A couple of days ago I had need to create a typical Thieves Guild, so I grabbed the „Guilds“ section of GFC and roamed through more closely than I had before.
There are some issues that I have probably misunderstood.
1) If you create a Novice character according to RQ Deluxe, a “Blacksmith” or “Craftsman” will start with their chosen Craft skill at maximum INT (Craft skill taken with background option)+10(Profession)+30(free points). Average human INT is 13, let’s assume 15, so we end at Craft 55%
2) Apprentices (GFC page 32) end with a Craft skill of INT+20 (capped at half the master’s/employer’s skill). I.e. the assumption is that 10 free points (max) were spent on this particular craft skill.
3) Masters (as defined in GFC page 31) need to have 80+% in their craft (or lore) skill. I.e. at least 55 free points (again assuming the INT15) must have been spent on this skill. To achieve that expertise, you need to create a veteran character (novices may spend maximum 30 free points on a skill, seasoned max 50).
Well, actually, as you also need to have Influence 60+% you’d also need to spend approx. 30-35 free points on Influence leaving you with a mere 10-15 remaining free points to spend on skills like Evaluate, Commerce or Lore (Guild).
4) Officers (as defined in GFC page 31) obviously are also at least veteran level. I’m sort of hand-waiving the creations rules here and just use the general experience level as stated in RQ Deluxe page 191, since I can’t really see how you’d manage to achieve the kind of skill levels demanded with a veteran character (too many advanced skill which would cost a lot of free points).
5) Page 17 of GFC tells you to create INF personalities. Page 18 states that novice characters are at a cost of 0 Affinity points, seasoned cost 1, veteran 2, master 3 and heroic 4.
Now, that would mean that each GFC-Master (who is at least a veteran character) costs 2 Affinity.
Take your average-sized novice guild, SIZ10, with a lot of influence in town (INF20). That guild has 30 Masters and 6 Officers. To buy 36 veteran characters would cost 72 Affinity ! Unfortunately you only have 16.
So… have I delved too deeply into rules mechanism mysteries ? Am I the only one who’s kind of “bothered” about that ? Do you ignore the affinity cost for experienced personalities ? Or what ?
BTW: Association SIZ is obviously capped at 21, all other characteristics appear to be open-ended. At least INF, since the Affinity table on page 7 lists 81+ for SIZ+INF, i.e. INF can obviously go up to at least 60. Still, when creating novice associations I typically cap at 21 (max plus min of 3d6-rolls, just like capping characteristics of races)
BTW2: did anybody ever try to create the kind of blacksmith that is given in GMH page 29 ? That guy has spent more than 600 free points !
BTW3: for the above mentioned Thieves Guild I obviously did not take Craft as the respective skill but rather "typical" thieves' skills (Mechanisms, Streetwise, Sleight, Stealth, , ...)
There are some issues that I have probably misunderstood.
1) If you create a Novice character according to RQ Deluxe, a “Blacksmith” or “Craftsman” will start with their chosen Craft skill at maximum INT (Craft skill taken with background option)+10(Profession)+30(free points). Average human INT is 13, let’s assume 15, so we end at Craft 55%
2) Apprentices (GFC page 32) end with a Craft skill of INT+20 (capped at half the master’s/employer’s skill). I.e. the assumption is that 10 free points (max) were spent on this particular craft skill.
3) Masters (as defined in GFC page 31) need to have 80+% in their craft (or lore) skill. I.e. at least 55 free points (again assuming the INT15) must have been spent on this skill. To achieve that expertise, you need to create a veteran character (novices may spend maximum 30 free points on a skill, seasoned max 50).
Well, actually, as you also need to have Influence 60+% you’d also need to spend approx. 30-35 free points on Influence leaving you with a mere 10-15 remaining free points to spend on skills like Evaluate, Commerce or Lore (Guild).
4) Officers (as defined in GFC page 31) obviously are also at least veteran level. I’m sort of hand-waiving the creations rules here and just use the general experience level as stated in RQ Deluxe page 191, since I can’t really see how you’d manage to achieve the kind of skill levels demanded with a veteran character (too many advanced skill which would cost a lot of free points).
5) Page 17 of GFC tells you to create INF personalities. Page 18 states that novice characters are at a cost of 0 Affinity points, seasoned cost 1, veteran 2, master 3 and heroic 4.
Now, that would mean that each GFC-Master (who is at least a veteran character) costs 2 Affinity.
Take your average-sized novice guild, SIZ10, with a lot of influence in town (INF20). That guild has 30 Masters and 6 Officers. To buy 36 veteran characters would cost 72 Affinity ! Unfortunately you only have 16.
So… have I delved too deeply into rules mechanism mysteries ? Am I the only one who’s kind of “bothered” about that ? Do you ignore the affinity cost for experienced personalities ? Or what ?
BTW: Association SIZ is obviously capped at 21, all other characteristics appear to be open-ended. At least INF, since the Affinity table on page 7 lists 81+ for SIZ+INF, i.e. INF can obviously go up to at least 60. Still, when creating novice associations I typically cap at 21 (max plus min of 3d6-rolls, just like capping characteristics of races)
BTW2: did anybody ever try to create the kind of blacksmith that is given in GMH page 29 ? That guy has spent more than 600 free points !
BTW3: for the above mentioned Thieves Guild I obviously did not take Craft as the respective skill but rather "typical" thieves' skills (Mechanisms, Streetwise, Sleight, Stealth, , ...)
