Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Isn't this included in electronics operation (comm) at TL5+?

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Not always. According to a friend's brother who just got out of the (US) military, they no longer teach Morse Code to communications specialists - or anyone who has to use a military radio, for that matter.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Would memorization of Monte Python impress roleplayers? Experience says yes... :)

Wine Connoisseur

No matter what dump you happen to be eating in, the wine is always excellent.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Healed-up Fine: the character sustained an injury in the past, which now healed, gives him some small advantage such as High Pain threshold in one body part, or DR1 over a small area, or Flexibility in a single limb.

Trained eye/ear/nose: the character gets a +1 on one type of sense to 'spot' one particular type of thing (e.g. fingerprints, footprints, fnords, a gun being cocked, tiger spoor, evidence of the law of fives ...)

Cunning Linguist: the character's tongue is particularly agile, good for a +1 on Public Speaking rolls where speed and/or precision of speech is of particular importance, and +1 on certain Erotic Art rolls.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Took me a second to see the pun. Yikes! :)

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

I re-read Characters, morse code is only included in TL 5-7.
At TL8... well, I don't think it's worth a whole point. It could be used per lower-TL default, as kids using walkie-talkies mostly know some morse. ;)

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Morse code is probably a Familiarity, because TPTB think that programming languages are familiarities.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Skeptical (Diplomacy, Fast-talk, Intimidation or other influence skill): the character has +1 resistance against one influence skill.

Emotionally Resillient: results the character rolls on the fright-check table are adjusted in his favor as follows: Rolls up to 12, adjust by one step; rolls 13-27, adjust by 2 steps; rolls 28+ reduce by three steps.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Yes. Which, IMO, qualifies as a fair price for a perk. With it, you KNOW Morse code, even without proper skill. Backgound like "I was a boyscout" apply, of course.

Those are slick, huh!? =)
But I didn't quite catch the last... the adjustment means a guy who fails by 25, frex, looks at the 23 at the table, yes?

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Well, only if the character doesn't have the skill. If she has, it merely eats up one Familiarity, because a Perk is considered worth almost any number of Familiarities (I'd say 200 hours worth of familiarities, for the ruleslawyery ones).

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Thanks! I meant that when the guy rolls on the fright check table (B360), if he rolled up a 25 he'd check the 23 outcome, yes, but a person who rolls a 9 would check the "6,7" category, because "8, 9" is a combined entry.

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Only runs out of arrows when it's "dramatically appropriate."

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Cosmo Kramer!

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Is never without barrier contraceptives.

Although this may sound like just a benefit for social interactions, condoms can make versatile kit. A magnum will fit most microphones and allow for underwater recordings. (Especially useful as some espionage practices paint swimming pools as "safe" places to have a confidential conversation.)

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Sound Effect: The character can make a noise that sounds just like one particular thing (e.g. the sound of a squeeky wheel, a baby crying, the wind whistling through branches, a gun being cocked, the hoot of an owl ... ) The character cannot mimic any particular examples of such things, only make the sound of his own single version of the thing.

Maw: the character can open her mouth wide and has strong jaws. She can grasp and lift objects up to her SM-1 and up to light encumbrance with her mouth.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Born Biter is a Feature [0] modifying you jaw SM by up to +3.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Hm. Why's it only 0 points?

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Because it also includes the drawback that your face is easier to hit by the same amount. So if you have Born Biter 2, you can bite as if you were SM +2, but your face is only -3 to hit instead of -5.

I'd call Born Biter without that drawback a 1 pt/lvl advantage. So a +1 SM adjustment to your effective bite would make a great perk.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

I'd rather treat this perk as a Switchable adjustment to jaw SM. Because while the jaw is 'extended' (e.g. when holding the target), it should be easier to hit.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Internal Alarm Clock: Unless suffering from major fatigue loss, or a severe disruption of sleep cycle, the character can choose the length of time he will remain asleep. (Effectively this may be Absolute Timing (Awakening from Sleep only)).

Line Luck: Whenever there are a choice of line-ups for something desireable, the character always gets in the fastest-moving line. (The opposite could be a Quirk.)

Cagey consumer: by luck or skill, the character times her purchases well or knows where to buy -- reduce cost of living by 5%.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

As seen on another thread:

Semi-Ambidexterity
Half the off-hand penalties for one class of weapon -- all flexibles, frex.

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Undetectable to mosquitoes: Mosquitos do not prey on the character.

