What's the highest skill level you've ever had for a PC or NPC?

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Just not true. Range penalties go up to -16 at a thousand yards and the longest sniper shots made in reality are at a -19 range penalty, with the several second flight time adding a further penalty of several levels on average.

The problem here is that professional snipers use a scope which offsets most of the distance penalties. If the two shooters in How to Hit a Target at 1,000 Yards video are, as I suspect, in the 16-18 range then the scope is offsetting a good hunk of the -16 skill penalty as is the fact they really aren't in a "stessful" situation. I should point out some techniques can be used to reduce these range penalties.

I should mentioned that the -19 is for -2.47km (about 2,702 yards) but note that involves a 25x scope on the rifle. GURPS dones't handle scopes that powerful very well with regards to skill modifications

Originally Posted by Icelander

'Impossible' isn't meant literally or to imply that no harder task could exist. It just means that an ordinary person couldn't do it. Experts with specialized tools, extreme natural talents and a lot of practice absolutely do and might even do it routinely.

An ordinary person would have a skill in the 12-13 range. The really skilled tend to be in the 14-18 range

[Andreas]

Originally Posted by maximara

An ordinary person would have a skill in the 12-13 range. The really skilled tend to be in the 14-18 range

That quite clearly shows that tasks more difficult than -10 should exist. There are undoubtedly tasks which are much too much too difficult even for "the really skilled". Even at skill 13 there is after all a 1/216 chance of succeeding at a -10 task, and the chance does of course get much better at higher skill levels.

-10 is clearly not enough for the range of tasks which can feasible be accomplished by real world humans, much less for the range of superhuman abilities in fiction.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by maximara

The problem here is that professional snipers use a scope which offsets most of the distance penalties. If the two shooters in How to Hit a Target at 1,000 Yards video are, as I suspect, in the 16-18 range then the scope is offsetting a good hunk of the -16 skill penalty as is the fact they really aren't in a "stessful" situation. I should point out some techniques can be used to reduce these range penalties.

I should mentioned that the -19 is for -2.47km (about 2,702 yards) but note that involves a 25x scope on the rifle. GURPS dones't handle scopes that powerful very well with regards to skill modifications

Numerous shots of over 2,000 yards have been made with x10 or x12 scopes. Also, note that using the realistic Tactical Shooting 'Bullet Flight Time' rules, a flight time of 4-10 seconds adds an extra -6 to -15 penalty to the shot, on average, over and above the range penalty.

Originally Posted by maximara

An ordinary person would have a skill in the 12-13 range. The really skilled tend to be in the 14-18 range

And the protagonists of action-adventure stories either tend to be skill 20+ at a lot of important things or have a script-writer slash GM who is fudging things massively in order for them to survive consistently and succeed some of the time.

Real people, with real skill levels, are supposed to have orders of magnitude more support available than PCs typically do for the kind of missions that action-adventure PCs take on. And a single session in many RPGs sees more violence than many real soldiers (and almost all cops, even SWAT) see in their entire careers. Things that are life-changing trauma for normal people, even well-trained professional soldiers, are treated as Tuesday for many action-adventure PCs, even in supposedly realistic campaigns without massive point budgets.

And, as noted above, actual, real human beings have displayed Guns skill of 20+ in action.

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Andreas

That quite clearly shows that tasks more difficult than -10 should exist. There are undoubtedly tasks which are much too much too difficult even for "the really skilled". Even at skill 13 there is after all a 1/216 chance of succeeding at a -10 task, and the chance does of course get much better at higher skill levels.

-10 is clearly not enough for the range of tasks which can feasible be accomplished by real world humans, much less for the range of superhuman abilities in fiction.

The example given for a -10 to skill (impossible) is "A Driving roll to steer a car with the knees while firing a bazooka twohanded during a chase through a blizzard." (Basic Set pg 346) I hardly think that fits into tasks that "can feasible be accomplished by real world humans" category.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by maximara

The example given for a -10 to skill (impossible) is "A Driving roll to steer a car with the knees while firing a bazooka twohanded during a chase through a blizzard." (Basic Set pg 346) I hardly think that fits into tasks that "can feasible be accomplished by real world humans" category.

Note that this is for the Driving check.

Hitting anything with the bazooka is a different matter and unless the target is dangerously close, will almost certainly be at more than -10 in penalties, given visibility, velocity, shooting while doing something else and range penalties.

[Andreas]

Originally Posted by maximara

The example given for a -10 to skill (impossible) is "A Driving roll to steer a car with the knees while firing a bazooka twohanded during a chase through a blizzard." (Basic Set pg 346) I hardly think that fits into tasks that "can feasible be accomplished by real world humans" category.

If it really can't feasibly be accomplished by real world humans, then that just shows that -10 is a too low penalty for that example. Alternatively, no real world human has a skill higher than 12 (even after taking any possible complimentary skill rolls into account).

However, I'm not sure that it is the case. Combinations of extraordinary skill and a lot of luck can acomplish some amazing things. Successfully stearing the car like that during a short moment, while not necessarily safely firing the bazooka (that would presumably be its own roll, with its own penalties for doing other things at the same time), doesn't seem completely impossible.

[kirbwarrior]

The highest resulting skill level from all traits combined was definitely Sex Appeal at something over 30. The highest bought skill would be when I got some wildcard skill to 26 for a superhero (she had I think like 10k ST and Detective! for her 'day job').

[NineDaysDead]

Originally Posted by kirbwarrior

The highest resulting skill level from all traits combined was definitely Sex Appeal at something over 30.

It should be noted that two of the most common bonuses to Sex Appeal are Appearance and Voice, which are both situational bonuses rather than skill bonuses; The Appearance bonus only applies when you can be seen, and the Voice bonus only applies when they can hear you. They aren't like Talent which always applies.

[AlexanderHowl]

Really? Where does it mention that? It does not mention such exceptions to the general rule in Basic.

[NineDaysDead]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Really? Where does it mention that? It does not mention such exceptions to the general rule in Basic.

Just to be clear here, you're asking why the target needs to be able to hear your voice to get a bonus from your Voice? Or to look at you to get a bonus from your good looks? That's really what you're asking?

Well, here's an example:

Originally Posted by Power ups 2; page 15

You have a trademark pose, stare, or walk that lets you use a specific Influence skill – Diplomacy, Fast-Talk, Intimidation, Savoir-Faire, Sex Appeal, or Streetwise – without conversation, contact, or appreciable time. This only works in person (not via phone, telepathy, etc.) and still requires an Influence roll (p. B359), but it enables you to act quickly and silently (thus, Voice modifiers never apply).