Some new advantages and guidelines to follow on making advantages.
Also of interest is the Clarifications page which explains why certain (dis)advantages are priced the way they are.
Occasionally, an advantage will contain more than one bonus. Such an advantage could be described as a "bundle". Here are some guidelines when (and when not) and how (and how not) to make a bundle. These guidelines on bundling also apply to disadvantages.
Bundling should be used to assemble two more very similar bonus/negative game effects into one advantage/disadvantage only when they effects are logically related and small enough to not justify beinv carved into their own individual advantages. (Example: Voice -- you get reaction bonuses and skill bonuses, but they both come from the same source. Other example: Overconfidence -- character must roleplay in an over confident manner and has reaction modifiers.)
Some bundling is done into larger packages like Cultural Adaptability, the reasoning behind which, as outlined in CI, similar advantages --- even big ones --- go together and when purchased "in bulk" should get a small discount. (CI also has a "fearless leader" example of this.)
Combat Reflexes is an example of such bundlage, but it receives a MAJOR discount to reflect the fact that most heroic characters are expected to be experienced in combat. (If you add it up, active defense bonuses (20+), fright check bonuses (4), mental shock recover bonus/initiative bonus (probably 5), Fast Draw bonus (1), it's at LEAST a 30 point advantage.
Some new advantages. Most of these are by Jared Whitley, a few are by Mark Whitley. Some of these are a work-in-progress. These could all probably be categorized a little better.
Character has the tendency to find information. +3 to reaction rolls for information purposes. Excellent when combined with Curiousity.
My model for this was pitiable. +3 to requests for help.
+3 reaction rolls for combat situations. People will generally not want to fight when this character is around. Applies to animals ONLY if character has animal empathy.
+3 to reaction rolls for transactions.
I think those are the different reaction types. I'll double-check and finish up the specifics and type em all pretty like.
This is an add-on to the existing Common Sense advantage. Because any players with common sense enough to get Common Sense would not need it, we decided to make the (otherwise) useless advantage a little useful.
Common Sense can serve as a limited omniscience ability to get ideas from the GM. Once per hour of game play, players may request advice, information, suggestions, and so forth. Make an IQ roll. Depending on the success, the GM offers the character some insight. If players do not invoke Common Sense after an hour but need advice from the GM, the GM may decide, "Okay, now you're using your Common Sense. Go take the jade eagle from the mummy's hands." Think of this as a slightly lesser form of Danger Sense or Intuition.
Using these rules, Common Sense will still work in its normal ``Are you sure you want to do that?'' fashion.
Enhanced Chi gives +1 per level (to a maximum of 4 levels) to IQ (and Will) for the purpose of calculating Esoteric Skills with the Trained by a Master prerequisite (and any others with a justifiably Eastern flair, such as Meditation). For the higher 8 points/level version, Enhanced Chi applies to all attributes for Esoteric Skill purposes. (The justification for this is that the vast majority of Esoteric Skills are Mental, not Physical.)
This advantage allows a martial artist to have decent starting Esoteric Skill ratings without becoming a genius first. Characters don't need to have been Trained by a Master in order to start with this advantage; should they later become so trained, however, it will benefit them greatly. Such a character is, like Luke Skywalker in Episode IV, ``strong in the Force'' but not trained in its use.
Characters with Guile are possessed of particular cunning, deviousness, and business acumen. A useful advantage which allows people who are necessarily more intelligent than their competitors to outwit them. This advantage is to the ``seedier'' Social skills what Voice is to the ``high falootin'' ones. It provides +2 to Strategy, Tactics, Merchant, Streetwise, Gambling, Criminology, and Fast Talk. Whereas Voice provides a +2 reaction roll to those who hear the person's voice, Guile provides +2 to IQ for attempts to pull ``Dirty Tricks'' in combat (see B123).
Examples of characters with this advantage are Quark, Riker, Captain Kirk, Bart Simpson, and Klinger.
Once per adventure player may ignore a ``good'' disadvantage such as Truthfulness, Honesty, Duty, Sense of Duty, Code of Honor, etc. Jim Kirk has this. Characters receive no character point penalties for ``ignoring'' their disadvantages thusly; they've already paid for it.
Once per adventure, player may automatically succeed at a disadvantage-related Will roll, such as Lechery, Addiction, Compulsive (blank), Obsession, Gluttony, Greed, etc. Quark has this. Characters receive no character point penalties for ``ignoring'' their disadvantages thusly; they've already paid for it.
