First New Character Post

[AslanC]

Originally posted by Game Show Man
Unfortunately, I can't see any such rules in the new book. I'm still very excited to hear all the positive reaction to Captain Powers' introduction. Perhaps, someone will create an XO (executive officer) for him?

I'll take that challenge! It will be an excellent way for me to learn these rules.

I need to know a bit more info about the good Captain though, like a bit of a background, personality, etc

Post that stuff up and since tomorrow starts three days off for me, I will try and get something ready for Friday.

[Don Mappin]

Originally posted by Phantom
This was one of the few complaints I had with ICON, the system never really said what level gave complete fluency in a language. I hope this is resolved in the new system.

Although GSM said otherwise, I'd like to clear this one point up. (I'm trying to get another sale by converting Phantom.)

While Coda does not have a set level that represents complete fluency in a language, if you check the Language skill description on page 119-120, you will see that TNs are given for using the skill.

A TN of 10 allows for simple conversation in a language, while a TN of 15 allows complex conversation or native proficiency. Higher TNs allow for more obsure usage.

This point is rather moot when dealing with your own language--the character is already presumed to be an expert. However, if you're undercover on Romulus without a UT you'll need a TN15 test to pass yourself off as a local under most circumstances.

Carry on.

[Erik Filean]

Originally posted by Don Mappin

Although GSM said otherwise, I'd like to clear this one point up. (I'm trying to get another sale by converting Phantom.)

While Coda does not have a set level that represents complete fluency in a language, if you check the Language skill description on page 119-120, you will see that TNs are given for using the skill.

A TN of 10 allows for simple conversation in a language, while a TN of 15 allows complex conversation or native proficiency. Higher TNs allow for more obsure usage.

This point is rather moot when dealing with your own language--the character is already presumed to be an expert. However, if you're undercover on Romulus without a UT you'll need a TN15 test to pass yourself off as a local under most circumstances.

Carry on.

Luckily, if you have a UT, it projects a holographic image onto your face that will fool the Romulans into believing that your lips move correctly.

[Cmdr Powers]

Hmmm, I wonder if Captain Powers is any relation to Lt. Cmdr Powers? This is my PC/NPC (depending) character for Star Trek: Vanguard (an online game currently on hiatus while I digest the new system).

Lt. Cmdr Shannon Powers
Starship Officer, Flight Control Officer
Assigned U.S.S. Vanguard (Akira-Class)
Starfleet Brat, Hotshot Pilot
Age 28, Female, 175cm, 60kg, Green Eyes, White Hair (short)
Terran Human

STR- 7 +0
AGL- 9 +1 (2nd Favored)
INT- 11 +2 (Favored)
VIT- 8 +1
PRS- 8 +1
PER- 8 +1
Quickness 1 + 2 = 3 (Favored)
Savvy 1
Stamina 1
Willpower 2
Initiative 3
Defense 7 + 1 = 8Courage 4
Renown 1

Advancements 6

Species Abilities: Adaptable (Quickness), Human Spirit, Skilled
Professional Abilities: Starship Duty, Astrogation, Evasive Maneuvering, Combat Piloting

Traits: Bold, 3D Thinking, Command (Dept Head) Promotion 3, Commendation (Grankite Order of Tactics), Lightning Reflexes, Likeable

Flaws: Intolerance (Borg), Intolerance (Breen)

Skills: Culture (Human) 2+4=6, History (Human) 2+4=6, Politics (Federation) 2+3=6, Specific World (Earth) 2+5=7, Athletics 0+2=2, Computer Use 2+3=5, Engineering: Systems (Flight Control) 2+3=5, Enterprise: Administration 2+1=3, Influence (Seduce) 1+2+3=6, Ranged Combat: Energy Weapons (Phaser) 1+3=4, Repair 2+2=4, Science: Space (Astrogation, Astronomy) 2+4+2=6, Sport (Parises Squares) 1+1=2, System Ops (Flight Control 2+6+2=10, Tactics (Space) 2+2=4, Unarmed Combat: Self Defence 1+3=4

Advances:
(1) Academy Advanced Training- Flight Control
(2) Cadet Cruise- USS Sutherland, benchmarking in the Beta Quadrant
(3) Assigned USS Hood- Patrolling the Romulan Neutral Zone (Mother killed at Wolf-359)
(4) Assigned Starfleet Academy- Flight Instructor (brief love affair)
(5) Assigned USS Eagle- trapped behind enemy lines in the Gamma Quadrant during the Dominion War (Grandmother- ex-Starfleet Captain- killed in San Francisco)
(6) Attended Command School for Department Head skills

[Phantom]

Assuming this Eagle is also an Andorian ship, she must have had fun during the DW.

