Re: [ORE] [Godlike] Creating Competent Commandos

I always thought the most powerful character would be one who had a high Coordination but not as a hyperstat. For hyperstats one could stick with Brains (extra XP and photographic memory), Cool (extra Will and initiative dice, plus immunity to Mental Stability checks), and Sense (for sniping at truly ridiculous ranges or calling in extremely accurate artillery strikes). Since those stats only affect the character I presume it would take a Zed to shut them down. I suppose Body could be good for carrying objects that can be hurled with excessive force (how much damage could be caused by a marble or ball bearing (for example) thrown by a Body 10 Talent?).

On Tuesday, August 11, 2015 at 1:36:52 PM UTC-4, Gil Trevizo wrote:

I've also found that Hyperstats and Hyperskills are unbalanced in comparison to other powers. It is extremely easy to create Pvt. Death Incarnate with enough hard and wiggle dice in Hypercoordination or just a Hyper weapon skill. That said, what's good for the goose is good for the gander, and I've seen all manner of Hyper-powered characters taken out after enough Contest of Wills and/or the odd angry shot to the 10 location.

The custom character creation rules on p.344 have proved useful in mocking up competent commando characters, as is tossing out the "no skill can start higher than the associated stat" rule. The published books ignore that particular rule in creating their own starting characters, so I don't think it's essential as the designers made it out to be.

I've mainly played and run Godlike as one-shots, but I just started a campaign of Black Devils Brigade. One thing I'm noticing is that characters seem to get much more competent through character advancement, especially if the GM is not so stingy with experience points. I haven't run enough yet to make a final decision on that though.

On Tue, Aug 11, 2015 at 10:19 AM, Wade Lahoda <wade....@gmail.com> wrote:

Sadly, on a pure effectiveness level, the "smart" move is spending everything on Hyperstats and Hyperskills. They are just ridiculously cost effective in Godlike 1e. Especially since they can also make gaining Will a lot easier, too.

I think a "classic" Godlike character isn't necessarily a super competent commando though. Like, commando skill was tough, but until you actually see enemy action you've got a long ways to go. If you did especially well in commando training, that's plenty of justification for buying up Rifle, Stealth, etc - the TOG package is the minimum, not necessarily the maximum you could invest. And once you're seeing enemy action, hopefully you're improving those stats. ;)

And as for super powers... It seems most characters go one of two routes. Either a really nice "weird" power (like clothes teleportation :) ), or a "Standard" superhero power but with some kind of awkward twist - "I'm invulnerable to conventional weapons, but only against attacks I can see coming, and only while I'm drunk." Both classes of powers are very, very doable on the points allotment in Godlike.

On Tue, Aug 11, 2015 at 9:47 AM, Bruce Turner <brucet...@gmail.com> wrote:

One of the time-honored ways to create a more capable starting character is to spend those precious Will points on hyperskills. Of course, just having hard dice in Rifle and Stealth does not make a character immune to bullets, or to the horrors of what he is able to do.

BRT

On Aug 11, 2015 10:18 AM, "Shane Ivey" <shane...@gmail.com> wrote:

Those are all deliberate design choices. You can make starting characters more competent, but GODLIKE assumes they start play in over their heads and nowhere near as powerful as they wish. 

You can get a lot of mileage out of flaws. Literally in the case of Flight:

• Flight 2D+2HD with the flaw Running Start: 18 pts.
  
• Super Speed 7D with the flaws Attached to Flight and Slow Braking: 7 pts.
  

That allows a starting character to fly over 500 mph, and Flight counts as a defense power.

On Tue, Aug 11, 2015 at 7:08 AM, John Doe <erikst...@hotmail.com> wrote:

It seems that to make a competent soldier a player needs to 'game' the system and attempt to justify Rifle, Stealth, etc. in the pre-war days of the character's background. The average kid fresh out of school who is pressed into a TOG groups because he happens to have a Talent is likely going to fumble about with Coordination 2, Rifle 1, Stealth 1 and no Mental Stability (not given in the Commando package, and not every background warrants that skill). 

It also seems that most of the 'fun/cool' Talent powers are simply not feasible due to cost and starting Will. Iconic powers such as Flight and Teleportation are difficult to activate (4-5 dice at most and hope for a match) and the effect is often unspectacular if successful (flying at 30mph isn't especially useful in many situations- especially when the enemy has binoculars).

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