Sunday, December 19, 2010

Savage Worlds Characters Are All The Same: Veterans

This is coming a bit later than I had hoped...but here we are: Let's make The Cast Veterans.

DON'T HIT ME

1st: Improved Dodge. Stick and move, brotha.
2nd: Improved Block. Yes...I just made his Parry an 11.
3rd: Agility d10. This gives him an extra edge on Agility Tricks.
4th: Fighting d10 and Taunt d8. Oops...now I have to completely recalculate his Parry.


DON'T HIT ME

Agility d10
Smarts d8
Spirit d6
Strength d6
Vigor d6

Fighting d10
Guts d6
Intimidation d6
Investigation d6
Notice d6
Taunt d8
Throwing d6

Charisma: 0
Pace: 6"
Parry: 7
Toughness: 4

Hindrances
Small (-1 Toughness)
Loyal
Bad Luck (1 less bennie per session)

Edges
Acrobat (+2 to nimbleness based Agility rolls, +1 to Parry)
Block (+1 to Parry)
  Improved Block (+2 to Parry)
Danger Sense (Free Notice roll at -2 to avoid attack)
Dodge (-1 to avoid being hit with ranged attacks)
  Improved Dodge (-2 to avoid being hit with ranged attacks)
First Strike (free attack when opponent gets into range)
Level Headed (Acts on the better of two cards)
Quick (redraw an initiatve card less than 5)
Strong Willed (+2 to Taunt/Intimidate)

Rapier (+1 Parry, for a 11), Damage d6+d4, Buckler Shield (+1 Parry, for a 12), Throwing Knife Damage d6+d4

HULK SMASH

1st: Fighting d10. Again, he needs it for certain combat maneuvers. Maneuvers like...
2nd: Charge. From Shaintar...now he can run and make a Fighting attack without penalty.
3rd: Vigor d12. It fits the concept.
4th: Mighty Blow. If he gets a Joker, he gets double damage. Yes, on d12+d10. And if gets a Joker and he's within running distance (Pace 8 + d10 + 2 for the Joker) of a more suitable target, ouch. Given the ground that he can cover in a round, I think it is WELL worth the investment.


HULK SMASH
Agility d6
Smarts d4
Spirit d4
Strength d12
Vigor d12

Climbing d4
Fighting d10
Guts d8
Intimidate d8
Survival d4
Tracking d4

Charisma: -4
Pace: 8"
Parry: 7
Toughness: 9

Hindrances
Ugly
Overconfident
Mean

Edges
Adaptable: Barbaric Blood (spend a benny to trigger Berserk)
Berserk (Smarts roll upon being wounded, or go Berkserk, +2 Fighting/Strength rolls, -2 Parry, +2 Toughness, rolls of 1 hit random adjacent target)
Brawny (+1 Toughness)
Charge (ignore Running penalty when making a Fighting attack)
Combat Reflexes (+2 to become unShaken)
Fleet-Footed (Pace +2, d10 Running die)
Might Blow (double damage on a Joker)
Sweep (attack all adjacent foes at -2)

Great Axe (Armor Piercing 1, Parry -1 for 6), Damage d12+d10, Chain Hauberk (Armor +2, for Toughness 11)

SNIPER

1st: Double Shot. From Shaintar (a freaking goldmine of material), SNIPER can notch and fire two arrows at once, with a -2 penalty.
2nd: Archer. Also from Shaintar, this reduces all Called Shot, Range and Cover penalties by 1.
3rd: Fighting d6 and Survival d6.
4th: Fighting d8 and Survival d8. Yep, I skipped an attribute increase. Honestly, he doesn't NEED it.


SNIPER
Agility d8
Smarts d8
Spirit d6
Strength d6
Vigor d6

Climbing d4
Fighting d8
Notice d6
Riding d4
Shooting d10
Stealth d8
Survival d8
Throwing d6
Tracking d8

Charisma: 0
Pace: 6
Parry: 6
Toughness: 5

Hindrances
Cautious
Wanted
Yellow

Edges
Alertness
Archer (Called Shot, Range and Cover Penalties are reduced by 1)
Dark Fighting (Halves penalties for Shooting in the dark)
Dead Shot (Double damage on ranged attacks when a Joker is drawn)
Double Shot (Fire two arrows at 1 target with -2 penalty)
Marksman (Free Aim action as long as he doesn't move)
Steady Hands (removes unstable platform penalties)
Trademark Weapon (longbow, +1 to Shooting rolls)

Longbow 2d6 damage, Leather armor (+1 for Toughness 6)

MR. WIZARD

1st: New Power (Dispel). By this point, we assume they've ran across a couple of other spellcasters.
2nd: Power Points
3rd: Streetwise and Investigation d6.
4th: New Power (Obscure). This one can get crazy if he plans things out with Sniper.