Should people think the above two too expensive (or too cheap) they can take disadvantages and simply assign them a lower cost as per the Limitations rules.
A character with a Poker Face is born with or has trained himself to conceal his emotions from others. Poker Face serves its parent advantage Guile well, but would function well alone too. Poker Face imbues a +1 critical success threshold to the Guile skills and Diplomacy and +2 to Gambling.
Example: Percival Blakely has Gambling at 14. Not bad, but he'll only get a critical success on 4 or lower (less than a one percent chance of that happening). With Poker Face, that gets kicked up to 6: a 10 percent chance of a critical success (though his skill level remains at 14).
Characters with Poker Face, having ``practiced in the mirror'' to conceal their emotions defend better against use of Empathy, Detect Lies, Body Language, and Psychology. Opponents attempt to gauge a Poker Face's emotions thusly is at -2 on the roll. James Kirk and William Riker are the best examples of someone with Poker Face. Characters may ``buy'' Poker Face after character generation if they have Gambling at IQ+2.
Should a player desire this advantage for his character, but doesn't necessarily want the character to have the devil-may-care tint Poker Face implies, he may change the name to ``Unreadable'' or some such thing. And then he can go play Werewolf the Apocalypse.
Spezzeturra is the Italian term used in Renaissance times to describe wit, grace, charisma, charm, and--above all, spontaneity. Use of Spezzeturra can be potentially very potent but also potentially very embarrassing, given the social setting. For the following skills: Acting, Appreciate Beauty, Bard, Diplomacy, Performance, Savoir-Faire, Singing and Politics.
Spezzeturra will allow critical successes for every roll made at IQ default level or below. However, any roll above the character's IQ will count as a critical failure. Rolls between the default and the IQ are normal failures. While a character may invest points in any of the above skills, he must declare a Spezzeturra attempt beforehand and roll at default level.
Spezzeturra rolls may not be corrected by Luck re-rolls (though they can by Winning Smile). Voice and Cultural Adaptability modifiers apply to the above skills. Savoir-Faire bonuses from high status, however, do not (take it at default; sorry). Players may apply Spezzeturra powers to Diplomacy or Savoir-Faire for reaction check modifiers, but receive no positive modifiers for such rolls (i.e. from looks, status, reputation, and so forth). Charisma does not modify any of the above skills unless specifically noted in that skill's description (i.e. Bard B47).
Example: Celeste the Courtesan has IQ 13, Voice, Diplomacy at 14, and Spezzeturra. She may make a normal Diplomacy roll at 14, or choose to take the default (IQ -6 + Voice) at 9 with Spezzeturra bonuses. A 9 or lower will result in a critical success, 10 to 13 a normal failure, and 14 or higher a critical failure.
When a 3 or 18 is rolled on a Spezzeturra roll, GMs are free to bestow +1 or -1 reputations which apply to the character's social class, to represent an act of genuinely impressive or horrendous Spezzeturra. Arete italics rules apply likewise to Spezzeturra. Examples of people with this advantage are Oscar Wilde, Lord Julius (from Cerebus), and Winston Churchill.
You have an unusually tough neck, due to either your cartiledge, muscle or skin (probably muscle). You get +4 to HT when resisting a choke.
Your elbows, knees, wrists, and ankles all bend past the 180 degree mark. This makes it very difficult for someone to put any kind of arm / knee / wrist bar on you. +4 to HT to resist these manuvers.
This is the "Weaponless" version of 'Weapon Master'. Extra attacks etc. as per 'Weapon Master', but only when using barehand combat skills (Brawling, Karate, Judo, etc.)
One thing that also seems to be missing is rules for animal allies (which seem cooler than human allies). Have you seen anything like that? You COULD calculate it according the ally rules and figure out the point cost for an animal...but it's just, well, a different animal.
Bottom line: Lotsa work needs to be done here. Maybe the Bestiary supplement would have something on this.
Good example of someone with this advantage: Beastmaster.
You are unusually nimble and quick. You get +1 to all quick contests of DX. Anytime there is an initiative tie in the move sequence (say, two players both have a move of 6) you automatically go first! (If two characters have Spry, compare Basic Speed per normal tie resolution.) Also, when making an extra-effort Dodge, you do not need to roll vs DX to see if you can do it, you can automatically roll DX-Fagigue to Dodge!