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Helping a Player Design a Slave

Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 2:03 am
by crazycowproductions
So going with a Quick Roll Table out of Dead Reign for the fast stats we have
IQ 1d4+10 ME 1d6+8 MA 1d6+18 PS 1d6+11 PP 1d6+8 PE 1d6+9 PB 1d4+20 SPD 1d6+9
-Special Trait: Charismatic/Charmer Adds +3 to MA [Already Added to the quick roll stat]

Occupation- Vagabond
Animal Husbandry +5%
Cook +15% (used one related skill for the boost)
General Athletics (Bonuses Not added)
Lang- Native [Northern Human] 98%
Lang- Any two (+10%) (Currently unsure what they want to speak)
Wilderness Survival (+5%)
WP- Two of Choice (They are thinking Archery & Knife)
Hand To Hand- Basic

Related Skills
-Cook (Added to the above, to become Professional Quality)
Sew (+10%)
Brewing
General Repair/Maintenance (+10%)
Identify Plants & Fruits
Preserve Food

Secondary Skills
Physical Labor (bonuses not added)
Running (bonuses not added)
Climbing
Swimming

Want to make sure this looks good to others before I had out the information (I'll also be providing base Skill Bonuses and how they increase by the level)

The character concept is one of a Run away slave that has mostly seen a lot of work within a house hold not much actual combat and had mostly gotten by on Charm and Looks to avoid punishments.

Other suggestions for Occupation's are always welcome. They aren't looking for a lot of bells and whistles. (Although I am trying to convince them to MAYBE be a Minor Psychic, I mean I couldn't hurt right?)

Re: Helping a Player Design a Slave

Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 4:18 am
by crazycowproductions
Other members of the group include the following.

Long Bowman Female Centaur
Mercenary Soldier Changeling (Minor Psionic as well with Impervious To Toxins & Resist Fatigue)
Common Faerie with an Obsession with Human Folk (love/Desire)

Helping some players build characters via the internet, I'm not running the game nor have a personal stake other than hoping they enjoy the characters and the game.

(Hopefully they will keep me in the loop)

Re: Helping a Player Design a Slave

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2020 12:28 pm
by Hotrod
crazycowproductions wrote:The character concept is one of a Run away slave that has mostly seen a lot of work within a house hold not much actual combat and had mostly gotten by on Charm and Looks to avoid punishments.

Other suggestions for Occupation's are always welcome. They aren't looking for a lot of bells and whistles. (Although I am trying to convince them to MAYBE be a Minor Psychic, I mean I couldn't hurt right?)


I'm not familiar with Dead Reign, and I'm a little curious as to why you're importing it into Fantasy. As an escaped household slave, you have plenty of options:

1. Peasant/Vagabond. They can take lots of domestic skills with a solid +10% bonus. This is a good fit for a house slave who does lots of domestic things.
2. Merchant. This could be a good fit for a slave who does business on behalf of the master, though they only get +5% to domestic skills
3. Scholar. If you're a slave in charge of educating the master's kids, this could be a good choice; they get a +10% to domestic skills
4. Artisan (Hinterlands). This is a good fit for a skilled labor/crafting slave. They also get a +10% to domestic skills.
5. Blacksmith. Though not typically slaves, they certainly can be if the house is more of a fortified manor and includes a forge. They only get +5% to domestic skills.

I'd also point out that you can take any domestic skill twice to get a 10% bonus and upgrade to professional quality.

My suggestion would be to develop the backstory a bit more, figure out what specific roles the slave performed, why/how he/she escaped, and build the character accordingly.

Re: Helping a Player Design a Slave

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2020 7:51 pm
by crazycowproductions
Hotrod wrote:I'm not familiar with Dead Reign, and I'm a little curious as to why you're importing it into Fantasy.


Dead Reign and Robotech books recently had fast stat roll system for different types of characters. Which I found to be awesome. If they make a third edition of fantasy I hope they include one.

The other suggestions are helpful as I'll be talking with the player tonight as the GM picks at my brain for more ideas

Re: Helping a Player Design a Slave

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2020 9:15 am
by Soldier of Od
crazycowproductions wrote:
Hotrod wrote:I'm not familiar with Dead Reign, and I'm a little curious as to why you're importing it into Fantasy.


Dead Reign and Robotech books recently had fast stat roll system for different types of characters. Which I found to be awesome. If they make a third edition of fantasy I hope they include one.

The other suggestions are helpful as I'll be talking with the player tonight as the GM picks at my brain for more ideas

Ugh - I was also unfamiliar with the "quick roll" system from dead reign so I just took a look at it. It is not a quick roll system at all, just a powerful character roll system. There isn't a single attribute in any of the categories that can be less than Palladium's supposed "normal human" attribute of 9, and only eight attributes (out of sixty-four) that could potentially (but unlikely to) be below the statistical average of 10 or 11. Is it really so much quicker to roll 1D6+11 than 3D6? That isn't the time consuming aspect of character creation.

