Etherscope - Character Creation

Background information for the world of Victoriana 1984.

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arcanus
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Etherscope - Character Creation

Post by arcanus » Tue Dec 28, 2010 7:37 pm

The Races in Etherscope are:
Human
Alpha Humans - Eugenically enhanced Humans.
Gamma Humans - Humans with Rat DNA (Resistant to Diseases)
Epsilon Humans - Humans with Canine DNA
Delta Humans - Humans with Equine DNA
Heta Humans - Humans with Raptor DNA
Phi Humans - Humans with Primate DNA
Sigma Humans - Humans with Serpent DNA
Tau Humans - Humans with Bovine DNA
Phi Humans - Humans with Cetacean DNA
Zeta Humans - Humans with Chiroptera DNA

Fey - Survivors of Lemuria
Cogs - Creations of Generated Science

The Base Classes for Etherscope are:
Broker - (Businessmen, Black Marketeer, merchant, Diplomat, Military Leaders, Socialites).
Combatant - (Street Mercenaries, Soldiers, Bodyguard, Scope Warriors)
Enginaught - (Pilots, Drivers, Cyborgs, Engineers, Scope Riders)
Pursuer - (Big Game hunter, detectives, bounty hunters, relic hunters, spies)
Savant - (Doctors, Scientists, craftsmen, solicitors, professionals, scope programers)
Scoundrel - (Criminals, Scope Runners, Politicians, businessmen)

Added Flavours
Each character chooses a Social Template (Academic, Criminal, Idle Rich, Officer, Tradesman etc)
Traits - (Loyalty, Patriotism)

The game does have occult overtones and so can the characters.

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Re: Etherscope - Character Creation

Post by Keeper » Tue Aug 02, 2011 7:32 pm

D20 to GURPS Conversion

Hi guys. I have been thinking about how characters convert from D20 Etherscope to GURPS Etherscope.
And this is just my opinion by the way!

Obviously there has to be a little bit of flexibility in the transfer however we also don't want to get into creating massively powerful characters that will outbalance the game.
There is meant to be that Cthulhu-esque sense of mortality (helps us look after our characters better!)

As Max has done the conversions already then most of the advantages/disadvantages and character defining traits have been done, however he has based this on what he has seen of the characters so far and so there will be bits missing and values not quite right.

I think Stats-wise we have to be careful that we don't create massive points-monsters! However, what we do have to remember is that Max didn't start us at level 1, he started us at level 4 and most of us are at level 5 approaching 6 now. This indicates a fair increase in the D20 character from the starting level 1. So I think the points we have allocated in D20 should slot across directly to GURPS.
It is the bit I have had the most trouble with justifying the points – but GURPS allows for a much more flexible method of character improvement than the rigid level system of D&D/D20.
Why couldn't an academic character devote his spare time to gymnastics, thus improving his strength and dexterity? Doing this type of activity over six months is going to have a dramatic affect on those abilities, which can be shown in GURPS, but in D20 you'd have to wait up to 8 levels to gain a single point increase in each (that could be many years of in game time!). Therefore I think for characters transferring over there is a justifiable reason for like for like values.

Then we come on to skills -

the formula should be: ((D20 Skill -2) + 9) = GURPS Skill {or D20 Skill + 7}

For this we have to look at average starting characters.
The average stat for a D20 character is 10 (giving a stat bonus of 0).
The maximum rank in a skill is level+3, so 4, the average of which would be 2.
So it can be taken then that the average score for a skill a character has at start would be 2+0 = 2.

This means that any skill over 2 is an increase to the average and skill points must have been allocated.

In GURPS, skills range from 1 to 18. this gives an average skill level of 9.
Therefore in translation, a skill value over and above the D20 average should be added to the GURPS average value.

eg.
D20 character has a sleight of hand skill 9. this is seven points above the average, showing a fair investment of skill points in this skill.

In GURPS those seven points are added to the average of 9 to give a total skill of 16!


For combat skills the conversion is slightly different -

average for a D20 starting character: ((BAB = 0) + (Stat avg bonus = 0)) = 0

Therefore any attack bonus is added to GURPS avg for final score.

eg.
D20 character has a BAB +3 and a STR Mod of +1 for a total melee attack bonus of +4
Therefore the Gurps skill for someone using a knife would be 4+9 = 13.

Again - just my take on it but i think it works without making the characters experts in everything!!

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