I've bought EP a while ago, shortly after it was released, but after reading the core book I put it aside for a while. The character creation system seemed pretty intimidating.
I've been getting more into the setting lately, so I decided to take the system out for a spin. Here's the result of my efforts. It's Cerebellum (aka "Pinky"), a happy-go-lucky freerunning AGI in a heavily customized worker pod. She has a shady past as an "assassin droid" or sorts, which has been edited away by [i]someone[/i]. The skills are still all there, though, which is why Firewall recruited her. In missions, she's often partnered with Cortex (aka "The Brain"), another AGI who's pretty much the opposite of her: a genderless infomorph with no sense of humor who specializes in computer and cyberbrain intrusion. Its character sheet might be incoming in the future, as further practice, if I get this one right.
Is Pinky here effective at her purported role of movement/close combat specialist? Am I missing something glaringly obvious? I confess character creation is a bit of a slog for me at the moment, so it's likely I missed something.
[code]
* Cerebellum (Eclipse Phase)
** Background: Infolife
Advantages: +30 Interfacing, Computer skills (Infosec, Interfacing,
Programming, Research) bought with CP are half price.
Disadvantages: Real World Naiveté
** Faction: Scum
Advantages: +10 Freefall, +10 Freerunning, +20 Networking: Autonomists
** Morph: Worker Pod
Advantages: +10 SOM, +5 COO
** Aptitudes
Cognition 10
Coordination 20 (25)
Intuition 15
Reflexes 20 (30)
Savvy 10
Somatics 20 (30)
Willpower 15
** Stats
Moxie 5
Durability 35
Wound Threshold 7
Lucidity 30
Trauma Threshold 6
Insanity Threshold 60
Damage Bonus 3
Speed 3
** Rep
(a)-Rep 40
i-Rep 20
f-Rep 10
** Skills
Art: Dance 75
Fray 80 (90)
Free Fall 80 (90)
Freerunning 80 (90)
Infiltration 60 (65)
Infosec/Security 50/60
Interest: Parkour 40
Interest: Popular Music 45
Interfacing 50
Kinesics 50
Kinetic Weapons 65 (70)
Language: English (Native) 80
Language: Portuguese 45
Networking: Autonomists 40
Networking: Firewall 40
Perception 60
Pilot: Aircraft 40 (50)
Pilot: Ground Craft 40 (50)
Profession: Security Ops 55
Profession: Underground Athlete 45
Unarmed Combat 70 (80)
** Positive Traits
Limber 2
Situational Awareness: never surprised!
** Negative Traits
Edited Memories
Real World Naiveté (from Infolife background)
Social Stigma (Pod) (from morph)
** Implants
Basic Biomods
Basic Mesh Inserts
Cortical Stack
Cyberbrain
Mnemonic Augmentation
Direction Sense
Enhanced Hearing
Enhanced Smell
Enhanced Vision
Bioweave Armor
Enhanced Respiration
T-Ray Emmitter
Cyberclaws
Neurachem 1
Reflex Boosters
** Gear
Body Armor (Light) (Total Armor 12/13)
Micrograv Shoes
Light Gauss Pistol w/ Reactive Ammo
2750 credits
** Attacks
Pistol (70): AP -5, 2d10+4, SA/BF/FA
Claws (80): AP -2, 1d10+6
Unarmed (80): AP 0, 1d10+3
[/code]
Welcome! These forums will be deactivated by the end of this year. The conversation continues in a new morph over on Discord! Please join us there for a more active conversation and the occasional opportunity to ask developers questions directly! Go to the PS+ Discord Server.
Character Generation: Am I doing this right?
Mon, 2011-09-05 10:29
#1
Bira
Character Generation: Am I doing this right?
Tue, 2011-09-06 05:44
#2
Xagroth
Re: Character Generation: Am I doing this right?
When I make a new character I usually do it with an excel sheet I custom-fill (mostly because of the adding formulas, and to keep track of how much points I have left, and how much I spent in what).
I'd say it has a little too much moxie, I'm not sure if the Gauss pistol was able to use that ammo (I think it was limited to only normal and perforating) and I think the shredder is better for short range (specially in full auto), the neurachem 1+reflex booster is quite the usual combo for a combatant, I would raise a little more the reputation values, and I would buy one of the implants that gives more durability and trauma threshold. Oh, and look into the errata/3rd printing of the corebook: you can buy an increment of +10 to the limit to one of the morph's aptitudes (and/or another +10 to the ego's), and that might be usefull.
I'd use a olympian instead of a worker pod, however, or even better a steel synthmorph (masked, for example).
Tue, 2011-09-06 07:12
#3
Bira
Re: Character Generation: Am I doing this right?
I went with a text editor and a calculator, but if the excel spreadsheet can run well in OpenOffice, I'll try that next time around.
I wasn't sure an AGI could sleeve into a biomorph, at least not in character creation. I'll check on the Gauss pistol, thanks.
I do have the 3rd printing of the core book, but that's all I have for the moment. Where are the rules you mentioned? Also, where is the Steel morph listed?
—
Bira
http://compexplicita.tumblr.com
Tue, 2011-09-06 14:01
#4
MirrorField
Re: Character Generation: Am I doing this right?
Steel Morph can be found at Sunward Page 163.
Tue, 2011-09-06 16:09
#5
LostProxy
Re: Character Generation: Am I doing this right?
