GURPS Firefly: And Now, The GM Insertion Character
Or at least, it would be if I were the GM. *evil grin*
Before we begin here, let me say two things. First of all, River is an NPC. No matter how good a roleplayer, I would never give a character like this to a player; she's just too damned powerful. She is the campaign balance. Besides, her disad load is too much for any player to handle; I almost feel like that about Simon's, and most of his don't have to be roleplayed. Secondly, this was darned hard to do. I even had to make up a new psi skill; fortunately, it already existed as part of an enhancement to a completely different power.
And so:
River Tam:
ST 10 (0 pts)
DX 15 (100 pts)
IQ 18 (160 pts)
HT 9 (-10 pts)
Advantages: Combat Reflexes (15 pts), Intuitive Mathematician (5 pts), Photographic Memory (10 pts), Talent: Mathematical Ability, 2 levels (20 pts), Talent: Musical Ability, 1 level (5 pts), Weapon Master (all weapons, 45 pts); see also her Powers list
Disadvantages: Absent-Mindedness (-15 pts), Confused (-10 pts), Delusions: Severe (varies, but generally related to whatever subconscious thoughts she's picking up at the time, -15 pts); Enemy: the Blue Sun Corporation (large corporation working closely with the Alliance, appears moderately often on the core worlds but rarely on the border and outer worlds, -30 pts), Flashbacks: Severe (-10 pts), Nightmares (-5 pts), Odious Personal Habit: Morbid & Creepifyin' (-1 from anyone who hears her talk, -5 pts), Sense of Duty (to Simon and to Serenity itself, -2 pts), Wealth: Dead Broke (-25 pts)
Languages: English (Native, 0 pts), Mandarin (Native, 6 pts)
Powers: ESPer [ESP Talent, 1 level, 5 pts; Danger Sense, 14 pts; Psychometry, Area Effect (at least 16 yards), Uncontrollable, 48 pts], Telepath [Telepathy Talent, 3 levels, 15 pts; Animal Empathy, 5 pts; Empathy, 14 pts; Mind Probe, Uncontrollable, 16 pts; Mind Reading, Always On, Uncontrollable, Universal, 36 pts; Skill-Stealer (works like the Assimilation enhancement from Possession, requires a successful Mind Probe), Uncontrollable, 40 pts; Spirit Empathy, 9 pts]
Quirks: Changes formality levels in the middle of sentences (-1 pt), Freaks out at the sight of the Blue Sun logo (-1 pt, and note that this can trigger her Flashbacks disad), Goes barefoot unless Simon or Kaylee makes her wear shoes (-1 pt)
Skills: Acrobatics - 16 (8 pts), Acting - 17 (1 pt), Area Knowledge/Osiris - 18 (1 pt), Area Knowledge/Core Worlds - 18 (1 pt), Astronomy - 19 (2 pts), Axe/Mace - 18 (12 pts), Biology - 17 (4 pts), Blind Fighting - 17 (8 pts), Chemistry - 16 (2 pts), Climbing - 15 (2 pts), Computer Operation - 18 (1 pt), Dancing - 18 (8 pts), Detect Lies - 20 (2 pts), Diagnosis - 16 (1 pt), Electronics Operation/Communications - 18 (2 pts), Environment Suit/Vacc Suit - 14 (1 pt), Escape - 15 (4 pts), Fast-Draw/Knife - 15 (1 pt), Finance - 18 (1 pt), Flying Leap - 17 (2 pts), Geography/Physical - 16 (1 pt), Geology/Terraformed Planets - 16 (1 pt), Group Performance/Choreography - 18 (2 pts), Guns/Pistol - 18 (8 pts), Guns/Rifle - 17 (4 pts), History/Recent - 16 (1 pt), Judo - 16 (8 pts), Jumping - 17 (4 pts), Karate - 17 (12 pts), Knife - 16 (2 pts), Linguistics - 16 (1 pt), Literature - 16 (1 pt), Mathematics/Applied - 18 (1 pt), Mathematics/Pure - 20 (4 pts), Mimicry/Speech - 16 (1 pt), Navigation/Space - 17 (1 pt), Parry Missile Weapons - 16 (8 pts), Philosophy/Existentialism - 17 (2 pts), Physics - 20 (8 pts), Piloting/High-Performance Spacecraft - 14 (1 pt), Poetry - 17 (1 pt), Power Blow - 18 (4 pts), Psychology - 16 (1 pt), Research - 17 (1 pt), Shortsword - 18 (12 pts), Singing - 11 (2 pts), Speed-Reading - 18 (2 pts), Staff - 16 (4 pts), Stealth - 16 (4 pts), Theology/Buddhist - 16 (1 pt), Theology/Christian - 16 (1 pt), Throwing Art - 17 (12 pts), Weird Science - 15 (1 pt)
Total: 617 pts.
