Creating a GURPS Character – Modern, Part 2

A happy and rollicking GURPSDay, folks!

Today I’ll finish off Frederick Price, the Face Man for our PCs’ low-level criminal crew. In part one, I chose Attributes, Advantages, and Disadvantages. All that’s left now is the real meat of any GURPS character– the Skills. I have 26 Character Points (CP) available to spend.

Usually, I divide Skills into four groups: Primary (the things the PC specializes in), Secondary (background and support), Combat (at the very least, for self-defense), and Everyman (things almost every adventurer should know how to do, even if it’s just to track default levels — see this uber-useful forum post by Kromm).

I read through the Skills list on pp. 301-304 and note any skills that fit the character concept or sound fun to play, then add the following to the categories.

For his Primary skills as the negotiator and Face Man:

• Diplomacy
• Fast-Talk
• Streetwise

Some background and Secondary skills:

• Area Knowledge
• Electronics Repair (Security) for disarming alarms and/or vehicle tracking systems. See the excellent “Action 2: Exploits,” p. 23 ( under “Grand Theft Auto”)
• Lockpicking
• Merchant
• Stealth

He’s not really a “front-line fighter,” but he has been in a lot of scraps and won’t hesitate to defend himself with Combat skills:

• Brawling
• Guns (Pistol)
• Knife

And, finally, the Everyman skills:

• Climbing
• Driving
• First Aid
• Gesture
• Holdout
• Scrounging
• Search
• Throwing

There were a few skills I thought about taking but ultimately discarded. It’s very likely I would try to learn these with earned CP as the game plays out:

Acrobatics, Acting, Carousing, Detect Lies, Disguise, Escape, Fast-Draw, Forced Entry, Housekeeping, Lip Reading, Mechanic, Pickpocket, Public Speaking, Shadowing, and Traps.

Assigning my remaining 26 CP to the skills above, Frederick now has a solid list of abilities to work with. I toyed with the idea of removing the Voice advantage and using those 10 CP for Skills instead, but I like the idea of him having a clear, distinctive voice.

These skills and levels should do for a start until he starts earning more CP.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that I know Frederick’s combat skills, I enter his Parry on the sheet (10 is his highest, for Brawling; Knife would be 9, due to the -1 for using a knife to parry). All that remains are some possessions.

The starting wealth for TL8 is $20,000 (p. 27), of which $4,000 can be used for “adventuring gear” (“Starting Wealth,” p. 26). The easiest way to not forget gear you need is to go through the Skill list, meaning Frederick would need, at a minimum, electronic repair tools, lockpicks, a gun, and a knife.

Electronics Repair Tools ($1,200)
Lockpicks ($50)
Auto Pistol, .40 ($640) with an extra mag ($14 each)
Small Knife ($30)

I also spring for some heavy boots (DR 2 for feet, $80) and a leather jacket (DR 1 for torso and arms, $50).

That’s a total of $2,064, leaving $1,922 for “walking around money.”

I add the gear to Frederick's character sheet, and voila — a new GURPS character hits the streets, complete with that “new character smell”!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All he needs now is a little personality.

I hope these posts have shed a little light on GURPS character creation. It’s really not difficult… the biggest challenge is the sheer number of options you have available to make your character exactly the way you want him!

Any tips of your own to share?

 

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