New Talents

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

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

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.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

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.

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.

[Astromancer]

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.

[Donny Brook]

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

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

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

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.

[AlexanderHowl]

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.

[Donny Brook]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

Actually, some of those aren't entirely bad.

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

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

Born Retired Civil Servant talent:

Administration, Savoir Faire, Acting, Hobby Skill, Housekeeping

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.

[Þorkell]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

Alpha Ape talent:

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

Where can Brachiating be found?

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

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.

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.)