Quote: from admiralducksauce on 12:17 pm on June 9, 2002
OK, If you're going to Faceman for your second total level and back to Snoop for your 3rd total level, you'd be considered a Snoop 2/Faceman 1. You would only get the Faceman abilities for 1st level (I think Cold Read is a 2nd lvl ability - I made a Faceman last night come to think of it), and the Snoop abilities for 2nd level. Minus the Linguist ability, of course, because like Dextrous for Fixers and Generous for Pointmen, that's their core ability.
What ADS said...
As for going straight to 3rd level, you guys earned enough XP to get there and then some.
You're right TB, Linguist isn't the core ability. Silly me, sorry. And IP's right too, you get any extra weapon proficiencies from the new class that you don't already have.
Hm, something akin to a howto on levelling with an American exam-level of redundancy and explanation of most basic concepts as if talking to a total idiot who, for some reason, needs to figure out the process without knowing anything.
Hmm, how to briefly explain a concept that pretty much a whole chapter is devoted to?
#1
First of all, are you sticking with your same class. If so, move to #2. If not, move to #3.
#2 Whatever die you used initially for rolling up VP's, roll that twice and add your CON bonus to determine your new VP total. Your WP's stay the same. Go to #4
Hm, helps a bit. But that's why I was asking - is that Chapter online somewhere, or will I actually need to blow money on the manual ? I know, buying a player's manual is always advised, but, well, I'm a bit short on cash.
Ah, yes. The Spycraft Lite rules don't have level-up information. The important thing is if you're sticking with the same class or not. Most of the "upgrades" are automatic, and can be done by anyone with the book. Stuff you'll need to decide on is:
At level 3 you get a new feat.
Each level you get a number of skill points determined by your class + Intelligence modifier.
Those I think are the only things you have control over.
Consult the resources link on the left side of the page. It has a good feat tree.
I believe the faceman gets skillpoints (per level) equal to 6 plus your INT modifier (zero for Jessica) so that would be twelve total (for both level-ups).
I'll be out for the rest of the afternoon, but I'll check the boards this evening.
Honestly, the book is well worth the dinero, but I understand if you don't have the funds to buy it. Fortunately, you don't level up that often.
All right, my skill points will get equally blown on Bluff, Intimidate and Perform (Hey, gotta use your looks on people), and I'll take Speed Trigger, seeing that I seem to fire groups all the time anyway.
Okay, so If I'm multiclassing to faceman once and snoop for the other level. That means I get 10 and 12 skill points for the 2 levels (High intelligence is "teh win"), and I roll 1d10, and 1d8 for my vitality upgrades. Since I get the starting abilities of a first-level faceman, I get linquist, and medium armor abilities as well as proficiency in hurled and rifle-type weapons. Also, I get +1 to fort saves with the faceman level, someting I don't get til level 3 with snoop. Do I keep that? Also, do class skills for the faceman also become class skills for me? I believe for the 2 bonus languages I'll select Arabic and German. German is fairly common throughout europe, yes? I'm just going for a language that'll get you by in Central and Eastern Europe.
Not sure if I still want political favors, even tho it's character appropriate. You get pull with certain officials, yes? Maybe I should get speed trigger, or maybe something to make me harder to hit. Any feats that jack up your defense? Maybe Mathematical Genius or Persuasive or Alertness, or perhaps undermine. Hmn, maybe Lucky. I'm not sure. Are we looking for more of the same in this game, cause if so I'm going for Mister Unhittable. In that case, maybe sidestep, or mobility, or perhaps expertise.
(Edited by Threadbare at 5:40 pm on June 10, 2002)
(Edited by Threadbare at 5:43 pm on June 10, 2002)
When you advance to 2nd level, you get the 10 skill points. For those 10 skill points, all the Faceman cross-class/class skill requirements are in effect. For the Snoop skills, you have to abide by the Snoop skill requirements for 12 skill points.
It's less complicated when you only have to deal with 1 level at a time.
And if I'm wrong, I apologize, but I think I've got it right.
The advantage of multi-classing is that you do get both class benefits, but at the cost of slowing down the advancement if you had rather just taking 3 levels in one class.
I'm all for multi-classing since it "rounds out" the character and I also think that staying with one class gets a bit boring after a while.
As for languages, your best choices are French and German since a good 50% speak either (or both) in Central Europe. French will also get you pretty far in Africa and Southeast Asia. Go colonialism!
However, since your next missions involve Eastern Europe, it's always good to have Russian in your repertoire.
Feats like Improved Initiative (+4 to initiative) and Expertise (Prereq INT 13+) which can improve your defense by up to +5 at the cost of attack rolls (up to -5).
The Political favors feat is pretty much a "get out of jail free" card that you can use once per mission. This won't get you out of murder or other serious charges, but the fact that you stole the Prime Minister's car to apprehend the evil dude will only get you a slap on the wrist instead a few years in a jail cell with Bubba. The feat can also gain you clearance to non-secret-type places, like access into a government building to talk to Governor XYZ or perhaps box seats at the Stanley Cup Finals.
"I just spent ten years learning Russian, and now they're our friends, I'm screwed!" -Jon Stewart in a commentary on U.S. intelligence agencies.
When I updated my character (now on the character sheets thread), I just dumped the points into a big pool, although most of the Faceman skills are also snoop skills, so I don't think I went over 10.
Russian sounds good. I expect most people in europe might know english, anyway. Any way for me to learn French just normally?
(Edited by Threadbare at 9:56 pm on June 10, 2002)
If anyone cares to do anything in Sweden, let me know...otherwise I'll just move the plot along to St. Petersburg.
You're in Stockholm, BTW. If you wanted to purchase anything for yourselves, Philpott can have it tracked down and it will be waiting for you in Russia.
Purchase anything? like changing our personal budget, or just getting the new Tom Clancy book? I changed my personal budget a whole bunch on the update, is that kosher?
it might be nice to have a downtime scene with some character interaction. You know, since we don't know much about each other except we do very odd yet effective things in firefights.
Did you guys know that a 26 minute underground car chase movie was filmed in Stockholm? These guys rigged cameras to a Cosworth and a Supra and simply toyed with cops. They get up to 200mph on the freeway at one point. See if you can find it: "Getaway in Stockholm 2". There IS a GiS 1, but it's only 1 Porsche I think, and the cameras fall off.
You know, I bet the last round of that combat will be told in Agency bars for years to come. "...he stabbed him with what?" "A pitchfork. I shit you not."
It's interesting, looking at the contrast in skills between Harry and Gavin. Harry is a model of versatility, at times sacrificing expertise for it, while Gavin is totally geared towards kicking ass. I think the team is really going to work together well. We've got all the pieces; plus we've got a very dangerous mick to back us up when (not if) the shit hits the fan.
(Edited by Threadbare at 1:30 am on June 12, 2002)
I was actually thinking of putting the skills and feats towards the requirements for the Triggerman prestige class, seeing as how Dieter's bound to have the MAG by the time I'd qualify for it, but I realized that under core rules, two-weapon fighters get the pointy end of the stick when it comes to their attack roles. (I'd been using a house rule in my home game that makes akimbo handguns more like a single, two-handed weapon in terms of mechanics.) Core Soldiers are plenty powerful as it is.
