Saturday, 1 January 2022

31 Days of Chargen: day 1, GURPS and bees

Kaye recently posted a character creation challenge thing, so I'm going to give that a go.

Today's themes are... GURPS and 'bees'.

Let's start with the fundamentals - no, not stats. We're going to want the Good With Bees perk, as well as an Immunity to Specific Poison (Bee and Wasp Stings). Arguably that's two poisons, but I think it's justifiable. If the setting features giant and monstrous bees and wasps, some negotiation with the GM would be appropriate.

Next, the Speak With Animals (Bees only) advantage, of course.

I'm deliberately not going the route of becoming a swarm, but I will adopt some bee-like traits. Those include Magnetic Field Sense from Powers: Enhanced Senses, and both Discriminatory Scent and Acute Taste and Smell, because bees have incredible olfactory abilities (they have been used to detect mines).

Skillswise, I'll start off with Profession (Beekeeper) and Veterinary (Bees). I also want Gardening, to keep my bees well-fed

I'm envisioning this as a sort of folklore-powered bee-master, so I'm going to take the Green Thumb* talent as well as Cunning Folk. This hints at other skills I should take: Animal Handling, Fortune-Telling, Herb Lore, Naturalist, Occultism, Poisons, and Weather Sense. As Poisons is an IQ-based skill, I opt for an optional specialty in 'Garden poisons' - the idea being to cover things plants that grow in gardens, poisons used by gardeners, and of course, bee venom.

*Green Fingers, for those of us in the UK...

Now it's time to gain some abilities. Let's have our beekeeper able to call up a cloud of buzzing, distracting bees. This seems like Obscure (Vision and Hearing), with Defensive and Ranged. I'm not entirely happy with that - Obscure has a special expensive version of Ranged:

Unlike the usual Ranged enhancement (p. 107), this modifier lets you use your ability again before its duration has expired (e.g., to simulate multiple smoke grenades); thus, it is more expensive.

Looking at the rules in the normal Ranged enhancement:

Duration is 10 seconds, unless the ability lists another duration (like Neutralize or Possession) or is instantaneous (like Healing), and you cannot use the ability again until all existing effects have worn off.

Yeah, that's much more appropriate - I've only got one cloud of bees, after all! So I'll make the GM call here and allow the normal version of Ranged. I'm also going to add the limitation Environmental (Not in strong wind), and the Homing enhancement, since my bees can zero in on their target.

Let's throw in a couple of disadvantages. Odious Personal Habit (attracts bees) seems right, and let's add Absent-Mindedness - our hero tends to drift off into musings. Since they're just a regular beekeeper, let's also include Pacifism (Self-Defence Only).

Throw in a few 'everyman' skills for being part of the community - talking to neighbours, selling honey and flowers, and so forth - and we're about done.


Name: Beemaster
Race: Human

Attributes [60]

ST 10
DX 10
IQ 12 [40]
HT 11 [10]
HP 10
Will 12
Per 14 [10]
FP 11

Basic Lift 20
Damage 1d-2/1d

Basic Speed 5.25
Basic Move 5
Ground Move 5
Water Move 1

TL: 7 [0]

Advantages [95]

Acute Taste and Smell (3) [6]
Cunning Folk (3) [30]
Detect (Magnetic Fields) (Occasional) (Biological (Passive); Reflexive) [14]
Discriminatory Smell (Biological (Passive)) [15]
Green Thumb (2) [10]
Obscure Vision (3) (Defensive; Environmental (Not in strong wind) (Occasional); Extended (Hearing) (+1); Homing (+1); Ranged) [15]
Speak With Bees (Specialized: one species) [5]

Perks [2]

Good with (Bees) [1]
Immunity to Bee and wasp stings [1]

Disadvantages [-40]

Absent-Mindedness [-15]
Code of Honor (Beekeeper's) [-5]
Odious Personal Habit (Attracts bees) (-1) [-5]
Pacifism (Self-Defense Only) [-15]

Quirks [-1]

Humble [-1]

Skills [33]

Animal Handling (Bees) IQ/A - IQ+2 14 [1]
---includes: +3 from 'Cunning Folk'
Area Knowledge (local) IQ/E - IQ+1 13 [2]
Astronomy/TL7 (Observational) IQ/A - IQ-1 11 [1]
Body Language (Human) Per/A - Per+0 14 [2]
Carousing HT/E - HT+0 11 [1]
Current Affairs/TL7 (local region) IQ/E - IQ+0 12 [1]
Current Affairs/TL7 (People) IQ/E - IQ+0 12 [1]
Detect Lies Per/H - Per-2 12 [1]
Diplomacy IQ/H - IQ-2 10 [1]
Farming/TL7 (Horticulture) IQ/E - IQ+2 14 [1]
---includes: +2 from 'Green Thumb'
Fortune-Telling (Augury) IQ/A - IQ+2 14 [1]
---includes: +3 from 'Cunning Folk'
Gardening IQ/E - IQ+3 15 [2]
---includes: +2 from 'Green Thumb'
Herb Lore/TL7 IQ/VH - IQ+2 14 [1]
---includes: +2 from 'Green Thumb', +3 from 'Cunning Folk'
Hiking HT/A - HT-1 10 [1]
Housekeeping IQ/E - IQ+0 12 [1]
Merchant (Honey and Flowers) IQ/E - IQ+0 12 [1]
Naturalist (Earth) IQ/H - IQ+3 15 [1]
---includes: +2 from 'Green Thumb', +3 from 'Cunning Folk'
Occultism IQ/A - IQ+3 15 [2]
---includes: +3 from 'Cunning Folk'
Pharmacy/TL7 (Herbal) IQ/H - IQ-2 10 [1]
Poisons/TL7 (Garden) IQ/A - IQ+3 15 [2]
---includes: +3 from 'Cunning Folk'
Professional Skill (Beekeeper) IQ/A - IQ+1 13 [4]
Public Speaking (Storytelling) IQ/E - IQ+0 12 [1]
Tracking Per/A - Per-1 13 [1]
Veterinary/TL7 (Bees) IQ/H - IQ+1 13 [1]
---includes: +3 from 'Cunning Folk'
Weather Sense IQ/A - IQ+2 14 [1]
---includes: +3 from 'Cunning Folk'

Costs Summary

Stats [60]
Ads [95]
Disads [-40]
Quirks [-1]
Skills [33]
= Total [149]

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