Trinity Universe: D20 Aberrant game?

[ezekiel]

Ok, I'll take silent move then.

I don't know about the templates. I do suggest going through http://www.dndonlinegames.com/index.php? and create a character through their "Tools" button. I've seen 3eprofiler run out of bandwidth during the last days of a month. The mirrored dndonline 3eprofiler is always on, I think. It was when 3e was down anyway...

[Prince of Boredom]

My basic concept is pretty simple, US special forces type. Still up in the air as to exactly what type, though I’m leaning toward Army Ranger or Marine Corps Force Recon.

Unfortunately, in D20, skills tend to be an afterthought for fighter/warrior types, so I’m little strapped for points, but this is what I’m looking at:

Demolitions – 2

Drive – 2

Jump – 2

Knowledge (Tactics) – 2

Listen – 4

Spot – 4

Survival -2

Swim – 2

So unless someone just wants to be a true wheelman, I’ve got driving covered.

For stats I’m looking at this:

Str: 14

Dex: 14

Con: 14

Int: 10

Wis: 13

Chr: 8

As you’ll notice, he has int of 10, so he only speaks English… may have to change this if people want to use some other language as our ‘common’ language.

For feats, I’d like some help.

At the start he gets:

Brawl

Personal Firearms

I feel almost obligated to use his ‘free’ warrior feat on:

Armor Proficiency (light)

So that leaves me two more. My thought is to focus on ranged attack and rely on his Brawl and Str to carry him through any unfortunate hand-to-hand situations.

That being said, there seems to be two different routes to take, either automatic or semiautomatic.

For automatic you have:

Advanced Firearms, Burst Fire, Strafe, Improved Autofire

For Semiauto you have:

Point Blank (useful for auto as well), Double Tap, Hail of Bullets

I’m leaning more towards the Auto route (the reason I have a 13 wis [prereq for burst fire]) but I’m open for suggestions.

Question for Prof, do warriors advance like D&D fighters (ie. Feat at 2nd, and another every other level)?

Now I'm wondering whether I should take Brawl or Firearms...I think I'm leaning towards brawl since its less lethal...we aren't expected to do assasination missions are we?

My recommendation is take firearms as your Scoundrel freebie (it’s always nice to be able to shoot a gun), and then take Combat Martial Arts as a general feat. I think it’ll be much more useful for you since I can definitely envision your character using an unarmed attack against an armed opponent, and with only brawl you’ll still provoke a dreaded attack of opportunity. It’ll also distinguish you from my character who has simply learned basic hand-to-hand fighting from the military.

[brilyn]

That being said, there seems to be two different routes to take, either automatic or semiautomatic.

Nope. There's more. ::biggrin

I like to call this one the "John Woo" Route. ::tongue

Two Weapon Fighting -> Improved Two Weapon Fighting -> Advanced Two Weapon Fighting

Allowing multiple shots with the offhand, and allowing you to fight with both a melee weapon *and* a Ranged weapon at once.

Sniper mode:

Far Shot -> Dead Aim

Point Blank Shot -> Precise Shot -> Skip Shot

Generally good feats:

Heroic Surge: An additional move/attack 1+ times a day

Combat Reflexes (probably of less use in a modern setting than standard DnD)

Alertness (Will emphasise your existing Spot/Listen skills)

Improved Damage Threshold (I'm not fully familiar with the Modern rules, but this would appear to be handy. ::smile)

Quick Reload: good for prolonged combat.

Weapon Focus: Handy. Not fantastic, but handy.

Precise Shot: if there's gonna be melee specialists in the group, you *need* this Feat. Even if there's not, the enemy *will* close to melee. I consider this a necessity at lvl 1 (*especially* at lvl 1) if I'm playing a ranged Char. It's too useful to not have. Downside: you need Point Blank Shot as a pre-requisite (but that's a good feat too. ::wink )

[ezekiel]

My recommendation is take firearms as your Scoundrel freebie (it’s always nice to be able to shoot a gun), and then take Combat Martial Arts as a general feat. I think it’ll be much more useful for you since I can definitely envision your character using an unarmed attack against an armed opponent, and with only brawl you’ll still provoke a dreaded attack of opportunity. It’ll also distinguish you from my character who has simply learned basic hand-to-hand fighting from the military.