Very nice character. I can't wait to get my copy of the book, so I can make complete sense out of these characters.

[Cmdr Powers]

Nah, this Eagle was an old Ambassador-class ship that was assigned to set up subspace radio bouys (sp?) in the Gamma Quadrant (and spy on the Dominion) when the war heated up. Lots of hit and run raids and even more fun when Eagle linked up with a Romulan ship and a couple of smaller Starfleet vessels. She was in such bad shape that she barely made it back through the Wormhole and had to be scuttled near DS9.

This was a whole campaign worth of adventuring and a whole lot of fun to run.

[Chris Landmark]

Here's a little more grist for the mill; a character from a Starfleet Academy game that was going to shift into a Dominion War game before everyone's schedule changed and we never played again.

She recreates pretty well in CODA, I'd love to play her again...

Ensign Alejandra "Alex" Romero
Female Human Starship Flight Control Officer
Height 166cm, Weight 55kg, Age 22, Eyes Brown, Hair Black
Personal Development:Build your Own!(a combination of Athletic Aptitude and Scientific Upbringing)
Professional Development: Hot Shot Pilot
Advancements:2 (It was an eventful stay at the Academy...)

Strength 8(+1), Agility 9(+1)*, Vitality 7(+0), Intellect 10(+2)*, Presence 9(+1), Perception 8(+1)
Quickness(1+2)=3*, Savvy=+1, Stamina=+1, Willpower=+2
Initiative +3, Defense(7+1)=8, Courage 4, Renown 1
*=favored

Skill(Specialty) [level+attr+misc]=total
Athletics(Climbing, Running) [5+1+1]=7
Computer Use [1+2+0]=3
Engineerin:Systems(Flight Control) [2+2+0]=4
Enterprise:Administration [1+2+0]=3
Entertain:Dance [1+1+0]=2
Knowledge:Culture(Human) [3+2+0]=5
Knowledge:History(Human) [3+2+0]=5
Knowledge:Politics(Federation) [1+2+0]=3
Knowledge:Religion(Catholicism) [3+2+0]=5
Knowledge:Specific World(Earth) [4+2+0]=6
Language:Andorian [2+2+0]=4
Language:Federation Standard(Spanish) [2+2+0]=4
Language:Klingon [1+2+0]=3
Language:Vulcan [1+2+0]=3
Persuade(Debate) [1+1+0]=2
Ranged Combat:Energy Weapons [2+1+1]=4
Repair [1+2+1]=4
Science:Life [2+2+0]=4
Science:Space(Astrogation) [4+2+0]=6
Survival [3+1+1]=5
System Operation(Flight Control) [6+2+1]=9
Unarmed Combat:Self Defense [2+1+1]=4

Species Abilities: Adaptable(Quickness), The Human Spirit, Skilled(Science:Life, Athletics)
Professional Abilities: Atmospheric Craft, Starship Duty(Conn)
Edges: Bold, Famous Event(Academy Record), Fit, Skill Focus(3D Thinking), Speed
Flaws:Familiar Face, Rival

Alejandra Romero was born in 2347 to a pair of scientists. She grew up in the field on thier many expeditions, and developed a great love for the outdoors and physical activity. She would often amuse herself climbing and running around while her parents were busy. As she grew older, this developed into an avid hobby of rock climbing and mountaneering, fueling the daring streak that eventually lead her to flight and Starfleet Academy.
Upon entering Starfleet Academy in 2365, she was assigned to Grey Squadron, which achieved a sort of lauded infamy(1) (both with cadets and faculty) over their four-year course of study. Just "one of the guys", Alejandra was extremely active as a cadet, excelling in both studies(2) and track & field (she holds several Academy records in short and middle distance) but still managed to find time to disappear into the nearby mountains on weekend furloughs. On longer breaks she pursued her goal of summiting the highest mountains on each of Earth's continents, occasionally dragging other members of Grey Squadron along with her.
In 2368 she competed at (and managed to medal in) the Olympics. Upon graduation from the Academy, Alejandra and most of the members of Grey Squadron celebrated by hiking up Mt. Everest before breaking up and heading for their various assignments.

