Finished my list of ways to build abilities! Potential resource/needs critique!

Raekai · 03-06-2013, 07:29 AM

My original thread can be found here. Since my classes were canceled due to all of the snow in my area, I had time to put this together and flesh it out myself. I hope it can be used as a resource for some GMs or even players, and if you see something wrong with it or feel like something should be added/is missing, please let me know!

I put this together for my group because they will be building new characters again soon after starting to get the hang of how GURPS works. Even though this list is daunting, I think they can handle it, and for others, it could definitely be trimmed down depending the campaign. Each entry is supposed to be small and concise because I wanted my players to go "Oh, yeah, that definitely sounds like how I imagined my character's abilities in my head!" If that happens with them, then I know that I have succeeded!

Combat Skills: Dexterity-based, uses skills, medium customization, low flexibility. Combat skills are best for fighters who want to fight unarmed or with melee or ranged weapons, or just want to stay away from magic in order to take out opponents.
Cinematic Skills: Dexterity-based, requires Trained by a Master or Weapon Master, uses skills, often chi-related, medium customization, low flexibility. Cinematic skills are best for fighters who want to focus on fighting or use chi to supplement his fighting skills to take out opponents.
Combat Techniques: Dexterity-based, requires base skills, uses skills, high customization, medium flexibility. Combat techniques are best for fighters who want to specialize by doing certain things with weapons whether it's increasing his chances of getting past armor or lunging weapon-first at his opponent.
Cinematic Techniques: Dexterity-based, requires Trained by a Master or Weapon Master, requires base skills, uses skills, sometimes chi-related, high customization, medium flexiblity. Cinematic techniques are best for fighters who want to specialize at a kung-fu action movie level like carving initials with an attack or fighting effortlessly with multiple weapons.
Standard Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Magery, spells are skills, revolves heavily around fatigue, prerequisite chains, low customization, medium flexibility. Standard magic is best for magicians who want a very basic spell-skill system used by waving their hands and muttering a few magic words with variable fatigue costs and time constraints.
Clerical/Power Investiture Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Power Investiture, spells are skills, revolves heavily around fatigue, medium customization, high flexibility. Clerical/Power Investiture magic is best for clerics who want to use Standard magic with no prerequisites and learning by prayer with the magic powers coming from a usually-divine source.
Ritual Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Ritual Magic or Thaumatology skill, colleges/paths are skills, spells are techniques, revolves heavily around fatigue, low customization, very high flexibility. Ritual magic is best for magicians/clerics who want to cast any spell within Standard magic but with more flexibility at the cost of steep skill penalties based of prerequisite amount.
Wildcard Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Magery, magic is a single skill/colleges are skills, revolves heavily around fatigue, low customization, medium flexibility. Wildcard magic is best for magicians who want to use Ritual magic but remove techniques entirely and have magic be dictated by one or a handful of skills.
Syntactic Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Magery, spells are divided into nouns/verbs which are skills, revolves heavily around fatigue, medium customization, very high flexibility. Syntactic magic is best for magicians who want their magic to be very flexible but rely on several difficult skills by combining verbs and nouns like "weaken" and "water" to create a waterproofing spell.
Symbol/Rune Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Symbol Drawing skill, spells are divided into nouns/verbs/symbols which are skills, revolves heavily around fatigue, medium customization, very high flexibility. Symbol/Rune magic is best for magicians who want something similar to Syntactic magic but involves writing runes on parchment, using runestones, and magical tattoos.
Alchemical Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Alchemy skill, elixirs are hard techniques, low customization, low flexibility. Alchemical magic is best for any who want to be able to create elixirs from a limited list but with varying affects as well as those who have time to sit down and create elixirs in their free time.
Threshold-Limited Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Magery, spells are skills, prerequisite chains, can be used with other systems, low customization, high flexibility. Threshold-Limited magic is best for magicians/clerics who want to use Standard magic without fatigue and instead have the spells increase the user's tally which, if the tally goes too high, can cause cataclysmic disasters.
Spirit/Assistance Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Hidden Lore, must have summoning abilities and contracts, side-effect of spiritual distortion, can be used with other systems, low customization, high flexibility. Spirit/Assistance Magic is best for magicians who want summoned and contracted otherworldly beings to cast spells through them.
Sacrificial/Inherent Magic: Variably-based, requires sacrifices or exchanges, can be used with other systems, low customization, high flexibility. Sacrificial/Inherent magic is best for magicians who want a supplement to another magic system that revolves around sacrificing wealth, objects, blood, life, etc. or releasing magic from objects in order to receive magical power or energy.
Path/Book Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Ritual Magic or Thaumatology skill, colleges/paths are skills, spells are techniques, involves gathering magic energy, high customization, very high flexibility. Path/Book magic is best for magicians/clerics who want something similar to Ritual magic, but less defined by the Standard magic system and mostly detached from fatigue.
Realm Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Magery, spells are divided into realms which are skills, revolves heavily around fatigue, medium customization, high flexibility. Realm magic is best for magicians who want Syntactic magic in a form that isn't based off of nouns/verbs but rather magical realms that dictate what magic can do for the user.
Ritual Path Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Magery, spells are rituals and not skills, involves gathering magic energy, very high customization, very high flexibility. Ritual Path Magic is best for magicians who want to be able to do almost anything with the right amount of time at the cost of it being rather time-consuming in the real world to come up with rituals on the go.
Style Magic: Variably-based, requires a created style, can be used with Standard magic, loose prerequisite chains, very high customization, low flexibility. Style magic is good for magicians who want to use something similar to Clerical/Power Investiture magic by learning a certain style of magic from a school, teacher, book, etc. that can avoid normal prerequisites.
Basic Powers: Variably-based, powers are advantages, very high customization, very high flexibility. Basic powers are best for any who want to use Innate Attacks which can be magic, supernatural, biological, etc. and can take on many different effects but tend to end up being costly to advance if they are very powerful.
Divine Powers: Intelligence-based, requires Divine Favor, prayers can be advantages, medium customization, very high flexibility. Divine powers are best for clerics who want to use a more so advantage-based divine power rather than Clerical/Power Investiture magic, and also want a little more flexibility in their god-given powers.
Imbuement Powers: Dexterity- or Intelligence-based, requires Imbue, powers are skills, can be used with other systems, medium customization, medium flexibility. Imbuement powers are best for any who want to pack a punch into the attacks they already have with semi-magical effects such as Vampiric Weapon or Shattershot.
Psionic Powers: Intelligence-based, powers are advantages and skills, high customization, high flexibility. Psionic powers are best for any who want powers that seem magic but aren't magic, and are similar to Force powers in the Star Wars universe like levitation or mind-reading, and they can also very effectively shut down magic.
Alchemical Powers: Intelligence-based, requires Alchemy skill, low customization, very high flexibility. Alchemical powers are best for any who want to use PK's rules to craft limited-use potions on the go with nothing more than the Alchemy skill, material, and time; however, it can be combined with Quick Gadgeteering and Gizmo for quicker crafting.

