[Torg] More shtuff: NPC levels

[Benjamin Grant]

>>I'm not sure I get all your Merit knack stuff. Think you could provide
>>a bit more on that?
>>
>>SDF II

Well, I guess that breaks into two sections - our Merit stuff and a subset
of that, Knack Merits.

Torg has IMO essentially three ways of representing character ability or
effect.  First, Attributes, then skills, then (possibly) powers - which may
be linked to certain skills or may not be.

This covers 90% of what one would want to design, but what if one wanted to
quantify an ability or advantage that does not fall within attributes,
skills, or main powers?  For example, one may want to quantify that one's
character is well Connected, that he knows someone who can get the job done,
whatever the job.  Or may quantify a Code of Ethics.  Perhaps the character
wants to be Famous or Rich or both.  Perhaps the character wants to be a
King or Emperor.  Or maybe the character has an Artifact.

Obviously, one is not *compelled* to quantify these things - informal
agreements between GM and player happen all the time.  But sometimes GMs and
players are better served by a more formal and quantified mechanic, whereby
the player, having paid for the advantage, doesn't have to worry about it
disappearing randomly, and the GM doesn't have to worry about whether or not
he is giving the player something for nothing.

So we came up with Merits (which we alternatively call Virtues when
confused.)  They are purchased separately from attributes, skills, and main
powers.  Unlike skills, the adds or "levels" of Merits do not generally get
added or applied to anything.  There are three levels of Merits with
accelerating costs. And as you might expect, you can't buy level 2 of a
Merit without having level 1, and you can't buy level 3 of a Merit without
having level 2:

Level 1 Merit.  Costs 5 possibilities, or if purchased at character
creation, costs one attribute point from your starting total of 66.  This is
considered to be the "weenie" level, good for minor benefits.
Ambidextrousness, moderate income, a decent contact, a minor luck charm, a
supportive Code of Ethics, a minor independent supernatural gift or trick.

Level 2 Merit.  Costs 10 additional possibilities, for a total of 15 (or if
purchased at character creation, costs two attribute points from your
starting total of 66.)  This is considered to be average or significant
level, good for perfect balance, exceptional income, many good contacts, a
significant magic item, a Code of Ethics that permit Willpower rolls to be
skipped in certain circumstances, a useful and significant independent
supernatural gift or trick.

Level 3 Merit.  Costs 15 additional possibilities, for a total of 3015 (or
if purchased at character creation, costs three attribute points from your
starting total of 66.)  This is considered to be major or epic level, good
for +6 Dex (perhaps), extreme wealth, being well connnected to everyone one
would need, a superior magic item, an unshakable Code of Ethics that help
empower one, a major powerful independent supernatural gift or trick which
usually costs either one possibility per use or per scene to use.

We have been using Merits for over a year now, but recently a player asked
if there was a way for him to be especially good at Intimidation even though
he never took a good Spirit.  This, in addition to comments on this list,
made me consider that skill knacks - that is a natural or developed aptitude
for a certain skill, should be another use of our Merit System.

I initially thought that it would be simple - perhaps each merit level could
give +1 or +2 to the underlying skill, or perhaps each Merit level made each
skill level cheaper to buy.

However, after spending a day modeling it in an excel spreadsheet, I
realized that neither approach could work mathematically, not with the Merit
system. There were two reasons for that.  First, the Merit levels scale up
is cost so quickly that getting the Merit Levels at level 2 and especially 3
cost so much that it was hard making a bonus that would be worth it.  After
all, why buy a level 3 Merit of 30 total possibilities when you can spend
those possibilities on the skill in question itself?  And changing the costs
of the three level of the Merits was not an option because too many other
pre-existing uses already were in place.

Secondly, any system that one can invest in to get a higher skill add (or to
make skill adds cheaper to buy) would exist in direct competition with the
existing standard method of getting skill adds.  Result:  it was impossible
to balance another potential system so perfectly that it either wasn't
significantly more expensive or less expensive than the standard method of
buy skill adds.  Conclusion:  If I went down this road, it would either add
a more expensive system which no one would use when they could use the
standard one, or it would add a less expensive system which everyone would
use instead of the standard one.

This made me realize that whatever the Knack Merit brought to the table, it
could not be what the standard method of buying skills already brought to
the table.  It had to be something different.

I had a super powered character, and one of his powers was that he had
downside protection.  At a certain level of his ability, the minimum bonus
number he could roll was a -2 on any skill or attribute roll.  So that's
what gave me the idea for the Knack.

When you purchase a Knack, you choose what skill the Knack is for.

The level 1 Knack Merit gives you a +3 to your Bonus Number, up to a max
improved Bonus Number of 0, to your specified skill.  So, if you roll a 4,
which is a -8 BN, you get to use a -8 +3 = -5 BN instead.  If you roll an 8
which is a -2, you add -2 to +3 to get a +1, but your max improved Bonus
Number is 0, you don't get the BN of 1, you get the BN of 0.  If you roll a
15, which is a BN of 2, you are already over the max improved Bonus Number
of 0, so you just keep the 2 and can't improve it.

Another feature of the level Knack Merit is that when buying the first level
of the skill, which depending on whether or not you have a teacher and
whether or not it can be used unskilled, can cost as many as 5 or 10
possibilities normally.  With the level 1 Knack Merit in a skill, the costs
to buy the first add in that skill (if you haven't already) are cut in half,
rounded down.

The level 2 Knack Merit goes even farther, as well it should.  When using
the specified skill, it gives you +6 to your Bonus Number, up to a max
improved Bonus Number of 2.  This really protects you from many of those
horrible rolls.  It still doesn't help you make amazing rolls as any BN of
greater than 2 has to earned naturally, but it sure help one not suck as
much at the specific skill.  In addition, this level of Knack eliminates the
chance of botch or catastrophic failure with the specified skill.

The level 3 Knack Merit costs 15 possibilities on its own, and a total
investment of 30 possibilities, so what it offers has to be more than just
good - and it is.  If you have a level 3 Knack Merit in the specified skill,
then anytime you roll to use it, you get a free reroll as if you had just
spent a possibility, even though you haven't.  This of course leaves you
free to spend any possibilities, cards, or other resources in addition as
normal.

I know the level 3 ability sounds extreme, but you are spending 15
possibilities to get it - it *should* be extreme.  And at that cost, it will
take you some time to use it enough times that purchasing the Knack instead
of simply spending the possibilities on rerolls winds up being the less
expensive option.

So that's the Knack Merit as best as I can explain it.  Any specific
questions?

PS.  I ran it by our current GM and he has implemented the system with one
further caveat:  Any character can have at most only one skill with an
associated Knack Merit.  I figured that as expensive as they are, we
wouldn't need to add that limit, but he would rather be safe and cover that.

-Benn Grant
eFix Computer Consulting
benn at 4eFix.com
603.283.6601