Arggh!! I know, I can definitely see him using an unarmed strike as well! I kinda thought I'd take the stealthy and cautious feats (+ 2 to move silently and hide / demolitions and disable device)

Then take cool customer on disable device, hide and move silently. Hear sounds and unlock a door, move in, y'know...I'm kinda hoping my character doesn't have to get in a fight ever... ::rolleyes Yeah right

[ezekiel]

Prof, in the Scoundrel skill list you put both Disable Device and Open Lock. In the d20 Modern book disable device is used to open locks, both electronic and mechanical...Is this a mistake? Can I just take disable device?

[Prince of Boredom]

Nope. There's more.

Good point, what I should have said was there are only two paths I'm interested in... ::cool

I like to call this one the "John Woo" Route.

Two Weapon Fighting -> Improved Two Weapon Fighting -> Advanced Two Weapon Fighting

Allowing multiple shots with the offhand, and allowing you to fight with both a melee weapon *and* a Ranged weapon at once.

Yeah, I thought about that... for about a second ::wink

While it may look cool in the movies, I just don't see someone militarily trained fighting like that.

Sniper mode:

Far Shot -> Dead Aim

Point Blank Shot -> Precise Shot -> Skip Shot

Yep, offered that up as an option before, but Zeke felt that it might be a little too specialized for this group... I tend to agree.

Precise Shot: if there's gonna be melee specialists in the group, you *need* this Feat. Even if there's not, the enemy *will* close to melee. I consider this a necessity at lvl 1 (*especially* at lvl 1) if I'm playing a ranged Char. It's too useful to not have. Downside: you need Point Blank Shot as a pre-requisite (but that's a good feat too.  )

As an avid D&D player, I whole-heartedly agree that this is a necessity for all ranged combat experts... in that game. But I'm not so sure that your basic premise holds true in the modern/aberrant world. First, the average person in the 'real' (read non-fantasy) world doesn't no martial arts and doesn't own, much less know how to use, a melee weapon. My guess would be that the majority of our combat will be spent at firearm range. The only character that I can conceive of being a melee/martial arts specialist in this group would be Zeke's character, and my character should be able to hold his own in that type of situation as well. The bottom line is that while I do envision situations where the feat will be useful, do I anticipate enough of those situations that it justifies spending a feat on it? Or am I willing to accept the penalties if/when firing into melee becomes necessary. Unfortunately there are a lot more options for the ranged specialist than in D&D.

Thoughts? ::confused

[ProfPotts]

I think I'm leaning towards brawl since its less lethal...

If you're worried about the lethality of firearms attacks, there are a few non-lethal weapons the Directive use - most notably the good ol' tranq' dart gun.

For automatic you have:

Advanced Firearms, Burst Fire, Strafe, Improved Autofire

For Semiauto you have:

Point Blank (useful for auto as well), Double Tap, Hail of Bullets

I’m leaning more towards the Auto route (the reason I have a 13 wis [prereq for burst fire]) but I’m open for suggestions.

Note that Hail of Bullets basically just lets you autofire a semiautomatic weapon (& use any autofire-based Feats you happen to have) - so, cool though it is, it's actually best used if you already have stuff like Burst Fire.

,,

Question for Prof, do warriors advance like D&D fighters (ie. Feat at 2nd, and another every other level)?

Yep - every even level they get a Warrior Bonus Feat, every odd level they get a Background Feat (all the other core classes get a Background Feat every even level instead).

Two Weapon Fighting -> Improved Two Weapon Fighting -> Advanced Two Weapon Fighting

Allowing multiple shots with the offhand, and allowing you to fight with both a melee weapon *and* a Ranged weapon at once.

You can also use the Armed to the Teeth Feat to mix-n-match a melee with a ranged weapon whilst Two-Weapon Fighting - which is easier to obtain than the +11 BAB needed to gain Advanced Two-Weapon Fighting!

To go really Woo-stylie™ you want the best-named Feat ever - Guns Akimbo - which lets you combine Two-Weapon Fighting & Shot on the Run to use both guns whilst bouncing about the battelfield (Two-Weapon Fighting usually takes a full attack action). Add in Hail of Bullets & various autofire Feats & you really can be a Hard Boiled hero of Hong Kong cinema! ::chowyunfat

Sniper mode:

Far Shot -> Dead Aim

Point Blank Shot -> Precise Shot -> Skip Shot

There's also Improved Dead Aim available.

