Trying to Learn Gurps...

[Ferdia]

Well I only stated with 75 points... I wanted to ads public soaking and voice but have a hard time seeing three usefulness as I'm more accustomed to games where you just kill everything... So I picked healing traits to be more helpful... I understand that you don't need to fight in games but it's just so foreign to me atm lol

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Ferdia

ST 9 DX 9 IQ 14 HT 10 [HP 9 WILL 14 PER 14 FP 10]

Advantages
danger sense -15; Empathy -15; Animal empathy -5

Disadvantages
Code of honor +10; Honesty +10; Cannot harm innocents +10; Vow give 1/2 income to church (or something like that) +15

Traits
Charisma +2

Skills
First Aid -10; Physician -7; Theology(?) -8

Any advice on what could be better?

You can group Charisma with the other advantages, should note the Self-Control number for Disadvantages that need one (eg: Honesty), and should note the specifics of Disadvantages that need them (ie: What does his Code of Honor demand of him?). Also, if you're going to give him 15 points for a Vow of Poverty, it should, to be fair, knock his cash down to what he'd have with Poor Wealth, because that is also 15 points.

Regardless of the campaign or setting, you're going to want to spend some points on skills if you want your character to be capable at something (or a lot of things), rather than just noting some defaults you plan to use, as you have. In particular, a DX of 9 will cause you to fail hard at most default attempts on DX skills, with the best possible chance (without situational bonuses) being a 5 on an Easy one.

ETA: The current total is also 50, not 75 - the Skill defaults you have noted do not cost their trait value (and in fact cost nothing). You can get First Aid at 14 (equal to your IQ) for just 1 point, for example, because it's IQ/Easy.

Looks fine other than that.

[Ferdia]

Thanks! I didn't go into the finer details but the world tl is 4 and I would have 3 on ther char I with poor wealth and second tier in appearance... I'm not sure I understand the part blurb about skills and dx...

[cccwebs]

Originally Posted by Ferdia

Thanks! I didn't go into the finer details but the world tl is 4 and I would have 3 on ther char I with poor wealth and second tier in appearance... I'm not sure I understand the part blurb about skills and dx...

Skills are based on a stat, typically IQ or DX but they can be based on any attribute depending on circumstance. Skill levels are usually represented by naming the skill/tech level (the difficulty) the usual attribute+modifier [the points spent in the skill] -the skill level. So, if an IQ 14 character spent 1 point in First Aid in a TL 4 setting, it would be written as First Aid/4 (E) IQ+0 [1] -14. First Aid defaults to IQ-4, so an untrained character with IQ 14 would have a default skill level of 10 if he needed to make a first aid roll.

[ClayDowling]

I don't know about your priest, but mine isn't a combat medic. He's a great guy for leading a large group of people in prayer, religious rituals, religious history, administration and leadership. There's also a healthy bit of psychology for helping people through dark times.

Honesty, I don't know. He is regularly imparted with information that due to his Vow (Seal of the Confessional) he cannot reveal to others, even under questioning.

Remember that this isn't D&D, so those tropes don't need to apply. If you're interested in them though, picking up the first three Dungeon Fantasy books is highly recommended. It's the D&D I wish I could have played.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Ferdia

[snip] and I would have 3 on ther char I with poor wealth and second tier in appearance...

Come again?

Originally Posted by Ferdia

I'm not sure I understand the part blurb about skills and dx...

You do not currently have any points in Skills. You think you do, but you're misunderstanding how they are bought. The costs are listed in the chart on 4e Basic p 170. Putting points in Skills is a good idea, unless your character concept calls for him to be really bad at everything you try to do.

For example, with the 25 points that you've left unspent, you could buy:

Diagnosis/TL4: 13 for 2 points
First Aid/TL4: 16 for 4 points
Naturalist: 12 for 1 point
Pharmacy/TL4 (Herbal): 14 for 4 points (Physician is unavailable at TL4)
Public Speaking: 13 for 1 point (and then add +2 free because of Charisma)
Religious Ritual: 14 for 4 points
Riding (Horse): 10 for 4 points (lower because it's based on DX)
Staff: 8 for 1 point (ditto about DX)
Theology (Whatever): 14 for 4 points

This will give you a very capable and experienced clergyman who is also excellent at treating simple injuries and can take a good stab at internal diseases with an adequate supply of herbs, and is not completely helpless on horseback despite his clumsiness.

