Point Buy CharGen

[Bloo]

I saw this mentioned in the G+ thread DonM mentioned here.

Back after T4 was released, I developed a point buy system for some testing. Wasn't able to do a lot, but it looked ok for what testing did happen. I'm trying to locate those old notes but the long and short of it was this.

66 points. Distribute between UPP and Skills on a 1-for-1 basis.
Choose education and career choices to have access to particular skills (you can only choose from those on your career list or the "any" list). Add total skill values to 18 to get age.

A UPP 777777 character would have 24 levels of skills, and be 42 years old.

(Original draft has X points for certain options such as Flight School, Rank Y, etc.)

I'll really try to find those notes this weekend.

 

[LordRhys]

What you posted today looks like it would work all by itself.

It's certainly a good method for drawing up balanced NPC's.

 

[Lore]

Are there number limits for skills or higher point requirements for numbers over a certain point?

For example...going from Fighter-1 to Fighter-2 might be 1 point where going from Fighter-6 to Fighter-7 would be 5 points?

 

[LordRhys]

I would just limit the total skill level of a skill (Skills and Knowledges combined) to the number of Terms a character served.

Example: 4 Terms would allow Fighting-2 and any Knowledge Skills under Fighting would be limited to level-2 (Slug Throwers-2, Beams-2, Battle Dress-2 etc.).

 

[Bloo]

Are there number limits for skills or higher point requirements for numbers over a certain point?

Not in my original stuff (which I know I have but haven't located yet - my Medieval T4 stuff, found). That's a fair idea, increasing point cost as you go down the bell curve for stats and skill levels. The Mongoose system does that. The C+S task system mitigates it somewhat.

I would just limit the total skill level of a skill (Skills and Knowledges combined) to the number of Terms a character served.

Example: 4 Terms would allow Fighting-2 and any Knowledge Skills under Fighting would be limited to level-2 (Slug Throwers-2, Beams-2, Battle Dress-2 etc.).

That's an interesting idea, but I question it in some cases. 16 years is a long time not to be an expert in something you've chosen to focus on.

 

[LordRhys]

Perhaps 2 x number of Terms?

You would be able to have Level-6 in the Skill and Level-2 in at least 1 Knowledge of that Skill.

I think that any more than that would make the character too specialized.

Remember, a 4 Term character would only have 16 points to spend on skills, and this would allow you to put 1/2 of those points all in one area.

1 point per term would create more diversified characters.

 

[Bloo]

Huzzah! Found it. Transcribing warts and all.

 

[taustin]

16 years is a long time not to be an expert in something you've chosen to focus on.

I recall seeing a study a while back that concluded that for most, nearly all professions, 10 years is enough to make one a master, which is to say, to know the subject well enough that no significant advancement will occur from training or addtional experience. There were only a couple of professions that were exceptions. (Laywers was one, IIRC.)

 

[Bloo]

I recall seeing a study a while back that concluded that for most, nearly all professions, 10 years is enough to make one a master, which is to say, to know the subject well enough that no significant advancement will occur from training or addtional experience. There were only a couple of professions that were exceptions. (Laywers was one, IIRC.)

Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour thing from his Outliers book, right?

 

[Bloo]

Just text. I'm tempted to do some clean up.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/13500688/Traveller Point Buy Chargen.txt

 

[erisred]

I saw this mentioned in the G+ thread DonM mentioned here.

Back after T4 was released, I developed a point buy system for some testing. Wasn't able to do a lot, but it looked ok for what testing did happen. I'm trying to locate those old notes but the long and short of it was this.

66 points. Distribute between UPP and Skills on a 1-for-1 basis.
Choose education and career choices to have access to particular skills (you can only choose from those on your career list or the "any" list). Add total skill values to 18 to get age.

A UPP 777777 character would have 24 levels of skills, and be 42 years old.

(Original draft has X points for certain options such as Flight School, Rank Y, etc.)

I'll really try to find those notes this weekend.

What you have posted right here looks pretty good all by itself. The only thing that might need adding is something to deal with the Skill/Knowledge duality (cascade skills to us old timers ). Maybe something like, "you must have one Knowledge two higher, or two Knowledges one higher than the Skill when you finish allocating points."

 

[SpaceBadger]

Looks very nice, Bloo. I will be adapting it back to CT, but otherwise I think this may be our new chargen, at least for PCs. My boys played GURPS before Traveller, so they like being able to design characters to closely fit their concept w/out all of the chance element of regular Trav chargen.