Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Oh no, the point of the Perk isn't to make it easy to eat spoiled food or poison. Only to eat food that is perfectly edible to the character's species, but that most people from the character's culture would consider exotic, weird, or disgusting. I think I put in there that it doesn't prevent food poisoning.

I should also add that it won't prevent allergic reactions.

It might make it easier to endure travel in areas where the only food available is the sort that would normally make somebody from your culture gag. But it may be more useful for social purposes, to avoid offending your hosts at a diplomatic banquet when they serve you something you've never seen before, and you must eat with a smile on your face. Or it could help a character working undercover by pretending to be a person of a different culture, I suppose.

It won't help if your hosts are trying to poison you, or belong to a different species and like to eat things that will kill the average human (goblin/minotaur/etc.).


Quite true! Though for alien characters, it seems more likely that spaghetti is impossible to digest. All that horrible starch and inedible left-handed proteins! ;p

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

For kleptomaniacs: random stolen items. Similiar to gizmos, except the player may or may not have stolen anything useful.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Crazy Role-Player: Can read through 25 pages of any given RPG forum topic at one sitting and still be ready for more.

Computer Researcher: The skilled user of search technology can add +1 to Research skill when looking for knowledge using computerized search tools. The topics of knowledge researched are, of course, limited to the type of computer media available - without connection to some sort of large body of information (i.e. the internet) the local information available determines what kind of knowledge can be researched. This perk is popular among astute librarians and lazy college students.

Many of these remind me of that random table for random useless abilities in the Tank Girl RPG. The one that lives in my memory to this day is: Can Fart on Demand, which I think required a percentile roll of 47 or something. Mind you, I only browsed this book once in a bookstore and have never seen a copy since.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Buns of steel: look good in tight jeans and get a +1 to strength roles where strong butt flexes might assist.

Nice Butt: your butt is very appealing to most people attracted to your sex. You get a +1 reaction, but only when someone gets a good look at your butt.

Six Pack: you've got great abbs, get a +1 on reaction rolls to those who like great abbs, +1 to strength roles where having good abb muscles is critical.

Breasts of Plenty: get a +1 reaction role in cultures where that is a bonus. Consider chronic pain or bad back for characters later in life. Some people won't take the character seriously.

Feminine Intuition: can tell when loved ones are lying or cheating on her.

Parental Vision: detects when kids are getting into trouble.

Romantic: gets to reroll critical failures on reaction rolls from loved ones when trying to set a romantic tone, must try to set a romantic tone with loves ones weekly or better.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Parental Intuition:
Whenever one of your offspring is suddenly in trouble or injured, you get some sort of tingling feeling or sense of dread in warning (roll against your IQ), and might even know which of your offspring this feeling of dread pertains to (if you make the roll by 3 or more).


My mother swears this happened to her once, when my brother momentarily thought the police were about to pull him over.

I don't know if this is actually useful, though.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

If you have Dependents (Loved Ones) it sure as hell is very useful. It gives you a good jump on whatever happened that you might not get otherwise. It's also nice, from a GM's perspective, to have a good, easy, in character way to tell a player their "6 or less" came up a 5.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Apparently my mother has a variation of this, let's call it:

Poland Family Parental Intuition:
Whenever one of your offspring is doing someone incredibly stupid, you get some sort of tingling feeling or sense of dread in warning (roll against your IQ), and might even know whether to call poison control or the hospital before said offspring gets home.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Can cry at will. Works better with female characters, but if you really need a little bump on a persuasion roll...

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

I hate to say, I have this in real life and used it in grade school repeatedly. It DEFINITELY works as a temporary "Pity" advantage when trying to get out of trouble- well, at least in grade school it does...

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Never been committed: You've always been able to pull yourself together with respect to your mental disadvantages in order to avoid being legally committed. You can declare a successful Will check to avoid being committed (i.e. legally adjudicated not able to fend for yourself). If this check needs to be made for other consequences as well, you need to make the check as normal but can nonetheless avoid being committed even if the check fails ("C'mon Fred, the hospital is overfull already, just give him a double-shot of Thorazine and let's lay him down in this alley.").