[Ferdia]

So the points in iq would be better spent on skills? I'm not sure I really understand?...

Thanks clay I will look into those! Thats probably more what I will begin with as thats what I am familiar with haha

[Ferdia]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

Come again?



You do not currently have any points in Skills. You think you do, but you're misunderstanding how they are bought. The costs are listed in the chart on 4e Basic p 170. Putting points in Skills is a good idea, unless your character concept calls for him to be really bad at everything you try to do.

For example, with the 25 points that you've left unspent, you could buy:

Diagnosis/TL4: 13 for 2 points
First Aid/TL4: 16 for 4 points
Naturalist: 12 for 1 point
Pharmacy/TL4 (Herbal): 14 for 4 points (Physician is unavailable at TL4)
Public Speaking: 13 for 1 point (and then add +2 free because of Charisma)
Religious Ritual: 14 for 4 points
Riding (Horse): 10 for 4 points (lower because it's based on DX)
Staff: 8 for 1 point (ditto about DX)
Theology (Whatever): 14 for 4 points

This will give you a very capable and experienced clergyman who is also excellent at treating simple injuries and can take a good stab at internal diseases with an adequate supply of herbs, and is not completely helpless on horseback despite his clumsiness.

I really don't understand the point cost then, those 25 points from my understanding went into the three skills I listed to put them at lvl 1...

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Ferdia

I really don't understand the point cost then, those 25 points from my understanding went into the three skills I listed to put them at lvl 1...

Yes, that was incorrect. Read the chart on p 170 and see my example above for what they cost.

[Lonewulf]

Originally Posted by Ferdia

I really don't understand the point cost then, those 25 points from my understanding went into the three skills I listed to put them at lvl 1...

Just to explain:

Skills have difficulties and point costs. Easy, Average, Hard, Very Hard. Very Hard doesn't come up too much.

All skills are based on attributes. DX/E is DX/Easy. IQ/H is IQ/Hard. Will/A is Willpower/Average. Etc.

You can use a skill at default. This uses either the attribute it's based on, or a separate skill that's similar. Generally, it's -4 for Easy, -5 for Average, -6 for Hard, but it varies.

Generally, think of it this way: 1 point in an Easy skill gets you equal to the attribute. Average is one below the attribute, Hard is 2 below, Very Hard is 3 below (like taking a penalty, sort of). If you have a DX of 11, and take Knife (DX/E), putting 1 point into it, you have a Knife skill of 11. If you put one point into Broadsword (DX/A), you have a Broadsword skill of 10. If you put one point in Staff (DX/H I believe), you have a Staff skill of 9. If there was a DX/VH skill (I don't know of any myself, most are IQ I think!), that's a skill of 8.

After that, the point cost scales up as you go along.

Without the skill in Knife, you could still use your knife skill, at DX-4, or 7. Broadsword would be 6, and Staff would be 5. Still potentially usable, but unwieldy and definitely not something to ever rely on.

Also, unlike a lot of RPGs, the combat doesn't all fall into your combat roll. You don't just roll the skill, see how much you made it by, and assume you do something awesome as a result of it. There are a series of maneuvers to do and consider, called shots to certain parts of the body, and what your position is (kneeling, lying down, etc.) to factor, as well as whether you aim (for a ranged weapon), or even evaluate (for a melee weapon), etc. Against low-level bad guys, though, with a decent skill, just attacking and parrying can be enough -- no need to go into the more fancy rules.

There is generally no reason why you can't just buy up a skill to begin with. There's no reason not to make a "low level" thief with a Lockpick skill equal to IQ+4, or a Knife skill equal to DX+4. Just because you're just starting out doesn't mean you can't be competent -- unlike some games. *Cough*

Heck, you could be a master knife fighter (DX+10), but at that point the GM might need to approve things or decide whether or not an extremely high combat skill needs to be maintained through heavy training or not!

All explained in the manual, of course, but I'm trying to make it more bite-sized if you're having problems.