Re: Keyword ratinga vs character age

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2005 17:03:40 -0800

> E.g. Kw = Age - 4
>
> So a 10 year old has his/her keyword at 6 while a 21 year old's is at
> 17. Which, to my inexperianced eye, don't seem to be too bad as far
> as gross approximitations go.
>
> But if someone lives to be, say, 54 years old then their keyword
> ratings would be 50 - 4 = 10w2. I don't have the HQ book here at work
> so I don't know where this ranks on the 'who would have this rating'
> chart but remember that we haven't added extra character creation
> points (CCP).

10w2 is the high end of an Elite warrior's basic skill. Clan champion shading to Tribal champion. As a keyword rating!

Figure 3 augments from mundane abilities (say stubborn, relationship to family, and hate lunars) and your old Heortling farmer has a Spear and shield combat of 5w3, which is getting into capital-H Hero territory.

> CCP = Age - 10
>
> What do people think? Or is ANY single formula going to be too
> simplistic?

A single simple formula would be... a formuale would need to allow a fast rise in the early years, then taper off as the character gets older. You need Algebra, rather than simple Mathematics, probably something like a square- or cube-root function.

Plus, there's the whole "Simulation vrs narrative" argument - I may be better at 16 than my dad is at 50, just because I'm a PC-hero and he's not.

Plus, how old is a "Starting character"? This isn't RQ, where you're assumed to be 16 and your starting skills are in the 25% range. HQ was written so your character could be any age and still be "on a par" with the rest of the party.

RR
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- Richelieu