This perk may come in handy for purposes of obtaining and maintaining various licenses, such as concealed carry weapons permits.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

How crazy does this character need to be, before this becomes a useful Perk?!

Anyway, I'd rather it were expressed as a situational bonus to Self-Control rolls.

As an alternative:

Talk straight
You can easily pretend that you are perfectly fine and normal. Gives a +1 to Self-Control rolls explicitly to avoid seeming crazy, also gives a +1 to Acting for this purpose.

A friend of mine from high school definitely had something like this, especially for pretending to be sober in front of his mother and other authority figures. He'd just ... transform.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

*nods* Looks like a better way to go. It's comparable to Honest Face, but seems a bit narrower than that trait, and so might warrant a bit higher bonus.

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Anger Channeling or "Focus you Agressive Feelings Boy:" you are good at using adrenaline during anger and get a +2 to extra effort rolls for strength when under the affects of bad temper or berserk.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

1) maintains ideal weight and shape no matter what he eats.
2) maintains ideal weight and shape no matter his exercise regiment (or lack thereof)

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

It works for adults. My sister (almost) got out of a speeding ticket that way, but the missing (temporary) tags and going 90 in a 55 zone kind of killed that chance. (The officer said, "at 90 it probably blew off"...lol)

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Cleans up well: You're in that boarder between Average and Attractive. If you can spend a minimum of 15 minutes of grooming appropriate to your sex and culture (make-up, shaving, doing your hair, trimming facial hair, etc.) you gain a +1 appearance modifier until the effects of that grooming go away.

Well Endowed (Female): You are "well endowed" for a woman. Gain a +1 Reaction modifier if, at GM's discretion, the NPC is a "boob man" (or woman). Could in extreme cases also qualify as Distinctive Feature.

Well Endowed (Male): You are "well endowed" for a man. Gain a +1 to Sex Appeal and Erotic Arts if the endowment is known and relevant.

Killer Figure (Both Sexes) You may not be outright Attractive, but you have a figure members of the appropriate sex typically finds attractive. Add +1 to Reaction modifier if, at GM's discretion, the NPC in questions find your body type attractive. This CAN combine with the various Body Types (Skinny, Overweight, Fat, Very Fat) and one body type's "Killer Figure" might warrant no bonus (or worse) to an NPC who prefers another. Nor does this Perk actually make you look better, you could be Unattractive or worse with a "Killer Figure".

Nice Face (Both Sexes) You might not have the best body, but you have an attractive face. +1 to Reaction modifiers if only the face can be seen. Useful for situations where only limited contact is possible, i.e. Internet, video phone, bank teller windows, etc.

Computer "Geek" Computers just seem to work for you. Gain a +1 with Computer Operation skill only when something makes the skill have a -1 penalty. Useful for fixing malware, bad OS installs, minor hardware faults, etc. but no bonus for difficult day-to-day operation.

Gun Geek Allows you to gain a +2 to default to a Guns-IQ based skill only for identifying and knowing basic knowledge about Guns. It's no help to actually using the weapon, but could fake-out someone with the actual Guns skill.

Triva Nut You know a lot of useless information. On an IQ roll you can remember a relevant, but largely worthless, piece of information. Useful for Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit, but little else. (Note, largely worthless, there could very well be cases where the information might be useful.)

Googler You have preternatural skill with Internet search engines. Gain +1 to Research only if a Computer Operation skill is made first and the information is available over public search engines.

Member of <fill in blank> subculture You're the member of some kind of subculture. Gain a +2 Reaction modifier only to members of that subculture. Note, for unusual subcultures this might also warrant a -2 Reaction modifiers to others if the membership is known.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

I used it in High School to get out of a ticket for going 95 in a 70. :) Nothin's more pitiful than a 17 year old bawling his eyes out and telling the officer he's trying to get home so his parents won't worry because it's past curfew.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

I do not have access to the current list of Perks; any duplication of an existing idea is unintentional.

