NEWS

Has anyone point buyed a high ability, low skill mage and if so how did it go?

  • 8 Replies
  • 1768 Views

Senko

  • *
  • Ace Runner
  • ****
  • Posts: 2485
« on: <12-06-15/0342:17> »
I was mucking around with the new point buy system in herolab (not so new in system) and I realized you can get a human mage with abilities of . . .

Body: 3
Str: 3
Agility: 3
Reaction: 5
Willpower: 6
Logic: 5
Intuition: 5
Charisma: 5

Edge: 7
Magic: 6

10 spells.

and still have 80 karma left over for skills and gear so I'm wondering has anyone tried making a character in this system extremely high abilities for their role and massive weakneeses in skills/gear and if so how well did it work out?

Strange

  • *
  • Chummer
  • **
  • Posts: 194
« Reply #1 on: <12-06-15/0545:44> »
80 isn't a whole lot!  It's only 1/10 of what you start with. Maybe 4 skills at around 4 rating, with nothing else left over?  That doesn't include contacts, knowledge skills, or any items.

You don't need all those mental attributes so high, however. Depending on your tradition, you can save a ton of karma. If you went Sioux, for instance, you can get by with 6 intuition and 5 willpower, and drop the others to 3 or even 2. You have hero lab, click a couple buttons and check it out.

Glyph

  • *
  • Ace Runner
  • ****
  • Posts: 1661
« Reply #2 on: <12-06-15/0602:31> »
I haven't gone the high stats/low skills route myself, but it's pretty self-evidently an approach that shortchanges one of the components of your dice pools.  I prefer to have a combination of high stats and high skills, done by focusing on core competencies first, then having lower stats and skills for peripheral areas.  It's partly playing style - I like to start out strong out of the gate and shore up weak areas later.

Whiskeyjack

  • *
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 3328
« Reply #3 on: <12-06-15/1148:05> »
By Ability, do you mean Attribute?

In any case, I don't know that your Attributes are high. I don't know what some of those at rating 3 are really doing for you. I would probably hardcap the Drain stat, not WIL, because all of the paired Drain stats are more useful at 6 than WIL 6 is (especially INT and CHA), and I'd dump STR for better AGI for improved native gun use.
Playability > verisimilitude.

Senko

  • *
  • Ace Runner
  • ****
  • Posts: 2485
« Reply #4 on: <12-06-15/1730:58> »
That was just an example that I'd gotten with playing round, I've seen quite a few people recommending a small number of skills and I was just curious even if you don't go to the extreme I posted has anyone made a points buy char (doesn't even have to be a mag) where you really push one area at the expense of others and if so how it worked.

Whiskeyjack

  • *
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 3328
« Reply #5 on: <12-06-15/1742:55> »
IMO it works better for mundanes. A Skills E sam is very viable, but mages tend to want more MAG-tied skills.
Playability > verisimilitude.

ZeldaBravo

  • *
  • Ace Runner
  • ****
  • Posts: 1067
« Reply #6 on: <12-06-15/2103:47> »
A mage with skills E can have up to 28 skill points thanks to Magic A priority. So let's say, Spellcasting 6,  Summoning 6, Perception 4, Sneaking 4, Con 4, Automatics 4 don't seem too bad.
*I have problems with clarifying my point in English, so sometimes I might sound stupid or rude.*

Whiskeyjack

  • *
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 3328
« Reply #7 on: <12-06-15/2211:37> »
Good point. I forgot about free MAG skills coming with some Magic priority.
Playability > verisimilitude.

Glyph

  • *
  • Ace Runner
  • ****
  • Posts: 1661
« Reply #8 on: <12-07-15/2238:01> »
E skills is very viable for a mage.  But 28 base skill points, plus some rating: 1 or 2 skills bought with Karma, while on the low end, is still at lot more than 80 Karma - considering that a single skill of 6 with a specialization is 49 Karma.  Typically, low skill priority street samurai and mages don't skimp on skill rating - rather, they only have two or three such skills, with other skills typically being much lower.