If you like it, feel free to use it, of course! Thanks!

Maz · 03-06-2013, 11:26 AM

I don't think I understand what you are going for, or I have missed something. If I as a player want to make a character, how should this help me? (Apart from making me aware of a myriad of different ways to "do magic")

Are you aware of the Skills by category pdf? (It's free)

johndallman · 03-06-2013, 11:55 AM

Plain ordinary combat skills and techniques are likely to be somewhat useful to everyone, because they don't consume much in the way of resources like fatigue points.

You aren't mentioning basic and derived attributes. Good basic Speed and thereby Dodge are valuable to everyone, and buying them without Power modifiers means they don't go away.

Raekai · 03-06-2013, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maz

I don't think I understand what you are going for, or I have missed something. If I as a player want to make a character, how should this help me? (Apart from making me aware of a myriad of different ways to "do magic")

Are you aware of the Skills by category pdf? (It's free)

Yes, I am! However, this is more so meant to be a list of different ways to build abilities. I simply added in skills at the top because someone suggested that I add in Cinematic Skills, and I didn't want them to be all alone up there! It describes to you the different ways of magic/powers. It's purpose is to show and list what is out there.

GM: What kind of abilities do you want your character to have?
Player: I really want some kind of wizard that can lots of spells, and can use people as sacrifices!
GM: Then you should try a spell system with high flexibility, and tack on Sacrificial Magic to that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by johndallman

Plain ordinary combat skills and techniques are likely to be somewhat useful to everyone, because they don't consume much in the way of resources like fatigue points.

You aren't mentioning basic and derived attributes. Good basic Speed and thereby Dodge are valuable to everyone, and buying them without Power modifiers means they don't go away.

These are more so for creating combat abilities. I agree that basic and derived attributes are VERY useful, but those kinds of things are very basic. Yes, combat skills are very basic too, but I noted above why I added them. I just didn't want to leave them out of the party! The point was to show my players all of the different ways that they can beat someone up or defend themselves. Of course, spending a bunch of points on dodge is a good defense, but I was trying to list more so fantasy abilities and whatnot.

Maz · 03-06-2013, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raekai

GM: What kind of abilities do you want your character to have?
Player: I really want some kind of wizard that can lots of spells, and can use people as sacrifices!
GM: Then you should try a spell system with high flexibility, and tack on Sacrificial Magic to that.