All-Nighter: You can miss one night of sleep without penalty. Chronic sleep deprivation will affect you normally. At least one normal sleep period is needed to "recharge" this ability after use.

Randomizer: You are better than normal at making truly random choices. You have a +1(or impose a -1, never both) whenever this might be useful. Examples: certain forms of gambling, evasive maneuvers, psychology/criminology rolls to predict your behavior, or fighting randomly vs. a mind-reader.

Long Fingers: Your fingers and thumbs are longer than average. This does not intrinsically increase your grip strength. +1 for many musical instruments, freehand climbing, handling large objects, grappling, and certain Erotic Arts.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

You certainly have a knack for misusing combat perks.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

This seems a little over-powered to me. Used correctly, this means that I can go without sleep for 40 hours, then sleep 8, and repeat the process. That's the equivalent of Less Sleep 4, if I remember correctly (IDHMBWM).

Either way, it's too powerful. If I were going to think about this perk, I'd add a HT (-2?) roll to avoid the effects of one night's sleep without penalty and say you have to sleep normally for the rest of the week.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

As someone who's job requires them to basically pull an all-nighter on a regular basis (as in at this very moment) this Perk as written is unrealistic. (And I'd probably have it!)

I'd make it a HT bonus to avoid fatigue rolls due to lack of sleep, but once you hit 24 hours awake (like I am at this very moment) any failed roll means you are hit with Fatigue loss as if you'd failed every roll. This would allow you to put off the Fatigue loss until later, and get through an all-nighter, but at some point you get slammed by it.

I'll also add, since I don't know RAW, but severe Fatigue loss make me hungry, thirsty and sweaty until I get that sleep.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

You have a point. Perhaps it could work like Less Sleep 4, useable once/week.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

More like Doesn't Sleep [20] once a week. Less Sleep 4 once a week would let you sleep only half a night once a week. While technically, you can't apply enough limitations to make this a perk, if you're the GM, you can allow it.

Again, IDHMBWM so please correct anything I do wrong, but I'd build it this way:

I think I remember reading that 1/week was worth -75% (is this Powers?), and that sounds pretty good from my extrapolation from 1/day. For the other 20% (stretching the -80% RAW cap), I'd make it a HT-2 roll AFTER you missed sleep to avoid the penalties. If you fail the HT-2 roll, you still take the penalties of missed sleep. HT-2 may seem to be a little steep, but "it's JUST a perk" and you get to ATTEMPT something other characters don't.

All-Nighter V1(Great name, BTW): Mostly through your good physical health and through "practice", you've developed the ability to "shrug off" the penalties of missed sleep every once in a while. You can *attempt* to ignore the penalties of missed sleep with a HT-2 roll once a week. Whether a success or a failure, you must get 6 full nights of rest before attempting to shrug off the penalties of another missed night of sleep.

If the Less Sleep 4 version is what you want, I'd built it as:

All-Nighter V2: Mostly through your good physical health and through "practice", you've developed the ability to work through half the night every once in a while and not suffer any consequences. Once a week, you can *attempt* to ignore penalties from 4 hours of missed sleep with a HT roll. Failure indicates that you fall asleep or must take the appropriate fatigue penalties. Whether a success or a failure, you must get 6 full nights of rest before attempting to shrug off the penalties again. (This version sounds great for college students, professors, researchers, writers, workaholics and anyone who needs to meet regular deadlines)

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Remember your actual sleep schedule is a special effect. If you must sleep 48 hours a week instead of the usual 56 hours, you simply buy Less Sleep 1.14. The six 8 hour periods is a special effect. In principle you pay zero points for a character than spends 4 months straight awake and then hibernates for two.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

I dunno if this is a good Perk, but I shoot Polar Bears out my mouth. So, here goes:

High Manual Dexterity: You have an innate grasp for those little schematic line drawings, even if the rest of the instructions are written in Chinese by a dyslexic walrus. If you have instructions for something, you get +1 on skill rolls concerning it, including defaults. Also, if a manual exists for something, you can find how to get it (though actually getting it is another matter). Manuals you own are always in good condition and easily accessible near your equipment.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

More like high manual apprehension/perception because it can be confused with the normal manual dexterity advantage. Besides shouldn't manuals give a bonus anyway?

