Karmagen and Free Knowledge skills, Free background skills... Yes or No Options

[cndblank]

Another question....

[Saint Sithney]

I'd prefer a minimum expenditure of Karma towards knowledge skills with free karma counted against that minimum.

So, say a guy has to spend at least 40 karma on Knowledge skills, since karmagen is about creating a character with a lifetime of experience and all. Now, let's say that he gets 3*(Int + Log) in free karma which counts towards this 40 karma minimum. Now that guy still has to have 40 total karma worth of KS, but 3*(Int + Log) of that karma doesn't have to come from his 750 pool.

So, in this way, his Knowledge Skills represent the stuff he just happened to pick up along the way (the free KS) as well as those things in which he has demonstrated concerted effort in expanding his knowledge (the mandatory draw from his regular pool).

I like doing this personally, because it forces me to take Knowledge Skills even though those points could help make a more effective (and two dimensional) character.

[Glyph]

I usually buy knowledge skill points equal to what my "free" ones would be in Build Points, to keep myself honest. Giving players knowledge skills for free is fine if you consider them something every character should have, but if you do so, keep in mind that you are effectively giving them more points (since they have one less thing they need to spend on).

[TheOOB]

I want players to have knowledge skills, and they will not purchase them if I don't give them free points, ergo, I give them free points

[Ol' Scratch]

My general rule: "Put together a reasonable selection of Knowledge Skills appropriate to your character. I'll take a look at it when you're done and we can haggle from there if need be. In the mean time, just choose ones that are appropriate to your background and role. It's hard to fuck this up too badly. If in doubt as to what score to give them, reference the scale in the main book."

Worrying about Knowledge Skills as a game balancer is kinda goofy. They're largely there for flavor and making sure your character actually knows what he should know. Unless someone tries to grab every Knowledge and Language Skill known to man, who cares?

[Caelwyn]

I'd prefer a minimum expenditure of Karma towards knowledge skills with free karma counted against that minimum.

So, say a guy has to spend at least 40 karma on Knowledge skills, since karmagen is about creating a character with a lifetime of experience and all. Now, let's say that he gets 3*(Int + Log) in free karma which counts towards this 40 karma minimum. Now that guy still has to have 40 total karma worth of KS, but 3*(Int + Log) of that karma doesn't have to come from his 750 pool.

So, in this way, his Knowledge Skills represent the stuff he just happened to pick up along the way (the free KS) as well as those things in which he has demonstrated concerted effort in expanding his knowledge (the mandatory draw from his regular pool).

I like doing this personally, because it forces me to take Knowledge Skills even though those points could help make a more effective (and two dimensional) character.

I like this, might consider instituting a similar thing, minimum spend, with contacts (use charisma for some free points if necessary) as they seem to be a little underutilized in my group.

[Falconer]

Your poll is borked... it has no option for no free points.

Seriously... at half cost... buying up a handful of knowledges/languages should only run you ~20 karma.

I'm all for forcing players to spend a reasonable certain amount of their starting 750 on them, but they don't really need more.

[Caelwyn]

Then just remove some points from the Karma gen. This is probably only a problem for groups with players who are new to RPG-ing or very munchkin-y

[MJBurrage]

IMHO, SR4's biggest "flaw" in character generation has always been that it is easy to min-max. The designers apparently opted to trust the maturity of the players as the key balancing measure.

Giving players (who won't buy knowledges) free points, just makes munchkins into bigger munchkins. Personally, I think that there should be a suggested minimum percentage of points that must be spent on knowledges. Then the Group can tailor the overall power level by starting with more or less total starting karma as they see fit.