Jean-Pierre le Bleu, 1993
Age: 32
Attributes
ST 11 [10]; DX 10 [0]; IQ 10 [0]; HT 10 [0]
Secondary Characteristics
HP 11; Will 12 [10]; Per 10; FP 20 [30]
Social Background
Languages: Aralaise (Native) [0]; Anglish (Accented) [4]; Arabic (Accented) [4]; Old Aralaise (Broken) [2]; Latin (Broken) [2].
TL: 4^ [5]
Cultural Familiarity: Christian region. [0]
Subtotal: 67
Advantages
Fit [5]
Ship Rank 2 [8]
Born Sailor 2 [10]
Affliction (Disadvantages: Weirdness Magnet, +15%; Area Effect 8 yards, +150%; Based on Will, +20%; Increased Range x2, +10%; Malediction, +100%, Selective Area, +20%; Astral Projection, -10%; Requires Will Roll, -5%) [40]
Astral Projection Talent 3 [15]
Protected Power (Astral Projection) [5]
Second Sight (see Notes) [24]
Perks
Astral Awareness. [1]
Gestalt Familiarity. [1]
No Hangovers. [1]
Rules Exemption (FP can exceed HT by 100%). [1]
SOP (Watch the Woods). [1]
Subtotal: 112
Disadvantages
Chummy [-5]
Code of Honor (Pirate's) [-5]
Duty (Sailor; 12 or less) [-10]
Odious Personal Habit (Curses like a sailor) [-5]
Reputation (Weirdness Magnet; Aralaise sailors (large group), 10 or less) -2 [-3]
Sense of Duty (Crewmates) [-5]
Wealth (Struggling) [-10]
Quirks
Always wears something blue. [-1]
Dislikes being too far inland. [-1]
Fond of wine, perhaps too much. [-1]
Mild lecherousness. [-1]
Night person. [-1]
Subtotal: -48
Features
Occultism is a complementary skill of all Psi skills. [0]
Skills
Affliction [Will/H] [8] 16*
Area Knowledge (Araterre ports) [IQ/E] [1] 10
Area Knowledge (Ring Islands) [IQ/E] [2] 11
Boating/TL4^ [DX/A] [1] 11**
Brawling [DX/E] [2] 11
Climbing [DX/A] [2] 10
Fortune-Telling (Oracle) [IQ/A] [2] 13*
Gambling [IQ/A] [4] 11
Knot-Tying [DX/E] [1] 12**
Leadership [IQ/A] [2] 10
Main-Gauche [DX/A] [4] 11
Navigation (Sea)/TL4^ [IQ/A] [2] 12**
Occultism [IQ/A] [4] 11
Retrocognition [IQ/H] [2] 12*
Running [HT/A] [2] 10
Sabre [DX/A] [4] 11
Seamanship/TL4^ [IQ/E] [2] 13**
Shiphandling/TL4^ [IQ/H] [4] 12**
Survival (Island/Beach) [Per/A] [4] 11
Teaching [IQ/A] [2] 10
True Sight [Will/H] [4] 15*
Weather Sense/TL4^ [IQ/A] [2] 12**
*Includes +3 from Astral Projection Talent.
**Includes +2 from Born Sailor Talent.
Subtotal: 61
Techniques
Commune with the Sky Spirits (H) Affliction-6 [4] 13
Life Support (H) Affliction-6 [4] 13
Astral Bow (H) Affliction-1 [0] 15
Stunning Misfortune (H) Affliction-1 [0] 15
Aspected Coincidence (H) Affliction-3 [0] 13
Spirit Summoning (H) Affliction-3 [0] 13
Talent (H) Affliction-2 [0] 14
Subtotal: 8
Total: 200
Equipment
Cutlass
Dagger
Fancy hat with a bright blue feather
Good clothes
Sturdy boots
Moneybag
Notes
Jean-Pierre was built partly using the Sailor template from GURPS Historical Folks p97 (and the
4e conversion hosted at RPK's MyGURPS.com, p41). A more traditional sort of swashbuckler might have some version of Daredevil (Probability Alteration) or Rapier Wit (either Telepathy, Biokinesis, or Probability Alteration) as the core ability. His Ship Rank is 4 per level because they aren't part of a real organization beyond the crew of one ship. Due to crew size, the petty officers are Rank 1 or Courtesy Rank 1, the senior officers are Rank 2 (Jean-Pierre is third mate, and tends to command during the late watches), and the ship's Master (Captain in modern terms) is Rank 3. Due to his Reputation, the ship that he was able to get a regular berth on,
Le Belle d'Ansonne, is one that makes frequent visits to the Ring Islands, and thus has some difficulty getting 'normal' crew.