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Somebody give these threads "No Sense of Humor", Seriously.

Yeah, that's why the Manual is italicized, It adds emphasis to the word otherwise missing in text. It's a Joke on.. oh nevermind.

Yes, Yes manuals should.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Been awhile, I see, but nonetheless:

Norm! Whenever you enter one social venue that you frequent (usually a bar) the other regular patrons will all greet you warmly (and loudly) in unison by name in response to your greeting. They will use your most commonly known name, whether your actual name, an alias, or a nickname. Even those who do not know you will at least shout a warm "hello!" You must offer an audible greeting in order to enjoy this perk.

Saloon entrance: Whenever you enter a social establishment, all sound --including music -- stops upon your entrance as all eyes turn to regard you. The room will stay silent for five seconds, long enough for you to glance around drmatically, take a seat, etc. but will then resume as though nothing happened.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Hey, these two are pretty cool.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Thanks. Happy New Year to ya!

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Just Kidding This perk allows you to reroll critically failed Diplomacy or Public speaking roll by laughing it off as a joke, if appropriate.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Here's and entertaining one one of my players in an upcoming campaign came up with:

Always Gets the Best Table (used in restaurants).

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Hmm. Not sure I'd allow it for both skills for one perk, to be honest. However, a perk that mitigated critical failures for one skill is actually an interesting idea. Doesn't seem too unbalanced, compared to, say, Daredevil, which gives +1 to all DX skills and lets you reroll crit fails for them as well.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Immune to scurvy : Your body produces its own Vitamin C, and you do not need any in your diet. This is appropriate when statting out many mammals, as well as anthopomorphs and bioroids.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

This makes a poor combination with 'Terminally Ill - One month or less'. Such a character should probably have to buy 'Doesn't Sleep'. I don't think that 'I'll sleep when I'm dead' is much of a restriction in GURPS terms.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

? Are you saying that the trait cannot be a Feature because it wouldn't stack with Terminally Ill?

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Subconscious one liner: You have a knack to quip funny statements. You may make a roll for 6 or less. If successful then get a +1 reaction checks.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Forensic Integrity When investigating a crime scene, you never get your DNA on evidence.

No darkness penalities for wearing sunglasses

Special Excercises (Silence 1)

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

From an old firemage in my campaign (from before Perks, but same concept):

Matchfinger: the mage has practised fire magic so long that he can light things with his finger as if it were a small match. It is still a bit clumsy to light real fires with (despite Hollywood, you need more than a match to light a curtain!), but he can light a cigarette or paper as if he was using a match or small lighter. He can also hurt someone slightly, but no more than you might do by pinching hard (no damage, a minor 'ouch' pain).

Of course, he also had the disadvantage of causing spontaneous fires. No, not Pyromania, fires just seem to start in flammable things near him (we did that as an Odious Personal Habit).

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Oh I don't know, if you *know* are going to die in a month, spending it all on stimulants and not sleeping much seems pretty reasonable, and you wouldn't charge for that right?

More seriously, Terminally Ill is one of GURPS more fundamentally broken disadvantages. I'd never permit it, so there's never a problem with it conflicting with anything. If you actually want to play a character who will die soon, I'll let you do that with the -15 point version of Destiny.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Well, Destiny doesn't make you die, and usually takes lots of time to come. Theoretically, TI is both faster and nastier. Theoretically.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

I was just trying to get an explanation of pnewman's post to see if I understood him correctly. I think you and I are in agreement WRT sleeping schedules.

