[PnP] pnp Digest, Vol 135, Iss 7 re: Talents
Bessie Hadley
eleabess at sbcglobal.net
Sat Jan 14 20:37:15 CET 2017
My response here is based on the assumption that by "talents" you mean "Special Attributes." If not, I need clarification, & you can ignore the rest of my note here:
I confess it is the talents that drew me in to P&P. I have rolled well over 150 characters, but find my favorites are the ones with Special Attributes, or talents (I assume that's what you mean by talents.). I use the adjustments from the later corrections that lowered some of the talents' maximum powers (the supernatural attributes), which still make a nice improvement. I find the higher starting number in one attribute means I don't have to spend as many points building up that main attribute I want my PC to have - I can use more points to build up other attributes to go with the primary one. For example, with a supernatural intelligence, I can spend a few more points on Empathy and Will to strengthen a magical PC, or with a fighter, I can increase dexterity and agility to improve fighting skills. And it can give a Scholar some points to spend on building fighting skills, or a spy/agent points to spend on secondary skills, such as languages, disguise, or a tradecraft (sailor, boatman, teamster) to help hide his primary career.
And I confess that I prefer my PCs to have at least one talent, even a negative one. They are more fun to play with because I find they help create the character's background story & help create personal goals for each of them. Of course, a lower class PC without a Special Attribute can just be tossed into a weird situation that helps him/her get either a sponsor or just extra funding to buy better equipment, especially a horse. I have a few good peasants created that I hope to throw into my stories, but they need some luck to find a good party to join.
And I don't think the talents have to be any rarer - a 20% chance is a hard enough roll for every 10 years of age, even rounded up, & I confess I have cheated with multiple rolls to get a talent (best roll out of three, usually) I needed to have a promising PC. I admit this is because I'm writing stories, & I need inspiration to create interesting characters, which Special Attributes gives. I have PCs with no particular talents, and they do fine, but Special Attributes can give a helping hand in providing a direction for them to develop. The dice rolls might simply provide extra coins or a few gems for a lower class PC to purchase a weapon, or even a starting horse & equipment, or enable an improved chance at becoming a better mage/shaman, warrior, scholar, spy/agent/thief, etc. I have a PC in my active manuscript that had to flee his homeland or be arrested for a "crime" he did not commit (for actually, it wasn't a real crime, but a class issue & jealousy, all of which was inspired by rolling the Special Attribute of having a bounty on him in his homeland).
This probably isn't helping you at all. I confess I use Harn to create a PC's family (size, rank of PC in family (3rd child of five, two sibs of which are still living, etc), & further career options of parents), but that doesn't affect the game's play - it just helps me fill out a background for those PCs I decide to use in my stories. I have PCs which have strong families & a couple that have been rejected by their families. Families have nothing to do with the PC's attribute dice rolls, they just add a background story - if you want one.
I am curious about what you are planning to do with Talents, so keep us informed.
Thanks again,
Bess L. Hadley
--------------------------------------------
On Sat, 1/14/17, pnp-request at list.powersandperils.org <pnp-request at list.powersandperils.org> wrote:
Subject: pnp Digest, Vol 135, Issue 7
To: pnp at list.powersandperils.org
Date: Saturday, January 14, 2017, 3:00 AM
Send pnp mailing list submissions to
pnp at list.powersandperils.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://www.powersandperils.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pnp
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help'
to
pnp-request at list.powersandperils.org
You can reach the person managing the list at
pnp-owner at list.powersandperils.org
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more
specific
than "Re: Contents of pnp digest..."
Today's Topics:
1. Re: pnp Digest, Vol 135, Issue 4 (Scott
Adams)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2017 23:21:56 -0500
From: Scott Adams <longshotgm at comcast.net>
To: The Powers and Perils Mailing List <pnp at list.powersandperils.org>
Subject: Re: [PnP] pnp Digest, Vol 135, Issue 4
Message-ID: <mailman.2.1484391601.12521.pnp at list.powersandperils.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
That's one vote. :)
I just want more samples to see how many folks use it.
As to new charts. That's what this list is for start a
thread. :)
At 11:21 AM 1/11/2017, you wrote:
>I use talents. I think they add to a character's
story. A lot,
>sometimes. I've used them to develop my PC's
personality and
>goals. In one character's case, a really high
talent even caused a problem.
>
>Talents just improve or downgrade skills. They are
pretty easy to
>administrate. The only real issue is the increase
in the maximum EL
>they affect.
>
>Some of the talents are a bit too powerful. They
could be made more
>rare with new charts.
>
>
>Sent from my iPad
>
> > On Jan 11, 2017, at 3:00 AM, pnp-request at list.powersandperils.org
wrote:
> >
> > Send pnp mailing list submissions to
> > pnp at list.powersandperils.org
> >
> > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide
Web, visit
> > http://www.powersandperils.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pnp
> > or, via email, send a message with subject or body
'help' to
> > pnp-request at list.powersandperils.org
> >
> > You can reach the person managing the list at
> > pnp-owner at list.powersandperils.org
> >
> > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it
is more specific
> > than "Re: Contents of pnp digest..."
> >
> >
> > Today's Topics:
> >
> > 1. Talents (Scott Adams)
> >
> >
> >
----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2017 03:02:59 -0500
> > From: Scott Adams <longshotgm at comcast.net>
> > To: pnp at list.powersandperils.org
> > Subject: [PnP] Talents
> > Message-ID: <mailman.2.1484132401.2790.pnp at list.powersandperils.org>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii";
format=flowed
> >
> >
> > Guess Avatar not much to say to help Wout's
files.
> >
> > So new topic.
> > Who uses Talents?
> > I'm figuring out where to put it in my Character
Generator.
> > On paper its easy.
> > But code its a bit tricky.
> > So was curious if worth adding Talents.
> > or do Later (tm) when done.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Subject: Digest Footer
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > pnp mailing list
> > pnp at list.powersandperils.org
> > http://www.powersandperils.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pnp
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > End of pnp Digest, Vol 135, Issue 4
> > ***********************************
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>pnp mailing list
>pnp at list.powersandperils.org
>http://www.powersandperils.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pnp
------------------------------
Subject: Digest Footer
_______________________________________________
pnp mailing list
pnp at list.powersandperils.org
http://www.powersandperils.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pnp
------------------------------
End of pnp Digest, Vol 135, Issue 7
***********************************
More information about the pnp
mailing list