Improved Damage Threshold (I'm not fully familiar with the Modern rules, but this would appear to be handy. )

The game uses the 3.5 rules for Damage Threshold, not the D20 Modern ones - i.e. everyone has a Massive Damage Threshold of 50, rather than just their Constitution. So that Feat isn't available in the game.

Generally I'd suggest that, if you're going for a firearms specialist, the key 'entry' Feats are the important ones to take - to open up options later on: Advanced Firearms Proficiency & Point Blank Shot being the most important two.

On the other hand, the team may well face Novas at some point, & those two extra damage dice from a successful Burst Fire attack are awfully helpful... ::m60

To be honest, there's a lot of choice when it comes to firearms Feats in particular. I guess it comes down to whether your guy's gonna' be a pistol or a rifle type of a guy.

Tough choice - glad I don't have to make it! ::tongue

Prof, in the Scoundrel skill list you put both Disable Device and Open Lock. In the d20 Modern book disable device is used to open locks, both electronic and mechanical...Is this a mistake? Can I just take disable device?

::sigh:: No - it's just that Aberrant D20 doesn't actually use the D20 Modern rules as such - WW designed it around the 3.5 rules & just poached a few things from D20 Modern.

[Prince of Boredom]

Arggh!! I know, I can definitely see him using an unarmed strike as well! I kinda thought I'd take the stealthy and cautious feats (+ 2 to move silently and hide / demolitions and disable device)

Then take cool customer on disable device, hide and move silently. Hear sounds and unlock a door, move in, y'know...I'm kinda hoping my character doesn't have to get in a fight ever...  Yeah right

Personally, I've never been a huge fan of the skill enhancing feats. In my mind, the best feats are the ones that let you do things that you wouldn't normally be able to, or would have a massive penalty for doing it.

Skills increase every level, and assuming you're going to have a high dex and int, you skill totals are going to be pretty high anyway. Just my opinion of course.

[ProfPotts]

My recommendation is take firearms as your Scoundrel freebie (it’s always nice to be able to shoot a gun), and then take Combat Martial Arts as a general feat.

Combat Martial Arts requires a BAB of +1 or more - Scoundrels don't get that at level 1 (in fact, only Warriors do) - so it's not really an option at all at this stage.

[Prince of Boredom]

Combat Martial Arts requires a BAB of +1 or more - Scoundrels don't get that at level 1 (in fact, only Warriors do) - so it's not really an option at all at this stage.

Oops, forgot about that... sorry. I suppose you could wait, but then you'd have to wait until your next feat which doesn't come until 3rd level...

On another note, I've thrown up a shell of my character at the site Zeke pointed us to (the second site). Here he is http://www.dndonlinegames.com/view.php?id=4243

Obviously, still very much a work in progress, but definately a cool site.

[ezekiel]

::sigh:: No - it's just that Aberrant D20 doesn't actually use the D20 Modern rules as such - WW designed it around the 3.5 rules & just poached a few things from D20 Modern.

Okay, just checking most if not all of us don't have the Abbie book...Human error is a possibility after all (and open lock is in DnD) anyhoo, this solves my Cautious feat dilemma. I won't take it if it just adds to disable device, I might op for gear head instead...or the Run feat, which could be very useful. ::wink

Oh, and I'll take the firearms proficiency. Tranq darts yay!

[ProfPotts]

Okay, just checking most if not all of us don't have the Abbie book...Human error is a possibility after all (and open lock is in DnD)...

The ::sigh:: was aimed at WW - for more details refer back to my various long ranting reviews of the D20 Trinity Universe games, & the less-than-flattering opinion I state about their choice to go 3.5 instead of Modern... ::wink

[Prince of Boredom]

Prof, couple more questions.. have I started annoying you yet, 'cause I'm trying ::tongue

1) Are we expected to purchase our own equipment (read weapons and armor), or is that being issued to us by the Directive.

2) I didn't see any entry for the M203 Grenade Launcher that mounts under the M16A2 in the D20 Modern rules. Is it in any of the books you have, and does it require the exotic weapons feat?

