For a more worldly Muslim, they are History (Islam), Law (Islam) and Meditation.

Others to be defined as the campaign needs them.

Re: New Talents
 

Something partly inspired by the Psientist Talent, but with a different focus (also, a Talent that an Inner martial arts style could be somewhat built around):

Mental Defence, 5/level (or higher, see below).

Skills: Autohypnosis, Dreaming, Mental Strength, Mind Block, and (usually) one setting appropriate skill covering understanding the abilities you're defending against - Psientist Talent offers either Expert Skill (Psionics) or Hidden Lore (Psionics), but in settings with other powers, the appropriate skill might be Thaumatology or Weird Science, Hidden Lore (Spirits), (Mythos), (Dreamlands), or (Chi), Expert Skill (Super Powers), et cetra; in a setting with multiple power sources that could provide mind-affecting abilities, the skills could be something like Expert Skill (Mental Powers), or the GM might add more skills to the Talent, thus increasing the cost.

Reaction bonus: Probably none, but you may get a reaction penalty from mind-controllers, or from dreamwalkers or mind-readers who are offended by attempts to protect your mental privacy.

Alternative bonus: +1/level to mundane rolls to detect mental abilities being used on you.


Thoughts?

Re: New Talents
 

I like that. I might want one more skill in the package, but I don't know what off-hand.

Re: New Talents
 

I kept having that feeling too. I thought about adding Mathematics (Cryptology) because of a technique that Mind Block has, but decided that didn't make sense for a Talent - it works far better for a mental arts style built around Mind Block.

EDIT: One skill that I considered for both this and another Talent, then forgot about until randomly recalling it a little while ago, is Professional Skill (Military Psionicist). This is the skill of planning for the use of psionic abilities in a military context, by any side. It might be an Expert Skill instead, depending on the setting or the GM, but either way probably occupies the variable position like Hidden Lore (Psionics). I thought about it being a specialization of Tactics or Strategy, but decided that those were too narrow in application, since it effects a lot more than just combat. Similar skills probably exist in magical or other 'strange powers' settings.

Re: New Talents
 

Another possible skill is Electronics Operations (Psychotronics or similar)

Re: New Talents
 

Not sure any of these are an exact fit, but in the general vein I note: Psychology, Meditation, Invisibility Art, Zen Archery and Body Control.

Re: New Talents
 

Not sure that would fit as a 'natural' talent, but it makes some sense for Talents as Training.

Maybe. Another that I considered for a while and then dropped as too cheesy was Acting, to defend against mundane 'mind reading' (Detect Lies, et al).

Re: New Talents
 

Talents, when they don't represent clusters of abilities often linked in the real world, are often meant to fit a stereotype suited to a campaign setting. Take the character classes from DnD. Each one of these could be a talent. To a certain extent doesn't Dungeon Fantasy already do it that way?

In any genre with stereotypical roles that verge on the archetypal you could set up similar logical to the genre Talents designed to grease the skids for players playing the PCs they really want.

Re: New Talents
 

I've been thinking about a range of Talents that might be described as 'Charlatanry,' of which this is the one I'm most clear on, and the one some of the others might be expansions of. It may fit 'Talent as Training' better than 'Talent as Inborn Ability,' though:

Mentalist, 5/level

Skills: Body Language, Detect Lies, Fortune-Telling, Gambling, Psychology, and possibly Weather Sense.

Reaction bonus: Audiences, and other people you've fooled.

Alternative bonus: Uncertain, but perhaps something like '+1/level in Contests against other phony psychics' works, much like the alternative bonus from Craftiness.

You can somewhat fake mind reading with Fortune-Telling alone, but it becomes far more reliable when combined with Body Language, Detect Lies, and Psychology. Gambling, meanwhile, improves your ability to pretend to see the future, as you can estimate the odds of various things, then 'give a prophecy' about something that has a good enough chance of happening, that you're reasonably sure the mark doesn't know is that likely. This is also why Weather Sense is listed as an option, as if you're enough better at it than the mark, it's a relatively quick way of establishing your prescience (and like the Cunning Folk Talent, if you're a Soothsayer in a culture where that's a respected profession, predicting the weather is probably an important part of your job).

Re: New Talents
 

Hypnotist, 5/level

Skills: Autohypnosis, Brainwashing, Hypnotism, Intimidation, and Psychology.

Reaction bonus: (Same as the Mesmerist Talent).

Alternative bonus: (Same as the Mesmerist Talent).

You might call this the nastier side of being a fake psychic, but this is not necessarily any kind of performer. It's basically a cut down Mesmerist Talent (all the cinematic skills removed), with Psychology added to balance it out, and because the other name I considered for it is something like 'Master Brainwasher.'

Re: New Talents
 

Street Occultist, 5/level

Skills: Herb Lore, Hidden Lore, History, Literature, Occultism, and Research.

Reaction bonus: (Same as Occultist Talent).

Alternative bonus: (Probably same as Occultist Talent).

This is a stripped down and slightly modified (Herb Lore replaces Alchemy) version of the Occultist Talent, appropriate for an urban magician who doesn't have the professionalism or access to the resources of a high-class academic (and is more likely to be self-trained, or learned via a somewhat traditional apprenticeship).

Re: New Talents
 

Psychic Soldier, 5/level

Skills: Fast Draw (as appropriate to the setting), Innate Attack, Leadership, Professional Skill (Military Psionicist), Savoir-Faire (Military), Soldier.

Reaction bonus: Soldiers you've served with or aided.

Alternative bonus: +1/level to spot psionic hazards?

Despite the name, this Talent is not limited to soldiers who have psi abilities, though it is particularly useful to them - rather, it is intended for soldiers who work with or around psionics. Fast Draw is present for settings in which taking psi drugs or the equivalent in a hurry (e.g. mid-battle) is common enough to be typical of soldiers like this; if that is not the case for your setting, it can be left out.


Thoughts?

Re: New Talents
 

Help me on this. I`ve read somewhere that combat skills cannot be part of talents, but in DF 3 we have Forest Guardian for elves and that talent has Bow.

In our games, i like to play some scoutish type characters and i just take forest guardian and name it Natural Born Hunter.

So i guess, combat skills in talents are ok?

Re: New Talents
 

Well, GMs can do what they like in their own games. Combat Talents have been disfavored for two reasons that I know of, first being that they are kind of munchkinny, second being that they are hard to characterize as a discrete aptitude distinct from general DX.

My opinion is that there is room for allowing a combat skill within a Talent if it fits with the concept of whatever "natural aptitude" comprises the Talent. On the other hand, I find many of the newer published Talents are nothing like a natural aptitude, so I'm a bit old school.

Re: New Talents
 

I give my players to choose 4+ weapon skills as a talent. Most of the time as a style. Just so they would have different skills that don't cost a fortune without dx 15+.
It won't let you have sword skill higher, it would just put more skills for a little bit more points. Most of the time people use one skill anyway.

But at the same time I treat talents as some skills learned together, like your education, fighting style. Not as some innate ability to do N.

In the end of the day, there are many book talents with weapon skills. So ask your GM.