Patriot (Albert Mace)

Okay, good write up. Got some point problems in that you spent more points than you needed to.

First, you need to raise your wealth to 4. That covers most enlisted ranks pay that we would be seeing.

Second, your Military Science and Weaponry of 2 each are free, so that's 30 points back.

Third, your 3 Background points weren't spent. You can spend those on rank, if you wanted to be an officer, and on subskills. Since you went Infantry for your MOS [Military Occupational Specialty] and enlisted, you have 3 to spend. I rolled the dice for your current enlisted rank, fudge a little for your age and background, and you are an E-4. I kept rolling a 1 which is a recruit in training. A Private Second Class, E-2, is what you are after you leave Basic and possibly Advanced Training. So you would have been an E-3 to E-5.

An E-4 is either a Specialist or a Corporal.

A Specialist would do jobs like: Helicopter Repair, Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operator, Ammunition Specialist, Radio and Communications Security (COMSEC) Repairer, and Human Intelligence Collector

A Corporal is the lowest Non-Commissioned Officer rank. Normally, you go from Specialist to Corporal. [see https://www.military-ranks.org/army/corporal for more information]. The Army is complicated nowadays with ranks and jobs.
A Corporal would command a fireteam of 3-4 men, under the supervision of a Sergeant. Besides, Infantry, a Corporal might also do jobs like: Nutrition Care Specialist, Small Arms/Artillery Repairer, Respiratory Specialist, Geospatial Intelligence Imagery Analyst, and UH-60 Helicopter Repairer.

Job Duties of an Infantryman are:

Perform as a member of a fire team during drills and combat
Aid in the mobilization of vehicles, troops and weaponry
Assist in reconnaissance missions
Process prisoners of war and captured documents
Use, maintain and store combat weapons (e.g., rifles, machine guns, antitank mines, etc.)

The infantry is the main land combat force and backbone of the Army. It's also the starting point for many advanced schools such as: Special Forces, Airborne School, Ranger School, Sniper School, and Pathfinder School.

So grab 3 subskills you think your character would have due to his military training for your 3 Background points. One point in each subskill. You might, for example, want to take a point in Field Command under Military Science since you are a leader of troops. Or put a point into Land Vehicles so you can drive trucks and tanks. Or a point in Firearms under Weaponry for that extra bit of training. Or Stealth from the Thief skill. Or First Aid from Medicine. Or whatever you think your character would have learned in the few years he has been in the Army.


So do that last bit of tinkering and you are ready.

I think I went with:

450 +
Stats at 3 Physical 2 all rest (cost 76), mil science and weaponry 2 for free (30 points off top of my head)
Get 50 from Background info/description/history/picture
40 from drawbacks

646 points...

340 on stats
226 on powers (total so far 566)
80 on skills (646 so far)

Updated Wealth to 4.

I see what I missed - put the background details in but didn't apply the 50HP as a drawback (thus giving the point awards for the background) into the program.



Showing 48Hp remaining. May buy off that rage and add a couple of senses, maybe bump a skill or two up a point.

How's this?

Upped Weaponry, added medicine, increased martial artist ditched rage (non heroic/4 colour). Boosted telescopic vision. He would be a heck of a sniper probably just missing stealth but with Dex 10 even an unskilled penalty would have him using stealth at (effectively) 6APs (-2 Columns for unskilled translates into -4APs using our house rules where each column is 2APs...)

What did you spend your remaining three background points on? They go for free subskills not whole skills. Even if you bought the whole skill, you would still be able to put one point into a subskill or a subskill of a skill you don't have.

Probably say, Sniper suvival off the land, stealth and sniper spotting/positioning? Those are +1AP subskills free are they? If so I'll add onto the character sheet as miscellaneous advantages or some such so they add an AP where applicable.

If you are looking at being sniper trained, that would be a +1 with Weaponry/Firearms and declaring yourself sniper trained.  Then you probably want a +1 in Stealth under Thief skill.  Then pick either - Camouflage, Danger Recognition or Field Command for your third Background subskill, all under Military Science or don't take Stealth and/or Firearms +1 and take two/three of the three.
You don't have to pay the base cost for these subskills, it part of your military training.  You want to raise these subskills higher than +1, then you have to pay for anything above the +1.