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I think this is a little underpowered. Here's my logic. Indomitable can be regarded as Resistant (Immunity) to Influence Skills. Following that logic, if full Indomitable costs 15 points, for 7 points you can have +8 to resist all Influence skills and for 5 points +3 to resist all Influence skills. Since this is just one Influence skill, I'd make the bonus +3. Another trivial consideration - change the name depending on the skill resisted - Skeptical for Fast Talk, Resolute for Intimidation, Chaste for Sex Appeal, etc.

- DW

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

I'd say if +1 Striking ST (which isn't necessarily going to get +1 Thrust damage) for punches only costs 2 points, making it Boxing punches only doesn't sound enough of a limitation to drop in to one point. However, the
Martial Arts Designer's Notes mentions a "Focused Fury" perk that allows combining Mighty Blows with Committed or All Out Attacks (Strong.) There was concerned it might be unbalanced, but if limited to punches only it might not be a problem.

-DW

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Actually, I've thought more in the line of the character having a "built-in brass knuckes" usable only with boxing punches. Being restricted to one skill compensates not being really a brass-knuckle, what would classify as a "Always has a Brass Knucke or Sap" perk.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Great suggestions -- thanks!

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

actuall that leades to my Favorite Perk, that I "stole" from Kromm

Background: Boyscout +1 to all default skills roll related to scouting.

Can be adped other background, "Farm boy" etc

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

I like that -- lots of possibilities.

Here's some more:

Reciprocal Perception: anything the character can do, she can also do in reverse.

Human (Orcish, Kzin, etc.) Antenna: the character can give +1 or -1 to reception by any communications receiver by the position he stands in nearby. Range is 5 yards.

Outfit Bond: The character owns one set of clothes that fit her like a million bucks and suit her color perfectly, etc. When she wears this outfit with appropriate preparation in reasonably correct contexts she gets +1 on reaction rolls from one sex or the other (choose at character creation).

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Twinkletoes: a single-skill Talent in Dancing, good for +1. (Vastly underpriced for a campaign that is ABOUT dancing, but not for most adventure campaigns, I think.)

Lark: the character gets +1 IQ in the first hour after dawn.

Owl: the character gets +1 IQ in the hour of deepest night.

Pokerface: the character gives -1 to Detect Lies skill used against him. (Someone probably thought this one up long before me).

Affectless: the character gives -1 to Body Language skill used against him.

Stoneface: the character's face never reveals fear. She is affected by Fright checks as normal, but short of those specific physical manifestations, you cannot tell when she is frightened by her expression.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

"James, that tuxedo is smashing. Where did you find it?"
"It's a Bond ... Outfit Bond."

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Interposing: The character can parry blows directed at a person in a neighboring hex, if her weapon could reach the attacker.

Signature Piece: the character has a song, or a recipe, or a monologue, or a magic trick or whatever that he can perform as if his level in the relevant skill were 16(+?), regardless of his actual true skill level.

Master Debater (specify skill): the character gets +1 on Public Speaking, Fast-talk, or Diplomacy when invoked in reaction to the statements or positions of another person.

Rich Inner Life: the character is never bored and is resistant to the effects of isolation and shunning.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Shunning? That's just when everyone stops bothering you, so you can quietly read gurps. :)

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

LOL!

[plus these additional characters to get past the machine-brain]

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Perseverent: the effects on the character of falling below positive HP or FP thresholds is delayed for one round (in combat) or one minute (out of combat).

Leaf Bugs: Put a 2/2 Green Creature token into play at the start of each of the next three turns. [What the...? Ooops, how did that get in here?]

Unenviable: The character does not provoke reactions under the Jealousy disadvantage, and any negative reaction results that would, in the GMs judgement, be based on envy or jealousy are converted to neutral results.

Respectable: Reaction modifiers to the character from higher status individuals are improved by 1.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Following the pricing of Fearlessness suggests that 1 point for a +1 to resist Intimidation would be fair, which makes me think that the same would apply to other Influence checks. Higher bonuses should have some sort of conditional restriction, IMO. I like the name choices, though :)

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Well, I'm extrapolating from the Resistant Advantage - logically, +3 vs all Influence skills should cost 5 points, so just against 1, +3 for one point seems reasonable. Also note that Martial Arts has a Chi Resistant perk with similar mechanics, so there's precedent in the official rules.

There's also a key difference between a Perk like this and a Perk like Weapon Bond. If a Perk gives a limited bonus to a skill, you can be sure the player will actively try to make that Perk useful. In contrast, this Perk is passive - it's only useful if the character is attacked with a specific skill. It's much harder for the player to bring the Perk into play. Unless the GM is fond of Eigen Plots, it won't come up that often. A larger bonus seems reasonable compensation.