Other than that, your slave build using the vagabond O.C.C. looks good to me.

Re: Helping a Player Design a Slave

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2020 6:13 pm
by kiralon
The only thing I like about the quick roll system is it fixes the you are too <insert weak, stupid, slow, butt ugly, much of a ********, constantly ill> etc to survive, but tends to make you too tough.

For example, I know why the elf dwarf wars started, an elf with and average MA met a dwarf with an average MA
These guys are twice as annoying as that annoying guy in class, except that you have an axe and can make him shut up.

In those times how does a person with a stat (or group of stats) of 3-6 stay alive without constant supervision. Normally evolution would kick in and kill them off at a young age. Don't get me wrong, there would be exceptions, but how does a middle ages person get to adulthood with a strength of 3 (can barely carry their clothes), or a pe of 3 (with 4hp).

But back on target, slaves would be trained to do certain jobs anyway, so having slaves trained in sewing, or forging, or breaking horses isn't unusual, the only thing that would be unusual would be to give them weapons training (unless they were conscripts of course, but that's a slightly different kettle of fish) unless they were hunters with a sling or a small bow, or a spear.

Re: Helping a Player Design a Slave

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2020 7:04 pm
by crazycowproductions
Soldier of Od wrote:
crazycowproductions wrote:
Hotrod wrote:I'm not familiar with Dead Reign, and I'm a little curious as to why you're importing it into Fantasy.


Dead Reign and Robotech books recently had fast stat roll system for different types of characters. Which I found to be awesome. If they make a third edition of fantasy I hope they include one.

The other suggestions are helpful as I'll be talking with the player tonight as the GM picks at my brain for more ideas

Ugh - I was also unfamiliar with the "quick roll" system from dead reign so I just took a look at it. It is not a quick roll system at all, just a powerful character roll system. There isn't a single attribute in any of the categories that can be less than Palladium's supposed "normal human" attribute of 9, and only eight attributes (out of sixty-four) that could potentially (but unlikely to) be below the statistical average of 10 or 11. Is it really so much quicker to roll 1D6+11 than 3D6? That isn't the time consuming aspect of character creation.

Other than that, your slave build using the vagabond O.C.C. looks good to me.



It works for those that have a concept before rolling in my honest opinion, not great not amazing, I find it awesome cause I tend to See it for NPCs I want more fleshed out or for PC's that have some idea but want less random.

In this case the player wants to play a slave high charisma and attractiveness with house hold based skills. They also want to have stollen an item of power.

Re: Helping a Player Design a Slave

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 8:37 am
by Soldier of Od
crazycowproductions wrote:
Soldier of Od wrote:
crazycowproductions wrote:
Hotrod wrote:I'm not familiar with Dead Reign, and I'm a little curious as to why you're importing it into Fantasy.


Dead Reign and Robotech books recently had fast stat roll system for different types of characters. Which I found to be awesome. If they make a third edition of fantasy I hope they include one.

The other suggestions are helpful as I'll be talking with the player tonight as the GM picks at my brain for more ideas

Ugh - I was also unfamiliar with the "quick roll" system from dead reign so I just took a look at it. It is not a quick roll system at all, just a powerful character roll system. There isn't a single attribute in any of the categories that can be less than Palladium's supposed "normal human" attribute of 9, and only eight attributes (out of sixty-four) that could potentially (but unlikely to) be below the statistical average of 10 or 11. Is it really so much quicker to roll 1D6+11 than 3D6? That isn't the time consuming aspect of character creation.

Other than that, your slave build using the vagabond O.C.C. looks good to me.



It works for those that have a concept before rolling in my honest opinion, not great not amazing, I find it awesome cause I tend to See it for NPCs I want more fleshed out or for PC's that have some idea but want less random.

In this case the player wants to play a slave high charisma and attractiveness with house hold based skills. They also want to have stollen an item of power.

I like the idea of a more rigid set of attributes like this to help create a character you already have a concept for. I'm all for it! I just think that if you want a character with a high M.A. or whatever, then perhaps it should be off-set by lower attributes elsewhere. With this system you get few awesome attributes and a few above-average attributes. Where's the trade-off? Any player who chooses to stick with the standard 3D6 attributes is going to be disappointed when comparing their results with the players who choose one of these special rolls.

And by porting this rule to Palladium Fantasy, it gives humans a big advantage, as non-humans have only their standard rolls to go by. Half these humans are more agile than an average elf, and half of them are faster than an average wolfen.