I don't know if it is a house rule I made up or is actually part of the game but you get to add the subskill to your roll depending on the situation.  So if you were in the middle a firefight with your firearms of 2, you wouldn't add in the +1 from sniper because it is a firefight and not a sniper situation, so you would use the 2 for your actions.  Now if you were on a rooftop doing sniper stuff, firing into a firefight, you would add in the +1 in that situation for a 3 for your actions.

The government picked up the tab to pay for the base cost of Weaponry and Military Science as well as your basic physical/mental/mystical training which is why I say you guys could be more 900 HP characters rather than 800 HP characters.    

Are we still using the house rule that skills grant extra dice to checks? I was thinking for 'basic training' type stuff a house rule would be that these kinds of skills aren't 'super' more 'training' and add a bonus to attributes when the situation demands. That way he'd have 11 Dex when firing a sniper rifle and use Weaponry 3 for determining extra dice to roll.

In fact I think I'll add that to the house rule doc anyway.

Something like:

SKILLS - these are low ap additions to stats when the situation merits that the skill can apply to that specific situation at that time. Skills range from +1 (trained) to +3 (world class expert, olympian, genius)

TALENTS - broader than skills, these are more of your 'super' Skills that superheroes and villains exhibit. Typically they are better than Olympians and this is a common thing. Hawkeye is better than any Olympic Archer, as is Green Arrow. Batman can probably shoot a bow better as well and for that matter so can Huntress, Nightwing, Robin, the list goes on. That's because these characters 'day job' is to get better at their 'night job' which is superheroics, and generally don't have to worry about paying bills, a job, personal life and so on. They are the best at what they do because they are driven. Talents have no upper limit though 10-12 is often considered the maximum for non cosmic level characters. Talents grant extra dice when making checks and can substitute for the link stat if required (though pointless in most cases as many are linked).

Thoughts?

Still need to spend your 3 background subskill points. And yeah, the 3 subskills are free, including covering the base cost.

You know, with a medicine of 3, you could be both a doctor or a corpsman/medic and/or a sniper. "Doc Sniper" would probably be your nickname in the unit if you were both a medic and a sniper.

If you want to be a sniper who has actual sniper skills [which to be honest really isn't in the game rules], I looked over the optional rule for Vehicle/Weaponry Specialization. You could then get a lvl 1 background skill of Weaponry Specialty - Sniper Rifles that way. That would be 1 of your 3 background subskill points. You could then use your HP later earned to raise that skill to ungodly levels.

You hold the rank of Specialist or Corporal. If you are going to be a sniper or a regular grunt then you would be a Corporal. If you are going to be a Medic/Corpsman then you would be a Specialist.

If you still want Sniper as your MOS then maybe go with: Weapon Specialization/Sniper Rifles, Thief/Stealth and Acrobatics/Climbing subskills at lvl 1 each. That would be all 3 of your background subskill points spent. You might also consider Military Science/Field Command instead of Acrobatics/Climbing to represent your increased ability to command troops now that your are a corporal. Medics don't carry weapons though so beyond basic training in weapons use they would have no reason to raise that skill up.

If you are going to be a corpsman/medic [I forget if they are called medics or corpsman in the Army/Air Force/Space Force. Corpsman in the Navy & Marines.], put a background point into Medicine/First Aid to add to your Medicine skill. Your other two background points could be pretty much anything else even non-military stuff like Artist/Writer.

If you are going to be a doctor, and that means you won't be on the field of battle but at a MASH tent miles away from the battlelines, then you would spend two background points to get your rank of 1st LT. Then your remaining point in Medicine/Surgery.

And I just saw that Medicine includes Brainwashing as a skill!!

So, almost ready with this character.

Looks interesting and helps make skills a bit more important. Just remember for this adventure, nothing goes over 10. 8-10 range is what we are looking for.