- DW

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

I like that one, but perhaps we should generalize from Weapon Bond to Equipment Bond -

Equipment Bond - You have a set of equipment particularly adopted to you that gives you +1 to a specific skill. If you lose the equipment, you lose the bonus but you can buy the Perk with another set of equipment. So...

Weapon - +1 to Combat skill.
Vehicle - +1 to appropriate vehicle skill.
Outfit - +1 to Sex Appeal. Alternately, it could be a bonus to a different skill.
Lock Picks - +1 to Lock Picking skill

et cetera.

- DW

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

An Edge: the character wins all tied rolls/results in Contests (except against a another character with An Edge).

Hirsute: the character can grow a reasonably shapeable beard in couple of days, and a full beard in a couple of weeks.

Depilated: the character never needs hair removal of any kind.

Thinks Ahead: when the character takes a Wait maneouvre in combat, if he has not taken another maneoevre by the start of his next turn, he may convert the Wait into a Plan. The character may thereafter use the Plan in any combat round after he has taken an Evaluate maneoevre. When he does, he may choose any All-Out-Attack option without suffering any of the subsequent defensive penalties of an AoA. This attack (only one, if AoA double is selected) also gets the benefit of the prior Evaluate maneovre(s).

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Munchkin.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

As distinct from other advantages?????
Have you read how TbaM works?

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

ujmm you comparing a 1 point perk to TbaM ?

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

TbaM costs 30× the cost of a Perk!

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

So? It gives you all kinds of powerful tricksy dicksy doozy woozies. The said perks don't. How are they munchkin and the TbaM not?

If it's just a matter of the 1 point not being enough cost, I can't see why. How often does a tie happen in a Contest? Why is giving up your actions one turn not a reasonable cost for the ability to outthink an opponent in a subsequent turn?

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Why not? They each a have a point cost intended to allow them to be scaled against eachother. They are supposed to be comparable through that method.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

over riding the rules for who wins ties not being a powerful Trick? I would not eve consider it at less the [25] and i'm not sure that is high enough

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Okay, but why? I don't think it happens very often, does it?

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

It can mean up to 12.5% increase success.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Really? Well okay, 12.5% is a bit more than I expected. The price in its present form is possibly a problem.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

The price of a Perk is one point. Period. Consequence: this is not a balanced trait for a Perk.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

That fact had penetrated my consciousness some time ago, but thanks.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Slow-motion sense: the character can see (or gets +1 on vision rolls to see) very slow movement, like the minute-hand of a watch.

Suave: Serendipity on a trivial scale -- e.g. a waitor always appears when the character is ready to order and comes with the cheque just when the character is ready to leave, the character's lighter always works when he's lighting a smoke for a foxy-spy-woman, there is always a parking space available for the character. [If this is thought to be too powerful in generic form, it could be limited by thematical categories (and renamed eachy-wise).]

Strange Attractor: exactly like Weirdness Magnet, but without the requirement that it involve inconvenience or disadvantage.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Speaking as someone who has this, I'm tempted call it a quirk. It's a real pain to have to shave twice a day to stay clean shaven.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

If you're bothering to shave.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Heh, fair enough. Though in a Kansas summer, it's less of an option.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

I know what you mean.

It probably depends on context whether it's worth +1 or -1.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

It's essentially an accessibility limitation on Super Luck with the Alter Reality enhancement, I think. 12.5%, you say? So that's a -35% limitation. Well. No. It's probably a -40% limitation due to it only applying to contest rolls which is likely to knock the 12.5% down to the 1-6% range. Plus whatever fair value 'only change result by one' is worth (-60%?)

Which means it's either worth about 75 points (if using additive) or about 35 (if using multiplicative). For one use per hour.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Mispricing something by a whole order of magnitude -- I've outdone myself!

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Dramatis Zephyrae
At a dramatically opportune moment, a soft breeze ruffles your hair, billows your cape, or waves your flag (ex: King of the Hill's John Redcorn).

Strike A Pose!
You can strike a pose (choose one as your standard) and make yourself look even more dashing, dramatic, or heroic.

It's Always Five O'Clock
You always seem to have a five o'clock shadow, which makes you look ruggedly handsome rather than unkempt.

(S)he's Got The Look: It's obvious you're just flirting -- but who cares? They always melt when you look at them anyway.

Dramatic Look Human
You've got a certain way of looking at people that tells them: You. Mean. Business. (a now-famous and hilarious example).

All of the above might be good for a +1 on the appropriate Social skill roll. Apologies if any have appeared elsewhere.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Captain Morgan!

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Ok, one more perk.

Sexy - You get +1 on Reaction rolls from individuals attracted to your sex in sexual and romantic situations only.

I reverse engineered this from the Appearance Advantage.

(Skip the rest of this post if you're not worried about the rationalization.)