To be honest, there's a lot of choice when it comes to firearms Feats in particular. I guess it comes down to whether your guy's gonna' be a pistol or a rifle type of a guy.

Actually, my goal is for him to be equally good with either... I made sure to check that there is an automatic pistol with the three round burst option (there is, the Berreta 93R).

I think I've decided to go the automatic weapon route, though I may hold off purchasing burst fire until 2nd level (I just don't see myself being willing to accept the -4 penalty with only a +3 attack bonus). Anyone have any suggestions for his last feat? I'm thinking possibly improved autofire or point blank shot, but any/all comments are welcome and appreciated.

[ProfPotts]

Just a quick word of warning - I tried to register with that D&D online site ezekiel pointed us towards but it wouldn't let me register & sent me the 'activate account' e-mail sixty-four times. I don't know if anyone else has had any trouble with the site, but I just blocked the feckers in a fit of rage. ::angry

[ezekiel]

huh? That's odd...you should maybe send an email to the site administrator. I know I haven't had problems. Do you use Explorer?

[Heritage]

Um, okay. I think I'm gonna be a bit of a smeghead and withdraw from the Directive game before I even start ::sad

I barely have time for the games I'm in now, and I think WJ and NG are starting to suffer from my erratic posting schedule. Plus I'm gonna be taking over one of my two tabletop D&D games (hopefully switching to Eberron - yay!) and sometime in the spring I'm going to be back in school to finish up my bachelors degree, which will involving finishing my first feature length screenplay. To take on yet another game at this time would be insanity, and yes, I am aware that I'm currently insane ::wacko, but I can't afford to become more so right now. ::tongue

So there's now an open space for the Hun.

[ProfPotts]

1) Are we expected to purchase our own equipment (read weapons and armor), or is that being issued to us by the Directive.

A standard requisition roll is Level + Charisma Bonus + D20 Vs the purchase DC of the item in question. That, in Aberrant, is modified by the character's Backing Background Feat (if any). In any case, yes, items will most often be issued - but you do get some sort of say as to what items you get (the rolls are more of an indication of the sort of value you can aim for) - no tactical nukes (well... at least not at level 1 ::sly ).

2) I didn't see any entry for the M203 Grenade Launcher that mounts under the M16A2 in the D20 Modern rules. Is it in any of the books you have, and does it require the exotic weapons feat?

Yes - it's listed in the D20 Modern Weapons Locker; & yes, it requires the Exotic Firearms Proficiency - grenade launchers to use without penalty.

Anyone have any suggestions for his last feat?

Well, as a player, I usually go by the rule: if in doubt, choose the one that will save your character's life. So, Armour Proficiency - Medium (on top of the Armour Proficieny - Light you mentioned you were taking) would probably be my personal choice. After all, if your character bites the big one because you didn't take that Feat, then it tends to be one of those time when kicking one's self is all too appropriate... ::sly

huh? That's odd...you should maybe send an email to the site administrator. I know I haven't had problems. Do you use Explorer?

Internet Explorer? Er... I guess so (that's what the little icon says anyway... ::confused ). No matter which of the links I followed from the e-mail the result was something about the full address not being there or something - & that included when I clicked the 'click here to not receive this message any more' link.

I'm not gonna' bother chasing it up - it's not like I was planning on using the site much in any case. The other site (the first one you mentioned) I registered on with no problems - & the character sheet bit was the reason for being there in the first place. ::wink

[ezekiel]

Any news on what Malkboy wants to do exactly with the Entertainer? I'm half wondering whether I should go the "Alias" route and invest in charismatic skills such as bluff and disguise as well...

or should I stick with a total ghost?

[ezekiel]

K, here's my first draft, I'm open to suggestions. I took the Stealthy and Hard Eyed feats. I imagine the character holding a gun to scientists or guards, coaxing them to open doors and such so it could be useful. I took cool customer in Move Silently and Hide, I'm not sure what other skill to take it in. Search maybe? Anyway, here's the sheet:

http://www.dndonlinegames.com/view.php?id=4439

Edit: I just applied permission to view the sheet, I'd forgotten about that...

[Prince of Boredom]

Zeke, you forgot to make it public viewable.

[ezekiel]

yeah, I noticed, I just edited it.