Everything seems to be right. But as for the build itself if you're going to be a CQC specialist nothing beats the shredder at close range. +1d10 for close up and then full auto them into oblivion. Melee combat is pretty weak. I mean you need it so you don't get the crap punched out of you the few times you won't have a weapon but generally it's pretty weak. Your best shot is disarming someone and then using a real weapon to actually do damage.
As for the for comment about having too much moxie that's bullocks. That's like saying I have too much money or my harem is too big. You can't have too much moxie for what it provides. Heck my gunslinger had 7 and I used every last one.
Tue, 2011-09-06 16:36
#6
UnitOmega
Re: Character Generation: Am I doing this right?
Okay, not that I want to totally derail this topic, but why do I always hear about melee being weak? Are my players just lucky, or something, because they are consistently terrifying at CQC. Sure, a spray weapon like a Shredder or a Torch has a higher damage cap, but these guys can mob up enemies in very short order with just Blades and even Unarmed. Plus, there is a penalty (-20 IIRC) for firing into Melee, which I'm pretty sure includes you own melee.
To be on topic, There is a slight error, because if you're using a Rail pistol, it can't fire ammo types other than Regular or Armor-Piercing.
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H-Rep: An EP Homebrew Blog
http://ephrep.blogspot.com/
Tue, 2011-09-06 17:19
#7
LostProxy
Re: Character Generation: Am I doing this right?
It's considered weak because of damage comparison. It's not hard to have decent armor on you all the time. Somewhere in the 10/10 range or so. Lets say someone catches you off guard with a sword and hits decently (20 damage.) That becomes 12 because of the armor. You're hurt but alive. A shredder will have +1d10 for up close and +3d10 for fullauto. If you want to be sure it hits then switch it to they get a -30 to dodge. Unless they have 70+ in fray they auto lose this roll. So now it's 3d10 + 5 (I think), -10 AP (away from book so this is all from memory.) Now this is all under the assumption that they just don't hedge their bets and hit you with 6d10 + 5 which will more then likely put you down from a lot of wounds at once. As for the -20 what guns don't come with a smartlink? Add that to the Taking Aim action and you're back to square one which on an average combat focused character should be 60-70.
I'm not sure how your players are clearing rooms so fast. Do you give the bad guys decent armor? In a subtle setting it's not hard to stack anywhere between 10-15. In actually combat it should be around 20-30. I don't see how guns are losing. Maybe your mooks are weaker then ours?
Tue, 2011-09-06 18:41
#8
UnitOmega
Re: Character Generation: Am I doing this right?
There is no way full auto is +3d10, that's more than doubling most weapon's base damage. Holy **** it is. I think I'll just keep that particular fact to myself. They're already good, no point in making it easy.
As for them killing people fast, I think my players are just lucky. They've always been that way. One time I ran a CoC adventure, and one guy, with base SMG skill, wiped out church full of four ghouls with one gun emptying burst of his Tommy Gun. So, they tend to roll well, and get those excellent successes, which is static damage increases, and roll well on damage (Not counting added dice for charges or powered armor). They're lucky in other games, too. I have a constant frustration of designing these supposedly challenging combats, and they end up wiping everybody, in like, a round. Maybe I'm just doing it wrong, I dunno.
—
H-Rep: An EP Homebrew Blog
http://ephrep.blogspot.com/
Tue, 2011-09-06 20:10
#9
LostProxy
Re: Character Generation: Am I doing this right?
The disadvantage of full auto is it burns through ammo really fast. You can only carry so much with you and once that is gone it's kind of hard to get more in the middle of a firefight.
So your players roll really well in fights. Then you make alternate threats. Things that can't be destroyed simply through dice rolls.
Thu, 2011-09-08 16:29
#10
Yerameyahu
Re: Character Generation: Am I doing this right?
Combat is extremely dangerous. It's not really a combat-centric game, and you're immortal: plan accordingly. :)
Mon, 2011-09-12 07:43
#11
Xagroth
Re: Character Generation: Am I doing this right?
Shredder in full auto: it impacts EVERYBODY in a 1 meter sphere. For full auto, decide between getting +30 to the attack or +3d10 to damage. And for the ammo... that monster has a base of 100 projectiles (I think), buy an extended magazine for a +50% ammo capacity, and load it with good ammo (-2 AP, +2 damage), and turn everything to rubble...
As for the excel sheet, I wasn't talking about the ones with everything to make the character, but a new one, fully in blank, where you can note everything you buy and for how much and keeping track of how much you need to spend there.
Wed, 2011-09-14 19:19
#12
thelabmonkey
Re: Character Generation: Am I doing this right?
If you are not using the JMobius character generator sheet, you are doing yourself a disservice. Unless you are doing something seriously outlandish with your character, you can save a lot of time, trouble, and headaches with this: https://sites.google.com/site/eclipsephases/home/cabinet
It's been updated with the latest errata. If I rush, I can do an entire character concept in about 15 minutes. It even has optional gear/implant descriptions in the final output of your character sheet.
Wed, 2011-09-14 20:42
#13
CodeBreaker
Re: Character Generation: Am I doing this right?
You might have me to blame for that, it was going to be +2d10. But just so you are aware, unless you are fighting a heavily armoured opponent, burst fire tends to be the more powerful option. Doubling up ammo bonuses, damage bonuses, and damage in general tends to put you ahead.
Although saying that, that was calculated using the 1d10+10 option, which while on average is equal to +3d10, it might push the bell curve off in places.
(I *may* also be to blame for Plasma Guns being SA. *sheepish grin*)
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