Topic: Talent Law and Background options

[gandalf970]

I picked up Talent Law and was wondering if you do away with the Background options in lieu of Talents or do you use both?  It implies in the manual that you keep both, but I wanted some feedback on the experience of fellow GM's.

[markc]

I use Talent Points only.
MDC

[jdale]

We use background options only.

[dagorhir]

I have used both. I found the Background Options work better for me, so that's what I use now.

[Ecthelion]

I have used both. I found the Background Options work better for me, so that's what I use now.

+1

[Cory Magel]

We do away with Background options and just use the Talents.  We do, however, really scrutinize the mix and cost of them (and change many).

[tulgurth]

I have done both, using talents and BO's in unison and separately at different times in my RM GM'ing experience.  I have discovered the talents, if not monitored closely can really get out of hand and because of such I only allow the random rolling of talents.  If players are allowed to "cherry pick", min/max'ing can really be abused. 

If players insist on "cherry picking" their talents I impose an additional cost for the selected talent. "Cherry picked" talents cost double their normal cost with each additional talent having the multiplier doubled.  For instance,
1st Talent = 2x talent's cost
2nd Talent = 4x cost
3rd Talent = 8x cost, etc.

I do allow players to add to their Talent points by taking flaws, but they do have to be reflected in the character's background and the player has to roleplay them out.  However, they are only allowed  number of flaws equal to their BO's as printed in the RMSS.

[tbigness]

I use both of them. I have opted for the FRP Talent Law instead of the RMSS though. I scrutinize the talents but let the players know the better the talent they pick the better the flaw that gets assigned from me.

[RandalThor]

I prefer to use Talents & Flaws as they are presented in the aforementioned book.

[damage]

Talents only, though I've heavily recosted and tweaked most of them.

[Cory Magel]

I guess I could describe how I generally use Talent Law.

First, I have my players go through and pick out all the Talents/Flaws they are interested in and email them to me.  I go through and re-cost them and state things like "You just can't have that one" or more often "You have to pick one or the other of these two/three/whatever" or occasionally "You know I'm going to make sure that comes up as an issue for you, so choose wisely!" and qualifiers like that.  I send that back to them (sometimes I'll even suggest combinations that I will allow even if they are over by 1-4 points or so if they've written a basic background/history that justifies their selections) and let them pick their final Talents/Flaws from there.

There are certain Talents I just wouldn't allow depending on the situation, there are many Talents I change the cost of, and there are certain combinations of Talents I'll just never allow.  But doing what I do above still gives the players a lot of control, which I think is important.

[yammahoper]

A favorite talent combo for me is Blessed by XXXX God with Destiny Sense, then play anything interesting as the GM's willing puppet. 

[Marrethiel]

A favorite talent combo for me is Blessed by XXXX God with Destiny Sense, then play anything interesting as the GM's willing puppet.

I've done this before, playing a non spell casting Halfling Assasin in MERP... an agent of the Valar with less scruples than most

[Cory Magel]

I think the most fun, yet annoying, use of Talent Law I've made is "Split Personality".  We tinkered with the rationale, but it worked the same in practice.  I'll try to keep this short (not all the back story)

Twin brothers, one a Warrior Monk the other a Mage, were abducted by a villain.  A spell/curse was placed on them so he could use them as henchmen, but he was only able to control one at a time.  So, the villain set it up so he could instantly swap them out wherever they are.  The one currently not being controlled would have no idea that he was doing anything other than what the twin had just been doing, just in his own way.  Being a character with a robe and a staff it was the perfect 'cover' so-to-speak.

So, in the middle of a fight the Mage twin casts a Firebolt and the next round is switched and makes multiple melee attacks with his quarterstaff.  One of the other players was going nuts because he couldn't figure out how I was doing those things with the same character.  He'd say "But you just firebolted that guy!" and I'd say (cause I had to roleplay it) "No I didn't I hit him with my staff."  I'd also 'mysteriously' not have any wounds after I'd obviously been hit (i.e. the twins swapped and the other was fine).  That player actually got slightly annoyed at one point cause I was always evasive about it.  Not sure if he thought I was just screwing with him or what.  He partially finally figured it out when the players finally realized I said I was a Warrior Monk at one point, then later claimed I was a Mage and both reference their twin brother who needed to be save that was the opposite profession (course they partially assumed it was the "Split Personality").  Course, then we confronted the villain and we had the cliche "fight with the evil twin" battle.

I have to say, while it was fun, it could be really annoying at times.  At least when I was flying as a Mage and the twins swapped the Warrior Monk one was almost always able to mitigate the fall with the moving maneuver skills he had.  Not sure I'd want to do that again though.

[yammahoper]

A favorite talent combo for me is Blessed by XXXX God with Destiny Sense, then play anything interesting as the GM's willing puppet.

I've done this before, playing a non spell casting Halfling Assasin in MERP... an agent of the Valar with less scruples than most

+1!

[gandalf970]

I think the most fun, yet annoying, use of Talent Law I've made is "Split Personality".  We tinkered with the rationale, but it worked the same in practice.  I'll try to keep this short (not all the back story)

Twin brothers, one a Warrior Monk the other a Mage, were abducted by a villain.  A spell/curse was placed on them so he could use them as henchmen, but he was only able to control one at a time.  So, the villain set it up so he could instantly swap them out wherever they are.  The one currently not being controlled would have no idea that he was doing anything other than what the twin had just been doing, just in his own way.  Being a character with a robe and a staff it was the perfect 'cover' so-to-speak.

So, in the middle of a fight the Mage twin casts a Firebolt and the next round is switched and makes multiple melee attacks with his quarterstaff.  One of the other players was going nuts because he couldn't figure out how I was doing those things with the same character.  He'd say "But you just firebolted that guy!" and I'd say (cause I had to roleplay it) "No I didn't I hit him with my staff."  I'd also 'mysteriously' not have any wounds after I'd obviously been hit (i.e. the twins swapped and the other was fine).  That player actually got slightly annoyed at one point cause I was always evasive about it.  Not sure if he thought I was just screwing with him or what.  He partially finally figured it out when the players finally realized I said I was a Warrior Monk at one point, then later claimed I was a Mage and both reference their twin brother who needed to be save that was the opposite profession (course they partially assumed it was the "Split Personality").  Course, then we confronted the villain and we had the cliche "fight with the evil twin" battle.

I have to say, while it was fun, it could be really annoying at times.  At least when I was flying as a Mage and the twins swapped the Warrior Monk one was almost always able to mitigate the fall with the moving maneuver skills he had.  Not sure I'd want to do that again though.

Wonderful story Cory, hey that rhymes!

[Moostik]

+1 for CoryStory.

Loved it and the twinswap-idea.

[AV1611]

I use Talent Law exclusively with the various races getting a specific number of Talent points to spend (as listed in Talent Law).  I also allow players to spend Talent points above their normal racial allotment at the cost of 1 additional Talent point per 3 points of Flaws.  Flaws must actually hinder a character.  No "fluff" Flaws, like letting a Fighter with no intention of ever buying spell lists pick a Flaw like "Power Burn" just to score more points to buy more Talents.  I do not allow "stacking" of "like" Talents (ex: Inner Reserve + Natural Physique) and reserve the final say on what I allow players to take.