Ah right, gotcha :)

aesir23 · 03-06-2013, 06:51 PM

I feel like you description of Path/Book Magic misses the point. First, Energy Gathering is only one of two options for how to do it (the other is Effect Shaping).

Secondly, the real appeal of Path/Book Magic is that it's effects are subtle but potent and that they better match what actual people have historically believed actual magic to be like.

Gnome · 03-07-2013, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raekai

Cinematic Skills: Dexterity-based...

Some of the most powerful cinematic skills are not DX-based. Blind Fighting, Flying Leap, and Power Blow, just to name a few...

aesir23 · 03-07-2013, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raekai

I simply added in skills at the top because someone suggested that I add in Cinematic Skills, and I didn't want them to be all alone up there!

Well, they belong in the same category as Imbuement Skills and Enthrallment (which you overlooked: Basic 191).

03-06-2013, 07:29 AM	#1
Raekai World's Worst Detective Join Date: May 2011 Location: Columbus, Ohio	Finished my list of ways to build abilities! Potential resource/needs critique! My original thread can be found here. Since my classes were canceled due to all of the snow in my area, I had time to put this together and flesh it out myself. I hope it can be used as a resource for some GMs or even players, and if you see something wrong with it or feel like something should be added/is missing, please let me know! I put this together for my group because they will be building new characters again soon after starting to get the hang of how GURPS works. Even though this list is daunting, I think they can handle it, and for others, it could definitely be trimmed down depending the campaign. Each entry is supposed to be small and concise because I wanted my players to go "Oh, yeah, that definitely sounds like how I imagined my character's abilities in my head!" If that happens with them, then I know that I have succeeded! Combat Skills: Dexterity-based, uses skills, medium customization, low flexibility. Combat skills are best for fighters who want to fight unarmed or with melee or ranged weapons, or just want to stay away from magic in order to take out opponents. Cinematic Skills: Dexterity-based, requires Trained by a Master or Weapon Master, uses skills, often chi-related, medium customization, low flexibility. Cinematic skills are best for fighters who want to focus on fighting or use chi to supplement his fighting skills to take out opponents. Combat Techniques: Dexterity-based, requires base skills, uses skills, high customization, medium flexibility. Combat techniques are best for fighters who want to specialize by doing certain things with weapons whether it's increasing his chances of getting past armor or lunging weapon-first at his opponent. Cinematic Techniques: Dexterity-based, requires Trained by a Master or Weapon Master, requires base skills, uses skills, sometimes chi-related, high customization, medium flexiblity. Cinematic techniques are best for fighters who want to specialize at a kung-fu action movie level like carving initials with an attack or fighting effortlessly with multiple weapons. Standard Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Magery, spells are skills, revolves heavily around fatigue, prerequisite chains, low customization, medium flexibility. Standard magic is best for magicians who want a very basic spell-skill system used by waving their hands and muttering a few magic words with variable fatigue costs and time constraints. Clerical/Power Investiture Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Power Investiture, spells are skills, revolves heavily around fatigue, medium customization, high flexibility. Clerical/Power Investiture magic is best for clerics who want to use Standard magic with no prerequisites and learning by prayer with the magic powers coming from a usually-divine source. Ritual Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Ritual Magic or Thaumatology skill, colleges/paths are skills, spells are techniques, revolves heavily around fatigue, low customization, very high flexibility. Ritual magic is best for magicians/clerics who want to cast any spell within Standard magic but with more flexibility at the cost of steep skill penalties based of prerequisite amount. Wildcard Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Magery, magic is a single skill/colleges are skills, revolves heavily around fatigue, low customization, medium flexibility. Wildcard magic is best for magicians who want to use Ritual magic but remove techniques entirely and have magic be dictated by one or a handful of skills. Syntactic Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Magery, spells are divided into nouns/verbs which are skills, revolves heavily around fatigue, medium customization, very high flexibility. Syntactic magic is best for magicians who want their magic to be very flexible but rely on several difficult skills by combining verbs and nouns like "weaken" and "water" to create a waterproofing spell. Symbol/Rune Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Symbol Drawing skill, spells are divided into nouns/verbs/symbols which are skills, revolves heavily around fatigue, medium customization, very high flexibility. Symbol/Rune magic is best for magicians who want something similar to Syntactic magic but involves writing runes on parchment, using runestones, and magical tattoos. Alchemical Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Alchemy skill, elixirs are hard techniques, low customization, low flexibility. Alchemical magic is best for any who want to be able to create elixirs from a limited list but with varying affects as well as those who have time to sit down and create elixirs in their free time. Threshold-Limited Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Magery, spells