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Troll: You enjoy findinding weakness in other people's logics and you exploit this when you're faced in a debate. You got a +1 in the appropriate skill roll when you oppose someone's ideas. On a critical succes you can make your opponent overreact (screaming at you, remain speechless or something very embarassing that fits the situation), on a critical failure however not only you lose the debate but the audience think you're nut or stupid, reacting at you at -3. Common among politicians, journalists and internet forum users.

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Heroic Death:
After failing a death check if you are still conscous you can still act for 3 rounds before you fall to the floor, dead. Death cannot be avoided in these 3 rounds, they can only be used for heroic speeches, killing the enemy that has slain you etc.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

These are Perks of my mechanic/heavy vehicle guy character for a 1920s cliffhanger campaign:
Cleans up nicely: With just a little time spent - preferably off-camera - you can transform from the dirtiest grease monkey in ragged clothing into being quite presentable. Somehow you had or scrounged up a bar of soap, hot water, a razor and a suit.

Road rage: Whenever you're at the controls of a vehicle, and engage in combat either unarmed or with personal (not vehicle!) weapons, you get no penalty for doing two things at once, having only one hand on the wheel etc. Furthermore you may ignore up to X* penalty from vehicle motion, speed etc.*) I need to read up on vehicles, to find out how much penalty usually amounts to for this.

Tool improviser: Because of a knack for using odd things or just making do with very little tools, halve penalties for missing or sub-standard tools.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Suppose my character is a non-human. Her race stays awake for six months and then sleeps for three months. That's a 0 point racial feature. Suppose my alien just woke up last week and she will be dead in a month from disease. This means that for the rest of her life she's never going to have to sleep. I'm just not sure that it is fair to let her have this for 0 points.

I'm saying that therefore the GM, if he hasn't already banned 'Terminally Ill' should consider insisting that this character must also take 'Doesn't Sleep' with the mitigator (only when Terminally Ill). I would also require that a character who doesn't sleep because she is on stimulants all the time to take 'Doesn't Sleep' with a limitation reflecting that she's getting the advantage from the pills, whether or not she was terminally ill. YMMV.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Sorry to be snarky, but do you also insist that somebody who always carries a TL12 holdout blaster around must buy it with points as a Gadget Innate Attack?

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

No. The distinction I'm making is that if the player says 'I want to go without sleep forever because of these pills I'm taking' than they have Doesn't Sleep' with a gadget limitation (except in a setting where the pills really are that good). Paying the points is not necessarily to the players disadvantage, as it will also let them out of rolls for addiction, arrest on drug charges, Streetwise rolls to find the speed, etc.

Per 'Characters' pg 116 "The GM may require you to pay points for any gadget that grants traits that usually cost points.... However he should charge points only for items that even the most advanced technology could not produce - and even then, only if those items are not for sale at any price in the game world."

This ruling is based on my reading "the most advanced technology" as the most advanced technology available _in_that_setting_, and not as "the most advanced technology listed in any GURPS book". Thus even if Ultra Tech lists a 'Doesn't Sleep' drug at TL 12 you're going to have to pay points for the advantage at TL 6. YMMV.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Well, at TL6 is one thing. But at the appropriate TL it's another.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Why? If a character gets an advantage that others don't, then she should pay for that advantage. Why not pay for it with some of the points received from said terminal illness?

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Because pills are equipment, paid for with points spent of Wealth (if any). Anybody at TL10-12 can go to the nanogenosuperpharmstore and buy whatever they need.

As I pointed above, a holdout blaster is essentially an Innate Attack with Gadget and Limited Use. But how many GMs consider it an advantage that should be paid for?

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Just because GURPS doesn't go all the way down that road, as HERO does [1], does not mean that GURPS doesn't go part way down that road. It has always (at least since 1st ed Cyberpunk, anyway) said that some things cost points, some things cost cash, and some things cost both.