[Prince of Boredom]

K, here's my first draft, I'm open to suggestions. I took the Stealthy and Hard Eyed feats. I imagine the character holding a gun to scientists or guards, coaxing them to open doors and such so it could be useful. I took cool customer in Move Silently and Hide, I'm not sure what other skill to take it in. Search maybe? Anyway, here's the sheet:

Hey Zeke, just a couple of recommendations, take them or leave them at your leisure ::wink

1) I wouldn't waste putting 1 point into skills unless they are 'trained only' types (ie. bluff, climb, etc). Unless Prof is planning on changing the rules, having points in a skill is not a necessity to use it (if it's not 'trained only'), and if you're only putting 1 point in it, it obviously means it's not too important to you anyway. Those points could probably better be used to address points 2&3.

2) This is for everyone. If they are in-class skills, I recommend everyone maxing out spot and listen. In D20, these are the two skills that will determine whether you're surprised in most situations.. If you haven't read the surprise rules yet, that basically means that your opponent gets a free action on you, and you are flat-footed during that time. This is very bad.

3) I'd also see if it's possible to crunch the numbers and see if you can get search and open locks up to 4 ranks. For better or worse, those are 2 of the skills that the rest of us are going to rely on you to be the best at.

4) It may be worth looking at lowering wis or chr by 2 points in order to raise dex to 15. In the short-term this looks painful, but what it means is that at 4th level you'll be able to raise it to 16, which will help your ranged attack, as well as most of your skills.

5) Finally, as I said before I'm not a big fan of the skill-enhancing feats, though stealthy is probably the best of them for your character. I'd still recommend looking at something else, maybe blind-fighting.

Ok, I'm done. Hope you're not too upset with me. ::tongue

[ezekiel]

Why would I be upset?

1) I wouldn't waste putting 1 point into skills unless they are 'trained only' types (ie. bluff, climb, etc). Unless Prof is planning on changing the rules, having points in a skill is not a necessity to use it (if it's not 'trained only'), and if you're only putting 1 point in it, it obviously means it's not too important to you anyway. Those points could probably better be used to address points 2&3.

ack, ze pain! ze pain!

2) This is for everyone. If they are in-class skills, I recommend everyone maxing out spot and listen. In D20, these are the two skills that will determine whether you're surprised in most situations.. If you haven't read the surprise rules yet, that basically means that your opponent gets a free action on you, and you are flat-footed during that time. This is very bad.

Yeah, I maxed listen but didn't have the points for spot...I could remove points from climb and bluff...snif Is disguise trained? Will someone else be taking it? I don't need it if someone else does the makeup, wig, uniform, etc. What about escape artist? That'd be 3 pts with only another to scrounge up somewhere

3) I'd also see if it's possible to crunch the numbers and see if you can get search and open locks up to 4 ranks. For better or worse, those are 2 of the skills that the rest of us are going to rely on you to be the best at.

They're both at 3 for + 5. The thing with open locks is that it just opens mechanical locks and I need to take 20 to open most stuff anyway. I mean sheez, a suitcase lock takes 20 to open ::sarcasm I could lower demolitions by 2 (leaving it at 1) to raise them, I guess..I think my character will be carrying a lock-gun...

4) It may be worth looking at lowering wis or chr by 2 points in order to raise dex to 15. In the short-term this looks painful, but what it means is that at 4th level you'll be able to raise it to 16, which will help your ranged attack, as well as most of your skills.

I could lower wis but that affects spot and listen checks. Oh well...snif...I need the charisma for the Hard Eyed feat. (and for the character's curves, of course.. ::blush ::wink )

5) Finally, as I said before I'm not a big fan of the skill-enhancing feats, though stealthy is probably the best of them for your character. I'd still recommend looking at something else, maybe blind-fighting.

This I think I'm keeping though. If the character is caught then the mission is most likely compromised. It takes two levels and 8 skill points to compensate for this. Blind fighting doesn't seem too useful to me, after all, aren't we all going to be wearing optically enhanced contact lenses? But actually I mean that she isn't much of a fighter...