are skills, prerequisite chains, can be used with other systems, low customization, high flexibility. Threshold-Limited magic is best for magicians/clerics who want to use Standard magic without fatigue and instead have the spells increase the user's tally which, if the tally goes too high, can cause cataclysmic disasters. Spirit/Assistance Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Hidden Lore, must have summoning abilities and contracts, side-effect of spiritual distortion, can be used with other systems, low customization, high flexibility. Spirit/Assistance Magic is best for magicians who want summoned and contracted otherworldly beings to cast spells through them. Sacrificial/Inherent Magic: Variably-based, requires sacrifices or exchanges, can be used with other systems, low customization, high flexibility. Sacrificial/Inherent magic is best for magicians who want a supplement to another magic system that revolves around sacrificing wealth, objects, blood, life, etc. or releasing magic from objects in order to receive magical power or energy. Path/Book Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Ritual Magic or Thaumatology skill, colleges/paths are skills, spells are techniques, involves gathering magic energy, high customization, very high flexibility. Path/Book magic is best for magicians/clerics who want something similar to Ritual magic, but less defined by the Standard magic system and mostly detached from fatigue. Realm Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Magery, spells are divided into realms which are skills, revolves heavily around fatigue, medium customization, high flexibility. Realm magic is best for magicians who want Syntactic magic in a form that isn't based off of nouns/verbs but rather magical realms that dictate what magic can do for the user. Ritual Path Magic: Intelligence-based, requires Magery, spells are rituals and not skills, involves gathering magic energy, very high customization, very high flexibility. Ritual Path Magic is best for magicians who want to be able to do almost anything with the right amount of time at the cost of it being rather time-consuming in the real world to come up with rituals on the go. Style Magic: Variably-based, requires a created style, can be used with Standard magic, loose prerequisite chains, very high customization, low flexibility. Style magic is good for magicians who want to use something similar to Clerical/Power Investiture magic by learning a certain style of magic from a school, teacher, book, etc. that can avoid normal prerequisites. Basic Powers: Variably-based, powers are advantages, very high customization, very high flexibility. Basic powers are best for any who want to use Innate Attacks which can be magic, supernatural, biological, etc. and can take on many different effects but tend to end up being costly to advance if they are very powerful. Divine Powers: Intelligence-based, requires Divine Favor, prayers can be advantages, medium customization, very high flexibility. Divine powers are best for clerics who want to use a more so advantage-based divine power rather than Clerical/Power Investiture magic, and also want a little more flexibility in their god-given powers. Imbuement Powers: Dexterity- or Intelligence-based, requires Imbue, powers are skills, can be used with other systems, medium customization, medium flexibility. Imbuement powers are best for any who want to pack a punch into the attacks they already have with semi-magical effects such as Vampiric Weapon or Shattershot. Psionic Powers: Intelligence-based, powers are advantages and skills, high customization, high flexibility. Psionic powers are best for any who want powers that seem magic but aren't magic, and are similar to Force powers in the Star Wars universe like levitation or mind-reading, and they can also very effectively shut down magic. Alchemical Powers: Intelligence-based, requires Alchemy skill, low customization, very high flexibility. Alchemical powers are best for any who want to use PK's rules to craft limited-use potions on the go with nothing more than the Alchemy skill, material, and time; however, it can be combined with Quick Gadgeteering and Gizmo for quicker crafting. If you like it, feel free to use it, of course! Thanks!

03-06-2013, 11:26 AM	#2
Maz Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Denmark	Re: Finished my list of ways to build abilities! Potential resource/needs critique! I don't think I understand what you are going for, or I have missed something. If I as a player want to make a character, how should this help me? (Apart from making me aware of a myriad of different ways to "do magic") Are you aware of the Skills by category pdf? (It's free)

03-06-2013, 11:55 AM	#3
johndallman Night Watchman Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Cambridge, UK	Re: Finished my list of ways to build abilities! Potential resource/needs critique! Plain ordinary combat skills and techniques are likely to be somewhat useful to everyone, because they don't consume much in the way of resources like fatigue points. You aren't mentioning basic and derived attributes. Good basic Speed and thereby Dodge are valuable to everyone, and buying them without Power modifiers means they don't go away.

03-06-2013, 06:51 PM	#6
aesir23 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Vermont	Re: Finished my list of ways to build abilities! Potential resource/needs critique! I feel like you description of Path/Book Magic misses the point. First, Energy Gathering is only one of two options for how to do it (the other is Effect Shaping). Secondly, the real appeal of Path/Book Magic is that it's effects are subtle but potent and that they better match what actual people have historically believed actual magic to be like. __________________ My ongoing thread of GURPS versions of DC Comics characters.