[1] In Champions at least, not in all HERO genres, but Champions probably sees more play than all their other genres combined.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Well, pills aren't anywhere even near similar to cyberware. So where's the line in your opinion? (Because IMO your opinion doesn't match the definition in the RAW.)

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

1) Why aren't pills similar to cyberware? In both cases you get the ability from an external source. In fact a pill might very well literally be cyberware, in that it could have lots of nanobots in it. Is there a functional distinction between 'my eye is bionic and has a telescopic zoom lens' and 'when I pop this pill my vision improves to 20/2, allowing me to zoom in on things like an eagle' or a more Technomanceresque 'Potion of Hawks Vision $149.99 at my local S-Mart' other than some minor details?

2) It depends on the setting, I suppose. In a modern (TL 8) four color supers game it would be fine with me if a player took Doesn't Sleep with a gadget limitation for the pills [1], or if (assuming they're equipment at TL 12) they bought them as equipment (at x16 cash cost for the +4 TL's per the standard rules), at least as long as they either bought their personal TL up to 12, or had an Unusual Background for their High Tech friend they're getting the pills from. In most 'realistic' genres I wouldn't let the players (of human characters) take either.

[1] Although they'd get less of a discount for pills than for most gadgets, since it's pretty hard to take the effects of a pill you've already swallowed away from you.

We should probably stop hijacking the thread though.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Sword Mage: The character can channel magic through a sword as if it were a Staff.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

On the other hand, the character isn't getting an advantage others don't have access too. She's just going to die before the downside comes due.

Actually this is a fundamental feature of any advantage or disadvantage that functions over time. Essentially its the same problem as calculating the net present value of a transaction that happens in the future - part of the appeal of a reverse mortgage for example is the discrepency in value for the participants - one of them expects to be dead when their side of the deal comes due.

GURPS advantages and disadvantages are mostly priced on the assumption that the actual manifested effect is matter for a significant piece of the campaign. But anything that has a component that has an effect somewhere other than *right now* runs up against the problem that it might never kick in. It stands out more in the case of Terminally Ill, where you know for certain it will happen, but after all on the flip side if I die before it's revealed, I'm cheated out of my secret advantage too. Its the same problem that plagues pricing things like being an heir, pregnancy or old age, and in some ways related to the pricing issues of Longevity and Unaging.

In a sense, the best justification for the lots of points you get from Terminally Ill is that it amounts to a Temporary or small number of charges limitation on every ability you have, and PCs are assumed to have a significant net positive point value. I don't buy that particularly, if for no other reason than because it is way too rare for anybody to actually *pay* the downside price - running as it does against pretty much all the uses of this theme in literature - but it has a certain amount of logic if the GM really is going to be ruthless about it.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Fan of (something): You're a very dedicated supporter of something (usually a sport team but can be other, like political ideas, music bands and so on) you need to spend time and money for your passion (nothing more expensive than the equivalent of event tickets or cable TV). But this rewarding for you and works as a weak ally group when you engage some activity where your fandom is revealed. Fellows that share your passion are friendlier an kinder (normally a +1 in reaction that can raise to +3 during end season matches, political processions, battle of bands and the like). This brings however some down sides: supporter of opposing factions react badly at you (-1 to -3 as explained above) and very heated situations could easily escalate in something bad (exchange of insults or even a fight). This perks gives you a "basic level" of fandom, for more extreme ways (hooligan heads, trade unionists, crazed groupies, political speakers) buy the appropiate advantages and disvantages.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Maiden's Wrath. A staple of anime. Whenever someone acts like an idiot or a pervert (or both), you may either silence them with your flaming eyes of death (i.e., a stare that will make anyone, even someone with the Clueless disadvantage, realize that what they have done is WRONG and then shrink down in fear and embarrassment) or just wallop them. (The wallop may be a kick, slap, etc.) Your attack will always hit, and always hurts, and will always make your target look stupid, but it is a cinematic attack that never does any actual damage and has no other combat benefits, only social ones (i.e., you cannot use it to stun your target and then shoot him while he is helpless). In cinematic campaigns, this includes totally unrealistic (but funny) attacks such as booting an unwanted suitor across a football field.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

There's a special ability from Dog Town (a game about street criminals making it big in 1970's NYC)...you have crazy eyes that help you freak people the **** out.