(1) Boy were they a collection of characters; a cross section of the major Federation races, plus one Klingon. They managed to stay just on the safe side of trouble that would end up on their permanent records, and they never let their hijinks affect their performance, but they certainly managed to have more fun than you're supposed to.

(2) There was one notable blot on her otherwise exceptional record. Despite her considerable natural talent and studious habits, she nearly failed her first class on piloting large starships. Many conflicting stories involving "wheelie", "Spacedock" and "Ambassador Class Starship" are told, most likely greatly embellished by the other members of Grey Squadron; Alejandra is pretty tight lipped about the whole matter and studiously avoids the professor of that class.

-Chris Landmark

[Cmdr Powers]

Alex is a really excellent character and a good example of the conversion system and how it works. She seems to be a much more well-rounded character than Shannon Powers. The listing I did here was the CODA creation of the character. I did do a conversion from the old ICON character sheet, but liked the new version better.

[Chris Landmark]

Originally posted by Cmdr Powers
Alex is a really excellent character and a good example of the conversion system and how it works. She seems to be a much more well-rounded character than Shannon Powers. The listing I did here was the CODA creation of the character. I did do a conversion from the old ICON character sheet, but liked the new version better.

Just as a note, I statted up Alex from scratch using the CODA system myself, it wasn't a direct conversion (although looking at the guidelines helped). As the character wasn't much advanced beyond a starting character, it was pretty easy to do.

I've done some conversions using Don's rules, and they're not that bad, but have a few problems. For one thing, it's nearly impossible to get a skill level higher than six, unless you had the skill maxed out with several specialties, so your brilliant scientist or master tactician suddenly becomes gifted but not remarkable. I find the conversion guidelines work pretty well for low and moderate skill levels, but if you've got a character whose schtick is highly focused in one area, they're going to need beefing up after conversion. Still, all in all, you can take what comes out of the conversion, compare it with the ICON stats, and then say, "Hmm, he's not quite as brilliant with warp engines any more. Let's just add a specialty and a couple more skill levels."

I've also done some characters both as conversions and as re-done from the ground up, and one can come pretty close to getting matching characters without looking. So I guess Don didn't do that bad of a job.

Hmm, perhaps I should do a real stress test, and try converting Captain Luciano Mantovanni off Joe Manno's Star Trek:Liberty site...

-Chris Landmark

[tonyg]

Chris,

There are lots of tricks for conversion.


One trick when converting is to see how well a character can do something and them try to convert for the same success chance.

For instance a character in ICON with a 2 Attribute and a skill of 5(6) has a slighter better than 50% chance of making a CHALLENGING (DIFF 13) test in the specialty.

In CODA, to get a slightlyr better than a 50% chance would mean succeeding on a roll of 7+ on 2d6. Since ICON DIFF 13 = CODA TN 20, that means to get a 20 with a 7, the character must be +13. So that means a CODA skill level 11 with a+2 for the specialty.

Since the difficutly steps in ICON were in increments of 3 and the steps in CODA are in increments of 5, a 5/3 slope for conversion will work out fairly well.

[Chris Landmark]

Ok, tonyg, I'm going to quibble with you here, but it's strictly on a statistical basis so there's nothing personal to it.

Originally posted by tonyg
For instance a character in ICON with a 2 Attribute and a skill of 5(6) has a slighter better than 50% chance of making a CHALLENGING (DIFF 13) test in the specialty.

In order to succede at a difficulty 13 test with a maxed out skill(specialty) level of 5(6) would require a roll of 7 (if in the area of specialty) or 8 (in the general skill area). Since we're rolling dice and just keeping the highest result, this is impossible unless you roll a 6 on the Drama Die, allowing you to add the next highest die to your roll. So a character with maxed out skill(specialty) has only a one in six (17%, or worse if operating outside the specialty) chance of succeding at a Difficult test, regardless of what their attribute rating is, as the only thing that really matters is the result on that Drama Die. If you spend 1 Courage to improve the roll, then you could have a 50% chance of success with a pool of 3 dice.

This was my (and my players, when I ran games) main gripe and problem with the ICON system, which we solved by shortening the difficulty scale even more.