Attractive [4] is +1 to Reaction rolls with a -20% limitation, Appearance based.

Handsome/Beautiful [12] is +2 to Reaction rolls with a -20% limitation, Appearance based [8] and an additional +2 to Reaction rolls with -60% in Limitations [4].

I break out the -60% in Limitations as follows:

-20% for Appearance based
-20% for only those attracted to your sex (this is roughly equivalent in frequency to only men or only women, which is -20%.)
-20% for the nuisance effects of attracting unwanted attention, being more noticeable, and triggering jealousy.

The last limitation is not explicit in Handsome/Beautiful, but is explicit for Very Handsome/Beautiful which follows the same price structure.

So Sexy is a +1 Reaction roll with -80% in Limitations:

-20% for Appearance based
-20% for only those attracted to your sex.
-20% for the nuisance effects of attracting unwanted attention, being more noticeable, and triggering jealousy.
AND
-20% only in sexual and romantic situations.

- DW

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Strong Handshake
+1 ST for handgrip only. May give a +1 bonus for Intimidation or appropriate social skill against "manly" N/PCs.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Those situations where you think (s)he's hot, but you can't quite put your finger on why... this would work.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Great minds think alike - I've actually allowed this on a PC with Probability Alteration power before, except we called it Moneyclip Magnet and it worked a little bit differently.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Great minds indeed. The character in question who has the perk has powers involved with quantum physics and the alteration of probabilities. Hopefully, one day I'll get to play her. :(

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

What's The Name of That Song?

Once per day, by humming or whistling a "catchy" song in a non-combat situation, you can temporarily disrupt others' concentration. Those around you should make a Perception roll, on a success, they lose their train of thought for the next 30 seconds. The song is up to the player, though in the modern world, "The Stars and Stripes Forever" can be especially effective ....

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Lol. I like this. I'd say less than 30 seconds though, a 10 second or so confusion is still pretty effective. Perhaps a accompanying quirk would be providing little clues that never quite help ;)

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Cool ability but the inabilty to take a concentration maneuver for multiple rounds is surely worth more than 1 point.

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Peasant Feet - For many years you did not wear shoes. You have a thick layer of calluses of the bottom of your feet that provides DR 1* to the bottom of your feet. You do not need to wear shoes for warmth at any temperature within your comfort zone.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

As others have remarked, this is WAAAAY powerful for a perk. It could put an opposing mage out of a whole combat scenario.

On the other hand, if you limit it to non-combat only, a -1 modifier on thinking and concentration for up to an hour would be okay.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Heh... bringing to mind a recollection of The Honeymooners episode "The $99,000 Answer" *G*

I've never been able to hear Suwanee River without thinking of that :)

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Totem/Happy Place: while stunned or similarly afflicted, spend a round invoking a mental image instead of attempting to recover to get a +2 on the attempt to recover you make in the following round.

(Probably fairly useful for low IQ adventurers.)

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

I don't mind knocking it down to 5-10 seconds. And the modifier's a reasonable way to "tone it down." As I mentioned, this is for non-combat use only -- I figure in a fight, everyone will have other things on their minds.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Can you imagine one of the PC's starting to hum "Liberty Bell March" (aka the theme from "Monty Python") right as the group techie is cooking up some intricate sleight-of-technical-hand at a critical moment? Good GM fun...

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Alarm Clock - You wake up at the same time every day, without fail, even if you've been up late and have only grabbed a couple hours' sleep.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

My wife has the advanced version of this -- she can tell herself to wake up at a specific time and do it, without the alarm clock. But that's probably more of a low-level case of Absolute Timing.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

I have this, too. I've never woken up to an alarm clock in my life. I have set one a number of times (e.g. had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. for a marathon I was competing in, set the alarm for 4:30, woke up at 4:25), but generally I wake up when I need to.

I think it could still be counted as a perk, as this doesn't necessarily convey other aspects of Absolute Timing.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

I figured: Absolute Timing (Limited Use, 1/day, -40%, Accessibility (only to wake up), -40%) [0.4], rounded up to [1]. I guess a generous/nice GM could let you have it as a 0-point feature. YMMV.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Looks Good on Ya: You look good wearing any type of clothing -- dirty, rumpled clothes, the opposite sex's clothes, a burlap sack...it doesn't matter. +1 Reaction bonus from anybody you come in contact with, so long as you're dressed.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Munchkin. +1 reaction usually costs [5]. Maybe [4] in your case.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

I'd personally allow a specific type of clothing for a +1 while wearing that clothing type. For instance, I posted "Looks good in uniform" giving a +1 to Appearance while wearing the appropriate uniform.