MR. WIZARD
Agility d8
Smarts d8
Spirit d8
Strength d4
Vigor d6

Charisma: +2
Pace: 4
Parry: 4
Toughness: 5
Power Points: 25

Gambling d6
Guts d6
Investigation d6
Knowledge (Arcana) d8
Lockpicking d6
Notice d4
Persuasion d6
Shooting: d4
Spellcasting d8
Streetwise d6

Hindrances
Bad Eyes
Lame
Poverty

Edges
Arcane Background: (Magic)
Attractive
Connections
Power Points (+5 Power Points) (x3)
Wizard (use 1 less Power Point per raise on Spellcasting roll)

Powers
Boost/Lower Trait
Deflection
Detect/Conceal Arcana
Dispel
Obscure

Crossbow, nice clothes (fraying around the edges), cane.

FEARLESS LEADER

1st: Spirit d10.
2nd: Knowledge (Battle) d8 and Persuasion d10.
3rd: Fervor. This gives any troops he has a +1 to their melee damage.
4th: Fighting d6 and Intimidation d10. He's starting to come into his own as a competent fighter, but he's even more adept at ending fighting before they begin.


FEARLESS LEADER
Agility d6
Smarts d8
Spirit d10
Strength d6
Vigor d6

Charisma: +4
Pace: 6
Parry: 5
Toughness: 5

Fighting d6
Guts d8
Intimidation d10
Knowledge (Battle) d8
Persuasion d10
Streetwise d8
Survival d4

Hindrances
Code of Honor
Doubting Thomas
Stubborn

Edges
Charismatic
Command (+1 to his troops for Shaken rolls)
Common Bond (share bennies with other Wild Cards)
Fervor (+1 to melee damage for troops)
Hold the Line! (+1 Toughness for Troops)
Inspire (additional +1 for troops to become unShaken)
Lucky
Natural Leader (share bennies with troops)
Noble

Shortsword d6+d6, Plate (+3 Armor for 8 Toughness), Hirelings


THOUGHTS

DON'T HIT ME still has a few more options left to completely optimize him in his role. His Parry is disgusting right now, and it's only going to get worse.

HULK SMASH is REALLY coming into his own, I think, as an engine of destruction. He does still have vulnerabilities, yes, especially to Tricks and becoming unShaken, but Charge lets him move around the battlefield almost at will (especially since there is no "straight line" requirement on the Edge), and even though he's hit Fighting d10 alongside DON'T HIT ME, they really are worlds apart on their round for round interactions.

SNIPER has developed some really cool options, and is getting lined up for a couple of Professional Edges as he reaches Heroic.

MR. WIZARD expands his magical repertoire, and has worked out a nice combo with SNIPER, using Obscure on enemies to give them penalties and counting on SNIPER's crack shots to take them out.

FEARLESS LEADER is going to have to spend Heroic Rank developing himself now, as he's got all of the default Leadership Edges now. The group is getting into good position for winding up in mass combat scenarios as well, which are more likely the higher in Rank they develop.

Any thoughts? Does Savage Worlds have sufficient advancement options to appease you thus far?

2 comments:

  1. I think saying Savage Worlds doesn't have enough character development options is like saying the same of GURPS. Yeah, the Core Book gets you running but leaves you wanting a little bit....but from there you have more than enough to build off of, plenty of genre toolkits to work with and a metric crap-ton of fan support.

    If you don't like the dice mechanic, that's cool, I can see where it puts some off. But, man, you could use the "all characters mechanically the same" argument with almost any game that tries to center itself around a core mechanic. As always, guys who want to argue that stuff leave me wondering if they even bother with the ROLE playing aspect at all, or if they just like crunching numbers and belittling others.

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  2. The only other thing I can figure is that guys are literally just using the core rulebook...which is almost never meant to be used completely by itself.

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