New Talents

[Astromancer]

Talents, when they don't represent clusters of abilities often linked in the real world, are often meant to fit a stereotype suited to a campaign setting. Take the character classes from DnD. Each one of these could be a talent. To a certain extent doesn't Dungeon Fantasy already do it that way?

In any genre with stereotypical roles that verge on the archetypal you could set up similar logical to the genre Talents designed to grease the skids for players playing the PCs they really want.

[Prince Charon]

I've been thinking about a range of Talents that might be described as 'Charlatanry,' of which this is the one I'm most clear on, and the one some of the others might be expansions of. It may fit 'Talent as Training' better than 'Talent as Inborn Ability,' though:

Mentalist, 5/level

Skills: Body Language, Detect Lies, Fortune-Telling, Gambling, Psychology, and possibly Weather Sense.

Reaction bonus: Audiences, and other people you've fooled.

Alternative bonus: Uncertain, but perhaps something like '+1/level in Contests against other phony psychics' works, much like the alternative bonus from Craftiness.

You can somewhat fake mind reading with Fortune-Telling alone, but it becomes far more reliable when combined with Body Language, Detect Lies, and Psychology. Gambling, meanwhile, improves your ability to pretend to see the future, as you can estimate the odds of various things, then 'give a prophecy' about something that has a good enough chance of happening, that you're reasonably sure the mark doesn't know is that likely. This is also why Weather Sense is listed as an option, as if you're enough better at it than the mark, it's a relatively quick way of establishing your prescience (and like the Cunning Folk Talent, if you're a Soothsayer in a culture where that's a respected profession, predicting the weather is probably an important part of your job).

[Prince Charon]

Hypnotist, 5/level

Skills: Autohypnosis, Brainwashing, Hypnotism, Intimidation, and Psychology.

Reaction bonus: (Same as the Mesmerist Talent).

Alternative bonus: (Same as the Mesmerist Talent).

You might call this the nastier side of being a fake psychic, but this is not necessarily any kind of performer. It's basically a cut down Mesmerist Talent (all the cinematic skills removed), with Psychology added to balance it out, and because the other name I considered for it is something like 'Master Brainwasher.'

[Prince Charon]

Street Occultist, 5/level

Skills: Herb Lore, Hidden Lore, History, Literature, Occultism, and Research.

Reaction bonus: (Same as Occultist Talent).

Alternative bonus: (Probably same as Occultist Talent).

This is a stripped down and slightly modified (Herb Lore replaces Alchemy) version of the Occultist Talent, appropriate for an urban magician who doesn't have the professionalism or access to the resources of a high-class academic (and is more likely to be self-trained, or learned via a somewhat traditional apprenticeship).

[Prince Charon]

Psychic Soldier, 5/level

Skills: Fast Draw (as appropriate to the setting), Innate Attack, Leadership, Professional Skill (Military Psionicist), Savoir-Faire (Military), Soldier.

Reaction bonus: Soldiers you've served with or aided.

Alternative bonus: +1/level to spot psionic hazards?

Despite the name, this Talent is not limited to soldiers who have psi abilities, though it is particularly useful to them - rather, it is intended for soldiers who work with or around psionics. Fast Draw is present for settings in which taking psi drugs or the equivalent in a hurry (e.g. mid-battle) is common enough to be typical of soldiers like this; if that is not the case for your setting, it can be left out.


Thoughts?

[stranger38]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

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

Classic Homemaker: Animal Handling, Artist (Pottery), Cooking, Gardening, Housekeeping, Professional Skill (Brewer), Professional Skill (Distiller), Professional Skill (Dyer), Professional Skill (Tanner), Professional Skill (Vinter), Professional Skill (Weaver), and Sewing. Reaction bonus: Folks that value "traditional family values" and clean homes in general. 10 points per level. (Intended for a low-TL world, TL0 to 2.) (Originally built for Athena.)

Gamecrafter: Connoisseur (Games), Current Affairs (Sports), Gambling, Games, Mathematics (Applied and Statistics), Professional Skill (Game Designer). Conditional Bonus to Body Language, Carousing, Computer Programming, and Writing when dealing with making, modifying, and playing games. Reaction Bonus: Gamers, fellow game/sport enthusiasts. 10 points per level. (Originally built for the Grandmaster.)

Martial Artist (Military): Broadsword, Judo, Karate, Knife, Shield, Shortsword, Spear, Staff, Stealth, and Wrestling. Reaction Bonus: Military leaders. 10 points per level. (Intended to represent combat training for low-TL soldiers and some special forces. Originally built by someone else whose name I can't remember for Red Guardian, also useful for Captain America.)

Natural Swordsman: Broadsword, Force Saber, Force Sword, Knife, Main-Gauche, Rapier, Saber, Shortsword, Smallsword, Two-Handed Sword. Reaction Bonus: Swordsmen, swashbucklers, swashbuckler wannabes, sword-fighting movie enthusiasts. 10 points per level. (Originally built for my Ranoc setting, used by Matador and will eventually see use on Swordsman.)

Perfect Throw: Bolas, Dropping, Innate Attack (Projectile), Lasso, Sling, Spear Thrower, Throwing, Throwing Art, Thrown Weapon. May also give a conditional bonus to various Sports skills that use throwing, such as Sports (Baseball) and Sports (American Football). Reaction Bonus: Sportsmen, fans of sports involving throwing, warriors of pre-TL4 cultures. 10 points per level. (Originally built for Bullseye.)

Psychotronicist: Electronics Operation (Psychotronics), Electronics Repair (Psychotronics), Engineer (Psychotronics), Expert Skill (Psionics). Reaction Bonus: other psychotronics experts. 5 points per level. (Originally built for the White Queen.)


Several of these should probably have alternative benefits.

Help me on this. I`ve read somewhere that combat skills cannot be part of talents, but in DF 3 we have Forest Guardian for elves and that talent has Bow.

In our games, i like to play some scoutish type characters and i just take forest guardian and name it Natural Born Hunter.

So i guess, combat skills in talents are ok?

[Donny Brook]

Originally Posted by stranger38

Help me on this. I`ve read somewhere that combat skills cannot be part of talents, but in DF 3 we have Forest Guardian for elves and that talent has Bow.

In our games, i like to play some scoutish type characters and i just take forest guardian and name it Natural Born Hunter.

So i guess, combat skills in talents are ok?

Well, GMs can do what they like in their own games. Combat Talents have been disfavored for two reasons that I know of, first being that they are kind of munchkinny, second being that they are hard to characterize as a discrete aptitude distinct from general DX.

My opinion is that there is room for allowing a combat skill within a Talent if it fits with the concept of whatever "natural aptitude" comprises the Talent. On the other hand, I find many of the newer published Talents are nothing like a natural aptitude, so I'm a bit old school.

[Flowergarden]

Originally Posted by stranger38

Help me on this. I`ve read somewhere that combat skills cannot be part of talents, but in DF 3 we have Forest Guardian for elves and that talent has Bow.

In our games, i like to play some scoutish type characters and i just take forest guardian and name it Natural Born Hunter.

So i guess, combat skills in talents are ok?

I give my players to choose 4+ weapon skills as a talent. Most of the time as a style. Just so they would have different skills that don't cost a fortune without dx 15+.
It won't let you have sword skill higher, it would just put more skills for a little bit more points. Most of the time people use one skill anyway.

But at the same time I treat talents as some skills learned together, like your education, fighting style. Not as some innate ability to do N.

In the end of the day, there are many book talents with weapon skills. So ask your GM.