International Finance
Mental/Hard
This skill is required to take a high-level position at the US
Treasury, the International Monetary Fund, any central bank, or the World Bank.
This is a Mental/Hard skill. There is no default. The prerequisites
are Economics and Administration at 14 or more. Characters with International
Finance typically have a point or more invested in Politics, Accounting,
Computer Operation, Savoir-Faire, and Law — and a couple of levels of
Status and Wealth.
Remember
Mental/Hard
This skill represents all of the methods people use to remember
things. The character must be trained in a specific technique. When the
character tries to remember something, roll against the skill. If it succeeds,
he remembers. If it fails, he can't. A critical failure gives him false
information, and a critical success causes him to remember additional useful
facts.
Character with Eidetic Memory have no need for this skill. The default
is IQ-3 (if the character has practiced some sort of memory technique, without
formal training) or IQ-5 (if he hasn't). Note that it is possible for the
player to remember something that his character cannot.
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Base a quirk on one of the character's skills, advantages, or
disadvantages. For example, if the character has the Broadsword skill, you
could give him the quirk "wears sword across his back." If the character has
the Nightmares disadvantage, you could give him the quirk "tells people about
his latest nightmares" or "tries to analyze his nightmares."
You can create a quirk by reducing a disadvantage to a one-point value.
Just write a short sentence that sums up the disadvantage in its most benign
form. For example, Lecherousness becomes "hits on members of the opposite
sex." As a quirk, the trait is resistible — ignore it at will, but
roleplay it as often as possible. Some of these reduced-disadvantage quirks
could be worth 2 or 3 points, instead of the usual 1.
You can also make a quirk based on the character's combat tactics or use of
spells. List the order in which he uses his weapons or combat skills, what he
does when he is wounded, etc. Mages can have quirks like "casts Haste as soon
as a potential combat situation comes up" or "he is superstitious about
casting Wither Limb on the same day as Major Healing."
If a special situation modifies a character's skill, list it on his
character sheet. He might perform better or worse when he's wearing his lucky
hat, using certain tools, working in the dark, etc. If he uses the skill every
day, the character point value is equal to twice the modifier. Otherwise, the
value is half that (the same value as the modifier).
Example. Doctor Zinn has trouble performing surgery when people
are watching. This is a -3 to his Surgery skill, worth -6 points.
Example. Black Bart rides better when his horse is running. This
is a +2 to his Riding skill, worth 4 points.
These modifiers are equal to one level in most mental skills. You're
better off adjusting the skill than adding the quirk. With physical and M/VH
skills, the value of a skill-modifying quirk is more cost-effective. (However, many players will use a small, colorful trait like this even if it isn't cost-effective. It adds something to the character, which is more important than squeezing the most out of every character point.)
When a character attempts an action that requires two of his skills,
modify the second roll by the degree of success (or failure) of the first roll.
Randomly determine which roll comes first. (Just roll in alphabetical order
every time.) The maximum modifier is plus/minus 5. If he makes the second skill
roll, he succeeds at the task.
Example. A thief tries to disarm a trap using his stiletto. He
has to use his Knife-13 skill and his Traps-10. He rolls a 15 against Knife.
His Traps roll is now 8 or less. He rolls a 10 and fails to disarm the trap.
Example. A con-artist disguised as a priest meets a visiting
bishop. Suspecting that something funny is going on, the bishop asks the
con-artist a few questions about his religion. The con-artist has Fast-Talk at
12. He doesn't have Theology, so he's forced to use his default value, which is
5. He rolls an 8 against Fast-Talk, a success of 4. That makes his Theology
roll a 9 or less. He rolls an 8 and successfully bullshits the bishop.
If you want to give the character a break, roll against the highest
skill first. Reverse the order to make the task more difficult.
Older and Wiser
An Optional Rule |
If you've been playing the same character for a full year, you can drop all
of your IQ-based skills by one level in exchange for a one-level increase in
your IQ score.
This gives your character the same skill levels and a slight increase in
his intelligence. This seems reasonable, considering the fact that a
long-running character should be getting wiser over the years.
(Why not just raise the IQ level by one? Because that costs more. Suppose the character has seven mental skills, each worth 2 points. He lowers them all one level, lowering their value to 1 point each. Now he raises his IQ from 12 to 13. The IQ cost is 10 points, minus 7, for a total character-point change of 3.)
Simplified Fright Checks
An Optional Rule |
If you fail a Fright Check, ignore the big chart on p. B94. Instead,
just use the shock rules on p. B126-127. The shock penalty is equal to
the amount by which the Fright Check failed. This is also the number of seconds
the shock lasts. Miss the roll by 5, for instance, and your DX, IQ, and skills
are at -5 for five seconds.
A critical failure gives the character a temporary new mental
disadvantage, maybe a Delusion or OPH: gibbers and drools. This lasts as long
as it enhances the adventure. The moment it stops being fun, it fades into a
quirk. All quirks acquired in this way are gone at the start of the next gaming
session.
Generic Psionic Power
An Optional Rule |
In GURPS Psionics, there are nine psionic powers. Five of them cost
3 character points per level. The other four cost 5 per level.
You can simplify this by replacing the nine powers with a single, generic
power. If you have at least one level of generic psi power, you can buy
any psi skill. There are no groups.
This change presents a few problems. One of them is cost. A first, the cost
seems simple — it's the average of 3 and 5, or 4 character points per
level. But there are more 3-per-level powers, so the average is really 3.88.
The "star" values for one-skill powers add another layer of complexity.
After playing with the numbers for a few hours, I came up with this:
The cost for generic psi power is 6 points per level, multiplied
by one-tenth the number of psi skills the character knows. Always round up.
For example, if you know three psi skills, the cost for generic psi power
is 2 points per level (6 x 0.3). If you know sixteen psi skills, the cost is 10
points per level (6 x 1.6). And if you know all fifty-four psi skills, your
generic psi power costs 33 points per level (6 x 5.4).
(If you don't think these results are quite right, see if it will work by
adjusting the base value. My calculations are probably off a little bit. If 6
points per level isn't the right number to start with, 7 probably is.)
The other problems are easier to deal with. One is the prerequisite of ESP
power to have PK shield. The solution: Ignore the prerequisite.
Another problem is the addition of new psi skills. What if, during the
campaign, the character learns a new psi skill? Doesn't this alter his power
cost? There's a 50% chance that it does. If the new skill changes the cost per
level for his psi power, the character is worth a few more points. Recalculate
his generic psi power cost. Think of it as a small additional cost for
acquiring a new skill.
Enhancements and limitations are treated differently. Using the official
rules, you can apply them to a single power, effecting all the psi skills in
that group. With generic psi power, just add up the value of the psi skills
that are effected, apply the percentage modifier, and list this as an advantage
or disadvantage. For example, if the character has three Fickle psi skills (at
-30%) and their total value is 10 points, that's a 3-point disadvantage.
Finally, without the groups, you've lost the "spell college effect." It's
fun to restrict psionic characters to particular sets of skills. It forces them
to develop their particular psi talents. Novice ESPers gradually become grand
masters as they learn every ESP skill. If ESPers can branch out into
telekinesis and psychic vampirism, they lose their distinctive appeal.
The solution is to group the psi skills anyway, regardless of the fact that
the rules do not require them. Players should work with the GM to regroup the
psi skills.
This gives you the chance to reorganize the groups. For example, if
teleporters traverse distances by passing through astral space, you can group
teleportation skills with astral skills. And you can split the telepathy skills
into two groups: senses and mind-manipulation.
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Sense Crime
