Alternate Explorer Core Ability.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Based on a recent thread about Explorers and their core ability Contact I got to thinking: suppose, for whatever reason, the GM or a player doesn't want to bother with Contacts.  Most of the game doesn't suffer, but the Explorer's core ability is a sticky point.  You could just not play Explorer at first level, but that feels like a kludge.  I'm thinking it might be nice if we could come up with an alternative for those times when it would be useful.


My idea is to grant the Explorer a magic item, since the idea that they started their career with a find or given some heirloom that inspired them to go off and see the world is a cool one.

Lucky Find: You gain an additional magic item with a Reputation value of 30 or less that does not count against the number of Prizes you may keep.

I don't know where else to take it.  Is that enough?  (No feat grants a magic item, so it seems at least a little potent.)  Do I need to give more?  I kind of can't think of what sort of unique extra ability it could have.


Of course this is just my proposal (based on a character I play in a freeform game).  If anyone else has other ideas I'd love to hear them.

[Mister Andersen]

Eh, just give 'em Safe House instead.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

That's in interesting idea.  But it's not terribly unique as-is.  Most other core abilities that give you feats give you something extra in addition.  True, they seem to be feats with no prerequisites.  But it seems against the design philosophy to give something that anyone else could take.

[Mister Andersen]

You are joking, right? Feat-based core abiities are precious gems, those that allow you to skip prereqs even more so. Assuming a +0 Charisma mod (or, alternatively, that the character is dumping their Lifestyle into Prudence), you'd have to be a minimum of level 5 as an Explorer to be able to buy the feat (so in the ordinary course fo play, effectively level 6).

If you've got to butch it up, something like "Also, once per adventure you may spend 1d6 hours and 1 action die to use this ability regardless of the local population" or "You may benefit from this feat an additional number of times per adventure equal to the Chance feats you possess (min 1)" would probably work a treat

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

You are joking, right?

I did write a post noting that I wasn't sure.  It's just ultimately no core ability can be bought as a feat: there's a reason for choosing them at the start.

[Krensky]

30 rep is a pretty beefy magic item. I'd recomend just looking at the core ability more along the lines of the SC2.0 one. You basically have Schrodinger's Contact. Spend an action die and some time and you find the contact with the right abilities, info, whatever whereever you are.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

30 rep is a pretty beefy magic item.

I was basing it on the Extra Contact and Extra Holding feats which grant 30 Rep.

I'd recomend just looking at the core ability more along the lines of the SC2.0 one.

I don't have SC2.0.

You basically have Schrodinger's Contact. Spend an action die and some time and you find the contact with the right abilities, info, whatever whereever you are.

Which isn't granted by any feat.  So whatever alternate core abilities we come up with must do that same.

[paddyfool]

The pivotal explorer-type characters do tend to have a real knack for finding Macguffins, but they tend not to start out with them (or if they do, they tend not to know they are).  Some kind of "pay an action die to spend 1d3 rounds finding/unlocking the power of a 30 rep item 1/Adventure; the item or its power goes away at the end of the scene" could fit the bill.  Not sure how playable it would be, though, and it could really be abused (since, for instance, it allows you access to any spell in the game).  Maybe if you had to declare its powers before the mission itself, but still only got it, or its powers, for 1 scene.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Not sure how playable it would be, though, and it could really be abused (since, for instance, it allows you access to any spell in the game).

Hm, that's sound great!  Maybe lower the amount of Rep that can be unlocked, limit how many different abilities can be unlocked (say at most two so you're not getting that many spells), and further require gained abilities to conform to a concept (e.g. spells might be limited to one Discipline, or it's it's something like a spellbook maybe it can only gain spell uses).

Here's what I've got so far:

Luck Find: You gain a magic item the powers of which are unknown to you.  Once per Adventure you may pay an Action Die to spend 1d3 rounds unlocking no more than two magic item abilities totaling no more than 10 Reputation.  These powers go away at the end of the scene.

Sounds useful yet not overpowered.  And it's unique.  Certainly it needs playtesting, but what do people think so far?


Let's just write up Mister Anderson's Safe House suggestion:

Haven: You gain the Safe House feat.  Also, once per adventure you may spend 1d6 hours and 1 action die to use this ability regardless of the local population.