How much karma/karma pool does (xx) have? Options

[BitBasher]

In your opinions, how much karma/karma pool do these famous characters have...

a) John McLane (Die Hard movies)
b) Achilles (Troy)
c) James Bond (Shaken, not stirred)
d) Cleric John Preston (Equilibrium)
e) Batman (I'm Batman!)

[Backgammon]

a) at least 10.
b) didn't see Troy
c) 3 or 4
d) 2
e) 2

[JaronK]

a) 50, at least. At least he had that many. He must have burned 40 getting through those movies alive... his basic strategy was to beat himself up until the bad guys fell down.

b) Didn't see it. But he's dead now, so he has none!

c) Endless supply. That guy has all the luck!

d) Never heard of him...

e) 1-3. He doesn't exactly seem lucky... just bad ass. I think he must have burned all his karma earlier.

JaronK

[mfb]

are you people insane? batman is pure, unaugmented human. the only way an unaugmented human could be that badass is to have a truly massive karma pool.

[GreatChicken]

[Kanada Ten]

200/15 - John McLane
300/30 - Achilles
200/10 - James Bond
100/10 - Cleric John Preston
500/35 - Batman

[A Rodent of Unus...]

Batman: Minimal. He doesn't rely on luck. He relies on his unbelieveable skill levels, intellect, and toys. I can even see him having the Bad Karma or even Cursed Karma flaws with the "luck" he has in his relationships and constantly running into/creating new villains. The same goes for Cleric Preston.

McLain and Bond both have insane amounts of luck, and thus Karma Pool. Not sure about Achilles, but considering some wench dipped him in a river, I'd say he's an insane-level adept with a peculiar "don't get hit in the frelling ankle" geas or something, and thus doesn't need luck.

[mfb]

karma, in SR, is as much a skill as Firearms or Electronics. it's a product of experience--something Batman has loads and loads of. 'luck' is only one explanation for the mechanic. in Batman's case, the mechanic could be explained as 'Batman is just that damned good'.

though, of course, even with a bat-moon to ride, he couldn't take Van Helsing.

[A Rodent of Unus...]

He obviously has a ton of Karma, representing his extensive experience, which he's spent to get those unbelievable skills. Whatever Karma Pool he acquired along the way was burned almost as soon as it was acquired, again pointing at the Cursed Karma flaw and the reprecussions thereof. He might have a pool of 1 to 3 at any given time, giving him enough to avoid any botches he might somehow acquire despite skill levels in the 8+ range, but that's about it.

[mfb]

why would he need to burn that much karma? the only thing you can burn karma on is buying successes for tests, which equals extra of whatever explanation you're looking at for karma pool in the first place.

[A Rodent of Unus...]

When you have to match an opponent's Opposed Test TN that's been augmented by superhuman abilities, you'll probably buy as many successes as you can anytime you do manage to get one success in.

[Eyeless Blond]

Considering who (or what) he hangs out with, I imagine Batman using the Hooper Nelson rule a lot.

How about Jake and Elwood Blues? :D

[mfb]

i don't really see that as incredibly different from having a large karma pool, ROUS. i mean, in your case, he's burning it; in my case, he's spending it as needed. either way, he's still making heavy use of his karma pool.

[Kanada Ten]

100/20 Jake
100/20 Elwood

They both have the Blessed Karma Edge.

[Jason Farlander]

[Beast of Revolut...]

Achilles has jack. Aside from being born invincible, he's nothing. He's a damn pussy. He's invincible, yet he brags like a rapper when he kills Hector. Then his dumb ass gets killed by the second-biggest pussy in the story, Paris, the guy who started it all. All he had to do was guard his damn heel, but noooo, Achilles couldn't acheive anything that wasn't handed to him on a silver platter.

[Omega Skip]

If you want someone with a really huge karma pool, I recommend the crazed monk Rasputin. He wasn't much of a fighter, and he still survived some insane punishment. To me, that's karma right there.

But about the guys in question...

1) Cop, many years of service, single-handedly takes out a group of terrorists wearing nothing but a flimsy muscle shirt and no shoes. You'd need lots of karma to pull that off. I'd say 30.