SOP (Watch the Woods): Many trips to the Ring Islands have gotten Jean-Pierre into the habit of always paying attention to what nature is doing around him when he's in it (making Survival and True Sight roles to spot hazards), even when the nature around him isn't on the Ring Islands. If there's any question of whether he's been paying attention to nearby wilderness (or anything that the GM agrees looks enough like it), he has. The need to pay attention is also why his skill in Area Knowledge (Ring Islands) is higher than his knowledge of the ports of Araterre.
Twenty years ago, the young Jean-Pierre de Aballo (the small village where he grew up) had the Uncontrollable and Unconscious Only limitations on his Affliction, and no techniques or Second Sight, yet. His parents found a cunning man (psychic) to train him. The man quickly realized that the boy's power was not luck magic (Probability Alteration) like his own, but spirit magic (Astral Projection), and passed him on to a sea captain who could see spirits. Thus Jean-Pierre's career as a sailor and a magician began.
One would expect the ability to afflict someone with Weirdness Magnet would be a Probability Alteration effect, but in Jean-Pierre's case, he has the instinctive ability to project thoughtforms (see Tulpa,
GURPS Horror for 4e p81), usually short-lived ones, which cause strange things to happen around their targets. Afflicting abilities on a group is sometimes useful to him, especially if a friendly telepath sets up a gestalt. Removing the Weirdness Magnet effect from his spells adds a further -1 to skill; worse, he doesn't always remember to do that.
His Second Sight is True Sight 2 with Oracle and Retrocognitive Flashbacks 1 as Alternate Abilities (all based on Astral Projection rather than ESP) - fluffwise, he can see spirits, and they both help him see through illusions, and occasionally try to communicate things to him about the past or future, but in different ways. It started out as a more limited power stunt, one of his first, but was used so often that it became an advantage.
Grimoire:
Astral Bow [Advantage: Astral Sword (remove Melee Attack limitation, +20%) 3, +210%; Nuisance Effect (Must speak or gesture), -5%] [21]; [Loses Area Effect and Selective Area, -170%] [-17] - [+10%], -1 penalty
Commune with the Sky Spirits [Advantage: Weather Control 1, +220%; Probability Alteration changed to Astral Projection; Nuisance Effect (Must speak or gesture), -5%] [22]; [Area Effect of Affliction advantage reduced to 4 yards, -50%] [-5]; [Extended Duration, 1 hour, +70%] [7] - [+60%], -6 penalty
Life Support [Advantage: Hard to Kill (Astral Projection, -10%; Nuisance Effect (Must speak or gesture), -5%) 10] [17]; [Extended Duration, 1 hour, +70%] [7] - [+60%], -6 penalty
Stunning Misfortune [Stun, +10%; Disadvantages: Easy to Kill 7, +14%, and Unluckiness, +15%; Nuisance Effect (Must speak or gesture), -5%] [4] - [+10%], -1 penalty
(These three have no points spent on their techniques because a bought technique would need to be for a
specific advantage, rather than a collection of possible advantages - one Aspect of the Coincidence ability, one Talent, or one spirit or type of spirit with a specific Frequency of Appearance.):
Aspected Coincidence [Advantage: Coincidence (Aspected, -20%; Probability Alteration changed to Astral Projection; Nuisance Effect (Must speak or gesture), -5%) 1] [20]; [Area Effect reduced to 2 yards, -100%] [-10] - [+25%], -3 penalty
Spirit Summoning [Advantage: Ally w/ Summonable, +100%; Astral Projection, -10%; Nuisance Effect (Must speak or gesture), -5%] [9] - [+25%], -3 penalty
(Any spirit Ally or Ally Group worth up to ten points.)
Talent [Advantage: Up to 30 points in one non-Psi Talent (Astral Projection, -10%; Nuisance Effect (Must speak or gesture), -5%)] [26]; [Loses Area Effect and Selective Area, -170%] [-17] - [+22%], -2 penalty
(Does not effect any GM-set limits on Talent levels.)
Thoughts?