Plus the fact that it is called "quick roll", when that is not what it is at all - if it was called it a "concept character" roll or something I would find it less objectionable! :)

Re: Helping a Player Design a Slave

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 9:56 am
by Hotrod
Considering the kinds of attributes I see in the published NPCs, I think this is reasonable for players who want to play characters with some distinctive above-average traits. The last character I rolled up, I wrote a random attribute-generating spreadsheet algorithm that followed the standard human and elf attributes (including bonus dice rules and psionics rolls) and refreshed it until I saw a combination that looked interesting and sparked a character concept. Is that some shenanigans? Sure! But it was also a really interesting character to play.

I make disposable NPC generators that work just fine for people with a hankering to play normal people.

Re: Helping a Player Design a Slave

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 10:26 am
by crazycowproductions
Soldier of Od wrote:
crazycowproductions wrote:
Soldier of Od wrote:
crazycowproductions wrote:
Hotrod wrote:I'm not familiar with Dead Reign, and I'm a little curious as to why you're importing it into Fantasy.


Dead Reign and Robotech books recently had fast stat roll system for different types of characters. Which I found to be awesome. If they make a third edition of fantasy I hope they include one.

The other suggestions are helpful as I'll be talking with the player tonight as the GM picks at my brain for more ideas

Ugh - I was also unfamiliar with the "quick roll" system from dead reign so I just took a look at it. It is not a quick roll system at all, just a powerful character roll system. There isn't a single attribute in any of the categories that can be less than Palladium's supposed "normal human" attribute of 9, and only eight attributes (out of sixty-four) that could potentially (but unlikely to) be below the statistical average of 10 or 11. Is it really so much quicker to roll 1D6+11 than 3D6? That isn't the time consuming aspect of character creation.

Other than that, your slave build using the vagabond O.C.C. looks good to me.



It works for those that have a concept before rolling in my honest opinion, not great not amazing, I find it awesome cause I tend to See it for NPCs I want more fleshed out or for PC's that have some idea but want less random.

In this case the player wants to play a slave high charisma and attractiveness with house hold based skills. They also want to have stollen an item of power.

I like the idea of a more rigid set of attributes like this to help create a character you already have a concept for. I'm all for it! I just think that if you want a character with a high M.A. or whatever, then perhaps it should be off-set by lower attributes elsewhere. With this system you get few awesome attributes and a few above-average attributes. Where's the trade-off? Any player who chooses to stick with the standard 3D6 attributes is going to be disappointed when comparing their results with the players who choose one of these special rolls.

And by porting this rule to Palladium Fantasy, it gives humans a big advantage, as non-humans have only their standard rolls to go by. Half these humans are more agile than an average elf, and half of them are faster than an average wolfen.

Plus the fact that it is called "quick roll", when that is not what it is at all - if it was called it a "concept character" roll or something I would find it less objectionable! :)



Heh, Yeah I can certainly see that :3 It would help since if it saves any time at all, would be only in BTS Maybe..and even then, maybe save a Minute or two XD

Hotrod wrote:Considering the kinds of attributes I see in the published NPCs, I think this is reasonable for players who want to play characters with some distinctive above-average traits. The last character I rolled up, I wrote a random attribute-generating spreadsheet algorithm that followed the standard human and elf attributes (including bonus dice rules and psionics rolls) and refreshed it until I saw a combination that looked interesting and sparked a character concept. Is that some shenanigans? Sure! But it was also a really interesting character to play.

I make disposable NPC generators that work just fine for people with a hankering to play normal people.


:-) Cool. Generally If I'm running I'll make a master list of OCC's that I allow for the group in the campaign, pretty much all the OCC's in the books for the genre and a few I allow from outside. From NightBane I generally allow Astral Mages with a Trade out from Electrical Skill to Horsemanship Skill

Re: Helping a Player Design a Slave

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 5:14 pm
by Soldier of Od
Yeah, if it works for you guys then go for it! I just thought it was a bit much having all of your attributes be distinctive above-average traits!

Re: Helping a Player Design a Slave

Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2020 10:34 am
by crazycowproductions
Soldier of Od wrote:Yeah, if it works for you guys then go for it! I just thought it was a bit much having all of your attributes be distinctive above-average traits!


There is the fact that one doesn't roll a trait that gives a negative effect, but most games I sat through or played in didn't used negative traits.(although I think I do remember seeing rules of them in a Core book some where recently) It was generally glossed over, so Never much put much thought into any trait that wasn't above 16.

Anyone with a stat that was 15 or less was considered average in those games, and you can still get those stat rolls with this system but your right a character will always be above average in their chosen concept with these rules.