[Prince of Boredom]

Yeah, I maxed listen but didn't have the points for spot...I could remove points from climb and bluff...snif Is disguise trained? Will someone else be taking it? I don't need it if someone else does the makeup, wig, uniform, etc. What about escape artist? That'd be 3 pts with only another to scrounge up somewhere

Ok, just went through and checked, and these are the skills you've put 1 point in that are NOT 'Trained Only':

Bluff, Climb, Disguise, Escape Artist.

Also, I'm wondering if you really need computer use. Having 2 points in it means that you're using 4 of your skill points (as cross class skills cost double). I understand the idea that you may have to hack into somewhere... but maybe an alternate team concept is that either the Scholar or Investigator (both have computer use as a class skill) act as the computer genius, and your character sneaks in to a secure location to implant a device giving them access to the computer network. Maybe not as sexy for your character, but spreads the wealth some and frees up some skill points. The same could be said for Knowledge: Technology.

Also, you mentioned lowering demolitions to 1. I think that's not a bad idea. It means you'll still be able to recognize them when you see them, but your character shouldn't have to disarm them because she's so acrobatic ::wink .

With all of these free points now ::tongue , you should be able to max out spot and possibly beef up open locks and search. Also, based on your character concept, you may actually want to keep bluff, and actually beef it up, or maybe look at diplomacy.

Whaddya think>

[ezekiel]

ack, ze pain!, ze pain!

or is that ze plane?

Anyway, I changed lotsa stuff on the sheet including getting (sigh) rid of (ack) computer use (groan). Figured she'd never have the skill to disable security anyway, so yeah, the scholar will be much more important now. Basically the character is now much more of a tool for the other characters...I imagine with the entertainer encouraging her as team leader, the scholar disabling security and hacking through stuff through whatever interface my character connects to the target computer, etc. the investigator giving advice and the warrior pulling her out when the shlt hits the fan (and it will).

I took intimidate as my third cool customer skill for those "drop the gun and you'll live" moments. I'm still playing with the idea of taking tumble though...

[brilyn]

the scholar will be much more important now. 

Um..... thanks? ::tongue

[ezekiel]

k, wrote a background and opted for Tumble instead of intimidate as a cool customer skill. Better in the long run I think and it means she can always soft land/ignore the first 10ft of a fall.

Basically she's an islamic russian gymnast turned special ops. Specifically FSB Alfa unit: http://www.sambofrance.org/documents/alfa.html

Character:

http://www.dndonlinegames.com/view.php?id=4439

Note: she speaks Arabic, Russian and English.

[Prince of Boredom]

Ok, here's my guy updated http://www.dndonlinegames.com/view.php?id=4243. I decided to go the Medium armor route as Prof recommended, under the assumption that we may have to go toe-to-toe with nova's on occasion. Plan to take burst fire at 2nd level.

Still working on a background.

Prof, when do you want us to request equipment, now or when the game starts?

[Damanor]

Heritage:

Um, okay. I think I'm gonna be a bit of a smeghead and withdraw from the Directive game before I even start

Since nobody else expressed interest in playing the German investigator since Heritage dropped out, I think I'll give it a shot.

I'll get to work on my character over the next few days, and post something shortly.

Maybe I'll give my character a non-intelligence background, like an investigative reporter who was recruited by the Directive because of language skills. It gives me a cover identity and an excuse to be in all sorts of places. ::sly Any thoughts or suggestions?

[Damanor]

Okay, I have a tentative plan for my character posted here:

http://dndonlinegames.com/testvb/view.php?id=4822

Basically, Karl Schmidt (or Carl Smith, his newspaper byline) was recruited by the Directive for his talents as an investigative reporter. He maintains a cover identity as a reporter for the International N!quisitor, a tabloid branch of the N! network.

Abilities: Str 10 Dex 12 Con 10 Int 14 Wis 14 Cha 13

Carl has good skills as an investigator (Spot, Listen, Sense Motive, Gather Info, Search, Investigate and Research) along with a few other skills used in his work (Computer Use and Forgery).

[Prof: Would Craft or Profession fit a newpaper reporter better? Also, is Craft really not a class skill for an Investigator?]

He speaks German, English, Chinese, Persian, and Arabic.