Not sure how much of a bonus you could get for a perk, though? A little help?
Here's my first inclination:

Evil Eyes: You get +2 to Intimidation rolls when the target can look into your eyes.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

I'd limit that to +1. Most Intimidation situations allow the target to look into your eyes. It may actually be too good for a Perk.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

HelLO!

http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...&postcount=212

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

+2 is definitely too strong. In fact, +1 seems like it's probably too good; there aren't that many times you can use Intimidation where your eyes aren't visible. I can think of:
-When you're blindfolded
-When it's really dark
-When you're yelling at someone down the 'phone

So, I'd maybe let +1 go, on the understanding that the stare really needs to be there, it's not a blanket +1 that might sometimes not count, it's a sometimes +1.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Note that in my version of the Perk, it's only useful when you attempt NON-VERBAL Intimidation. I figure talking put you in the sphere of calculation rather than crazy and so the eyes no longer have the same impact.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Yeah, specifying 'non-verbal intimidation when the target can see your eyes' is narrow enough that I'd judge it certainly good for +1 and probably be swayed in favor of +2, if a player said 'I want to take this'.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Frankly, I prefer the calculating version:

Threatening Monologue: Gain a +1 to Intimidation when your victim isn't distracted by something else (combat, loud music, etc) and you can rail on them verablly in excruciating detail for 1dx10 seconds.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

I'll make it non-verbal only, then. Works for me.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

There is an existing official perk called Fearsome Stare, which simply allows you to use Intimidation without spending any time or speaking.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Don't forget "when you're wearing uber-cool mirrored sunglasses." Which for some action-inspired heroes could be 80 percent of the time. :)

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Pathetic - For this perk to work, the character must be appropriately dressed, (ie, like a bum), +1 reactions regarding requests for very simple aid and +1 to the panhandling skill. Also, NPCs will randomly come up and give the character small change while not panhandling. This perk includes a drawback of a -1 reaction penalty in all circumstances it does not benefit (in addition to the normal penalties associated with his dress and demeanor due to an exaggerated view of a negative trait. (examples: bad smell smells worse, bad appearance having slightly greater impact))

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

I know, which this would work great with.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

+Splashdown- You do not take damage from falls if you land in water.
+Sensitivity bonuses apply to Diagnosis rolls. You notice something is off with their "chi meridians" or whatnot

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

That looks too broad to be a Perk. It is a curious trait... where'd you get the idea?

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Almost any video game or action movie, would be my guess. :)

Maybe tone it down to always counting as Soft, with no Acrobatics roll required.

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

Well, I've played a few video games in my time, and I don't remember such a thing... but I don't see a lot of movies (esp. not action movies) any more, so that is certainly a possibility ;)

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

How about Lord of the rings? When Aragorn drops down into the river? ;-)

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

C'mon, he didn't avoid damage from that fall. Remember how he looked once he washed up on the river shore again? Slightly shabbier than normal, and not excately frisky and bristling with energy. :)

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

It is a common theme in video games that if you land in sufficient water to break your fall, you don't get hurt. Specifically I was thinking of Crackdown, where you can make the main character leap off soething the approximate size of the Sears Tower and plop innocuously into the ocean.

+Splashdown 1.1 If you fall into water, you may make a Swimming or Acrobatics roll. If you succeed, you take no damage.

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Now I also remember e.g. Duke Nukem 3d where you could basically drop from orbit as long as you landed in ankle deep water...

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks
 

There was no damage from falling in water (even from great heights) way back in LucasArts' "Outlaws".

Re: List Of your favorite Custom Perks