Talent Generation

Players and Judges are free to use either the original table or this expanded version that's based on the Ultimate Talents List (Version 2.0 by Michael T. Dismuke). For consistency's sake, most players can also use these table to expand or alter previously generated PCs.

Number of Talents: The number of Talents initially possessed by the hero is determined by a dice roll on the following table. The number before the slash indicates the initial number of Talents the hero has, while the number after the slash represents the maximum number allowable.

Players can spend Resource ranks to gain additional Talents. Each additional Power lowers the Resource rank -1cs.

Some Talents are marked by an asterisk (*); these count as two Talents because they're such heavyweights. If you don't have enough openings for such a Talents, you can make room for it by discarding already-rolled Talents or spending more Resource ranks. If you can't make room in either of those ways, discard the Talent and roll again.

REASON FEAT ENHANCEMENT AND RESOURCE BONUSES

It goes without saying that when an oncologist (a doctor who studies cancer) also learns about radiology or emergency medicine he becomes a more valuable doctor. With that in mind, it is now possible to become even more of a specialist in one's field (medicine, for example) and have it benefit one's resources and reason feats; i.e. Captain Mold has a secret identity, Mike Moldenson. Mike Moldenson works as a oncologist at BumberVille Hospital and has Excellent resources. He decides to go back to medical school so that he can help in the fight against child leukemia so he takes pediatrics for 1000 karma points. Now, since he is more knowledgeable and no doubt a more valuable oncologist, he gets 4 resource point to bring him to Excellent. In addition, he now gets a +2CS to reason feats involving his profession and can be regarded as a specialist.

Keep in mind this only applies to heroes or their secret i.d.s that are currently employed in a field that utilizes their talents. (Of course, the judge could be hard on the players and not give their i.d.s this raise; unappreciative boss, etc. The reason feat enhancement would still be there but not the resource bonus. That's totally up to the judge.) This system encourages having fun with the secret i.d. in addition to the normal skull bashing hero's life. Remember, the maximum positive column shift for reason feats is +3CS regardless of how many talents may apply to a repair or invention.

Judges: Keep in mind that this system will have the players running to obtain new talents that will benefit them resource wise in their present jobs. Be hard on them. Make them roll popularity feats to get promotions. Have their secret i.d.s look for new jobs. Fire them occasionally, give them annoying work mates and when they fail on a work project demote them (resource penalties, ha ha). This is a fun way to play secret i.d.s; i.e. One of my players has a public mutant hero named Alchemy. We have so much fun in his game that he gets upset whenever he's out of the lab and has to go fight evil. He prefers spending his karma on resource advancement - building up his robotics development company - and learning new talents. And admittedly, I have more fun watching him invent stuff too.