Feats are the automatic ones (Personal Firearms, Cipher, and Persuasive) along with Point Blank Shot and Alertness. I know Alertness is a skill-enhancing feat, but the bonus is to Spot and Listen, two critical skills that fit my character's background. I could get another combat-related feat (Precise Shot or Double Tap) but it wouldn't fit my character's non-intelligence background as well. Still, if you can convince me that there's something more critical to the team, I'll go with that instead.

Anybody have ideas about how to improve him?

[brilyn]

Mirumoto Sume is now viewable at:

http://dndonlinegames.com/testvb/view.php?id=4843

I quite like that site, the char sheets are pretty good.

[Prince of Boredom]

I know Alertness is a skill-enhancing feat, but the bonus is to Spot and Listen, two critical skills that fit my character's background. I could get another combat-related feat (Precise Shot or Double Tap) but it wouldn't fit my character's non-intelligence background as well. Still, if you can convince me that there's something more critical to the team, I'll go with that instead.

Ok, other than my general dislike of the skill-enhancing feats, I still think you might find something better. Spot and listen are generally used in time-critical situations to notice stuff you're not looking for (oftentimes to determine surprise in combat situations). While I think it's very important to max them as much as possible I think spending a feat on them may be a little much. I expect your character might be using a lot of search rather than spot. There is another skill-enhancing feat that I think might be worthwhile for both your character and the party, 'attentive' (+2 investigate and sense motive). I definately see you using these, as they seem to be a very big part of your character concept, and what we'll collectively be expecting from your character.

Also, I'd recommend you and Brilyn deconflicting the skills between your two characters. There seems to be a fair amount of overlap, which maybe is fine, but by minimizing it we might be able to better expand our team skillset. Just a thought.

[brilyn]

There seems to be a fair amount of overlap, which maybe is fine, but by minimizing it we might be able to better expand our team skillset.

I consider Redundancy to be quite important. Especially in skills that are 'trained only'. I'd consider having only 1 char who can Heal or Repair or defuse a bomb to be a mistake.

Regardless, in D20 it's quite easy to reprioiritise skills at the next level.

[Damanor]

Okay, I've made a few changes. I switched the feat to Attentive, since as Prince of Boredom pointed out it fits my character concept better.

I also dropped Research (which can be done untrained) in favor of some knowledge skills that Mirumoto doesn't have that are class skills for me.

http://dndonlinegames.com/testvb/view.php?id=4822

I still wonder about Craft not being listed as a class skill for an Investigator. ::confused

Thanks for your help on this, guys. I really don't know the D20 system that well, so your assistance is greatly appreciated.

[ezekiel]

Dunno if you've thought of a background yet...but I think your character should know spanish. N! reporter should definitely know spanish more than Persian, many novas in latin america and let's not forget Ibiza.

This depends on your background though, I guess. I thought my character would have some Chechnyan relations, dunno about you.

[Damanor]

I'm thinking Karl minored in Linguistics (majoring in journalism), or picked up Persian while working as a foreign correspondent, before he was picked up by N! If nobody else (i.e. Malkboy) is going to learn romance languages, I can switch the skill point to that language family instead.

[Nullifier]

Um. I'm not in this game, and I normally wouldn't post here, but isn't Persian a dead language? I mean, isn't Iran where Persia used to be, and don't the people there speak Arabic? Just a thought...

[Prince of Boredom]

No, people in Iran speak Persian (also called Farsi). The only Arabic they speak or read is the Koran.

[Damanor]

Nullifier:  Um. I'm not in this game, and I normally wouldn't post here, but isn't Persian a dead language? I mean, isn't Iran where Persia used to be, and don't the people there speak Arabic? Just a thought...

According to http://www.farsinet.com/farsi/, "Persian Language, also known as Farsi, is the most widely spoken member of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, a subfamily of the Indo-European languages. It is the language of Iran (formerly Persia) and is also widely spoken in Afghanistan and, in an archaic form, in Tajikistan and the Pamir Mountain region...."

"Total numbers of speakers is high: over 30 million Farsi speakers (about 50% of Iran's population); over 7 million Dari Persian speakers in Afghanistan (25% of the population); and about 2 million Dari Persian speakers in Pakistan."

The Persian language family is still in use, it's just not something Americans like me usually know. Karl Schmidt, a linguist with an interest in Middle-East cultures, would be familiar with it.

[Nullifier]

Huh. Interesting. ::blink ::biggrin