Admin wrote:Are we still using the house rule that skills grant extra dice to checks? I was thinking for 'basic training' type stuff a house rule would be that these kinds of skills aren't 'super' more 'training' and add a bonus to attributes when the situation demands. That way he'd have 11 Dex when firing a sniper rifle and use Weaponry 3 for determining extra dice to roll.

In fact I think I'll add that to the house rule doc anyway.

Something like:

SKILLS - these are low ap additions to stats when the situation merits that the skill can apply to that specific situation at that time. Skills range from +1 (trained) to +3 (world class expert, olympian, genius)

TALENTS - broader than skills, these are more of your 'super' Skills that superheroes and villains exhibit. Typically they are better than Olympians and this is a common thing. Hawkeye is better than any Olympic Archer, as is Green Arrow. Batman can probably shoot a bow better as well and for that matter so can Huntress, Nightwing, Robin, the list goes on. That's because these characters 'day job' is to get better at their 'night job' which is superheroics, and generally don't have to worry about paying bills, a job, personal life and so on. They are the best at what they do because they are driven. Talents have no upper limit though 10-12 is often considered the maximum for non cosmic level characters. Talents grant extra dice when making checks and can substitute for the link stat if required (though pointless in most cases as many are linked).

Thoughts?

This should tidy up the last bit then.



SKILLS - these range from +1 (basic training) to +3 (expert) and add to the relevant stat when the skill (usually a subskill) is applied.

MAIN SKILLS (TALENTS) - These overarching skills contain many subskills and either substitute for the skill or (more likely) grant extra dice to roll when using the skill.

Example:

With the Skill (subskill) medicine/First aid +2 a character would have Int 5 raised to Int 7 when making a Medicine/First Aid check

With the Talent Medicine Linked to Int 5 the player adds 3 Dice to their check and chooses which two to use, discarding the rest.

If you have a Skill (subskill) and a Talent you can combine them reflecting your overall skill and your particular expertise. In such a case the character above would make a First Aid check with Int 7 rolling 5D12 and selecting the best 2D12 to use.

Will stick this in the house rules for the game.

Looks good. We're almost ready to start. Once the Fin gets rid of his gun and replaces it with something then we can go.

Just as an aside, where and why did he get medical training? He's pretty much a fully qualified doctor. Why did he become a grunt instead of an army doctor? Be nice to have some background as to that. Might play into the game.

Perhaps a few years in med school before deciding his calling lie elsewhere? Or swotting up as a high school student convinced that he wanted to be a surgeon then being persuaded to go serve in the army as a Field Doctor... and then to find he wasn't half bad as a sniper especially as his super peepers and high Dex meant he was an ace marksman. Might still be a medic rather than Doctor (I'd have thought most surgeons were 4APs after years of training and the worlds best ordinary humans were 5-6. A nurse is probably 1-2 depending on training, paramedic maybe 2-3 as they are tasked with keeping people alive long enough to operate on. Not sure to be honest who'd have the best training. We have had a few ex paramedics on the railway and they were all pretty hopeless at what I thought was a job beneath them - dispatching trains safely. A few screwups with that and they are history...)

I always figured normal folks had skills in the 1-2 range including professionals just like their stats. Only the more standout ones were higher ranked in their skills. Maybe its just attributes that are 2s for a normal person and skill are higher?

Been awhile since I dug deep into the rules to find out what is considered "normal" for skills and such and what's considered "beyond normal bounds". That's why I was thinking a medicine of 3 made him a pretty good doctor. Maybe not a brilliant brain surgeon but a good doctor.

Though I guess skill levels can go as high as the stat they are based on as long as that stat stays in the realm of "human normal". So I guess they vary depending on the stat since stat "max" is different for each stat. For most, I think it is 6 or 7.

We can go with him originally being a trained medic who then became a trained sniper. So Doc Sniper is what your buddies in your old unit called you.
You don't get to choose your own nickname in the military. LOL!

I might find a use for this in-game which is why I'm being a bit picky about it.