Originally posted by tonyg
In CODA, to get a slightlyr better than a 50% chance would mean succeeding on a roll of 7+ on 2d6. Since ICON DIFF 13 = CODA TN 20, that means to get a 20 with a 7, the character must be +13. So that means a CODA skill level 11 with a+2 for the specialty.

You're much closer on your percentages here. You actually have a 58% chance of rolling a 7+ result on 2d6 (21 of the 36 possible combinations are 7 or above). However, if you've got the skill nearly maxed out, with a specialty (and probably some good modifiers from attributes, edges, and professional abilities) you really should be able to do Difficult to Virtually Impossible things on a somewhat routine basis.

People so often use (and quote) statistics impropperly, I just try to correct the problems when I see them. Which is odd, considering how much I personally loathe the discipline.

-Chris

[Phantom]

But you have to remember, going on the examples in the book, you are not going to run into that many situations where you will need to get over a difficult 13 test. Difficult tests are defined as "reconfiguring the warp engines on a tight schedule or repairing a damaged phaser during combat or hitting a Warbird just as it uncloaks. These examples say to me "May the Force be with you" when you attempt them. They are supposed to be all most impossible. Plus also 13 is only the suggested level Difficult 12, 13, 14. I think there is something wrong in the system that would give you a 58% chance to do any of the above.

IMHO if you habitually run into that level of difficulty then I think the GM needs to review the situations he is throwing your way.

[Don Mappin]

Originally posted by Phantom
IMHO if you habitually run into that level of difficulty then I think the GM needs to review the situations he is throwing your way.

I don't agree--I believe you scale the challenge to the level of the characters. Sure would be nice to write generic adventures that are equally challenging to everyone.

You don't send Captain Kirk on a milk run and ask him to make Routine tests all day long. [Booooooorrrrring...]

[tonyg]

Originally posted by Don Mappin

I don't agree--I believe you scale the challenge to the level of the characters. Sure would be nice to write generic adventures that are equally challenging to everyone.

You don't send Captain Kirk on a milk run and ask him to make Routine tests all day long. [Booooooorrrrring...]

Yeah, but there aren't many Kirks out there (alothough considering Kirk's fondness for the ladies there probably should be ).

While your cetainly want to provide challenges, "save the universe" stories shouldn't pop up every session, or you can say goodbye to suspecion of disbelief. Not to mention the campaign when someone does eventually screw up.

[Chris Landmark]

Please note that the primary motive of my post was correcting the statistics. It does have a side benefit of illustrating a great difference in the difficulty scale at high ends (of both difficulty and skill).

Originally posted by Phantom
But you have to remember, going on the examples in the book, you are not going to run into that many situations where you will need to get over a difficult 13 test. Difficult tests are defined as "reconfiguring the warp engines on a tight schedule or repairing a damaged phaser during combat or hitting a Warbird just as it uncloaks. These examples say to me "May the Force be with you" when you attempt them. They are supposed to be all most impossible. Plus also 13 is only the suggested level Difficult 12, 13, 14. I think there is something wrong in the system that would give you a 58% chance to do any of the above.

IMHO if you habitually run into that level of difficulty then I think the GM needs to review the situations he is throwing your way.

First of all, "May the Force be with you" should be for Nearly Impossible. Difficult are things that should be doable by the right person. The things you desribe above should be possible if one is skilled, or lucky, but one shouldn't need to be both.

Remember, we're talking about characters who have pretty much maxed out their skill and specialty here; not some average joe or even a trained and experienced individual, but someone who's among the very best in the field. These are the people you give the difficult problems to. They should be able to have a substantial ability to succeed in Difficult tests.

No, the characters shouldn't be peppered with Difficult tests, but when the chips are down and there's only one commercial break left before the end of the show, you end up facing things that qualify as Difficult tests. The normal starting character can spend a couple Courage and save the day in spectacular fashion, but for the really, really skilled person, it should be a bit more routine.

And lest you worry that the Virtually Impossible target number of 20 is too small, a character with a maxed out skill, a specialty, and the appropriate attribute at 12-13 will only succeed at that 16% of the time (barring any positive and negative modifiers). That's a bit closer to "May the Force be with you", and is the sort of thing that would have even Scotty spending Courage points on his Repair(Warp Engines) result.

-Chris