2) Greek hero, blessed by a god, almost invulnerable. Badass fighter. Too arrogant to protect his weak spot. Hard to tell how much karma pool he has, since he doesn't need to rely on it.

3) Secret agent, always gets the coolest toys. Has a tendency to wreck said toys. If you look at what he's been through, and how many times he saved the world, I imagine he's got a huge karmapool simply due to his work experience: 40.

4) Cleric of the Tetragrammaton, father of two, long time prozium junkie (now clean). The template from which every gun-adept was wrought, impossible to best in either ranged or melee combat, master of the gun kata. Likes: Rainbows, classical music, dogs, backstabbing his olleagues. Dislikes: Guys taking his guns from him, and mean people. Preston doesn't need a karma pool, he's got the mighty mighty PLOT supporting him. ("Our orders only say to take his sword, I guess we can let him keep his guns...")

5) Depends... Comic book Batman: Astronomical. Movie Batman: 0 - he has fake nipples. He Has Fake Nipples!!! What the hell is wrong with these people?!?

[mfb]

he does not have fake nipples. i saw no fake nipples in batman, and no fake nipples in batman returns. as there were no other batman movies made after the first two, your fake nipples must be hallucinatory.

there. were. no. more. batman. movies. after. the. first. two.

[Omega Skip]

Actually, there were at least two more movies, called "Batman: The Musical" and "Batman and Robin: Joel Schumacher Shits In Your Eyes"

:D

[A Rodent of Unus...]

[Nath]

The Illiad stops at Hector burial. That story of Achilles' heel is nothing more than fan fiction (he got wounded in the Illiad IIRC). I don't even want to see that movie, surely crap. He has high Quickness, athletic, combat, political and medical skills, and couldn't start with them at CharGen since he had to pay a lot of points to pick demigod as a race. I'd say divine interventions whould require burning karma, so even if Achilles has the best stats, Ajax would have the biggest Karma Pool (he matches the other heroes but unlike them no god ever help him).

[Omega Skip]

Wow, I didn't know that. Thanks for pointing that out, Nath - and here's a link that sums up the evolution of Achilles' Heel. I guess you learn something new every day... :D

[kevyn668]

Don't bother with Troy if you have any experience what so ever with Greek History or literature--hell, even mythology. I've heard of dramatic lisecene, but c'mon!!

Back on track: I think out of that group, James Bond would have to have the highest KP. The man's NEVER BEEN SHOT!! 'Course that be the result of his being an IE spike baby.

How else could foil evil plans and get into ladies' pants for, like, 40 years and still look 35? :)

[Moonstone Spider]

Doesn't the Oddessey pick up where the Illiad left off? I thought both were written by Homer, which would preclude the second being Fanfiction.

Anyway my 2 nuyen on the topic at hand:

a) Definetly in the double digits. Can you imagine the TN for an Athletics (Jumping off the side of a building and using a Fire Hose to swing in the window) test?

b) Haven't seen Troy. Given that Achilles is part god I'd call his abilities that I know of racial modifications and edges, and probably a Quickened invisible armor spell that for some reason doesn't work on the ankle.

c) Three Digit Karma pool. On the other hand, we never see Bond learn anything new, so he has a variant of Cursed Karma that causes all his Good Karma to go straight into his pool. Oh yes, and he has a sort of possession Metamagic that lets him change to a new body whenever his gets old.

d) I have no idea who this is.

e) I detest Batman. He is an idiotic idea for a character who is simply handed supreme luck by the writers because he has rabid fanboys. I've considered Batman's abilities to be nothing more than the hand of god on every effort ever since the Crossover with Spawn where Batman, naturally, managed to fight Spawn hand-to-hand and bring him to a stalemate.

I frankly don't buy the skills notion at all, anybody who can actually use Judo to throw Superman around should not be in danger from the Joker. Therefore Batman has the homeruled edge "Infinite Karma Pool" but is played by a person so stupid he frequently forgets to use Karma Pool.

[Nikoli]

Also, McClane has Witty Sarcasm(Asshole) at like 6/10 by now.