Comments: Her powers are a guess based off of what we've seen her do, and yes, some of it is based off of what we didn't get to see until Serenity. A few of her skills are guesses based off of what Simon has said she did or could do before she went to the Academy; I've left off a few things (Computer Programming, for instance) that would be reasonable to assume she has learned at some point but that we've never seen her use. I did go ahead and add Vacc Suit and Piloting to her skills as things she learns in play; a River at the beginning of the "game" wouldn't have those two skills yet.
A pre-Academy River would lose Weapon Master; all of her Powers except for one level of each Talent, Danger Sense, and Empathy; all of her disads except for the Sense of Duty (replace Serenity with her family); and Escape, Weird Science, and all of her combat-related skills as well as the two mentioned above. She also gets one point of HT back, for a HT of 10. Yes, my assumption is that she was already a latent ESPer/Reader when they found her, and that's why they recruited her, not for her formidable intellect; it is that intellect, and her personal strength of Will, that prevent her from simply disintegrating under the pressure of everyone else's thoughts and emotions. The combat monsterism is the result of their training, although based on a certain amount of already-present physical talent.
Before we begin here, let me say two things. First of all, River is an NPC. No matter how good a roleplayer, I would never give a character like this to a player; she's just too damned powerful. She is the campaign balance. Besides, her disad load is too much for any player to handle; I almost feel like that about Simon's, and most of his don't have to be roleplayed. Secondly, this was darned hard to do. I even had to make up a new psi skill; fortunately, it already existed as part of an enhancement to a completely different power.
And so:
River Tam:
ST 10 (0 pts)
DX 15 (100 pts)
IQ 18 (160 pts)
HT 9 (-10 pts)
Advantages: Combat Reflexes (15 pts), Intuitive Mathematician (5 pts), Photographic Memory (10 pts), Talent: Mathematical Ability, 2 levels (20 pts), Talent: Musical Ability, 1 level (5 pts), Weapon Master (all weapons, 45 pts); see also her Powers list
Disadvantages: Absent-Mindedness (-15 pts), Confused (-10 pts), Delusions: Severe (varies, but generally related to whatever subconscious thoughts she's picking up at the time, -15 pts); Enemy: the Blue Sun Corporation (large corporation working closely with the Alliance, appears moderately often on the core worlds but rarely on the border and outer worlds, -30 pts), Flashbacks: Severe (-10 pts), Nightmares (-5 pts), Odious Personal Habit: Morbid & Creepifyin' (-1 from anyone who hears her talk, -5 pts), Sense of Duty (to Simon and to Serenity itself, -2 pts), Wealth: Dead Broke (-25 pts)
Languages: English (Native, 0 pts), Mandarin (Native, 6 pts)
Powers: ESPer [ESP Talent, 1 level, 5 pts; Danger Sense, 14 pts; Psychometry, Area Effect (at least 16 yards), Uncontrollable, 48 pts], Telepath [Telepathy Talent, 3 levels, 15 pts; Animal Empathy, 5 pts; Empathy, 14 pts; Mind Probe, Uncontrollable, 16 pts; Mind Reading, Always On, Uncontrollable, Universal, 36 pts; Skill-Stealer (works like the Assimilation enhancement from Possession, requires a successful Mind Probe), Uncontrollable, 40 pts; Spirit Empathy, 9 pts]
Quirks: Changes formality levels in the middle of sentences (-1 pt), Freaks out at the sight of the Blue Sun logo (-1 pt, and note that this can trigger her Flashbacks disad), Goes barefoot unless Simon or Kaylee makes her wear shoes (-1 pt)
Skills: Acrobatics - 16 (8 pts), Acting - 17 (1 pt), Area Knowledge/Osiris - 18 (1 pt), Area Knowledge/Core Worlds - 18 (1 pt), Astronomy - 19 (2 pts), Axe/Mace - 18 (12 pts), Biology - 17 (4 pts), Blind Fighting - 17 (8 pts), Chemistry - 16 (2 pts), Climbing - 15 (2 pts), Computer Operation - 18 (1 pt), Dancing - 18 (8 pts), Detect Lies - 20 (2 pts), Diagnosis - 16 (1 pt), Electronics Operation/Communications - 18 (2 pts), Environment Suit/Vacc Suit - 14 (1 pt), Escape - 15 (4 pts), Fast-Draw/Knife - 15 (1 pt), Finance - 18 (1 pt), Flying Leap - 17 (2 pts), Geography/Physical - 16 (1 pt), Geology/Terraformed Planets - 16 (1 pt), Group Performance/Choreography - 18 (2 pts), Guns/Pistol - 18 (8 pts), Guns/Rifle - 17 (4 pts), History/Recent - 16 (1 pt), Judo - 16 (8 pts), Jumping - 17 (4 pts), Karate - 17 (12 pts), Knife - 16 (2 pts), Linguistics - 16 (1 pt), Literature - 16 (1 pt), Mathematics/Applied - 18 (1 pt), Mathematics/Pure - 20 (4 pts), Mimicry/Speech - 16 (1 pt), Navigation/Space - 17 (1 pt), Parry Missile Weapons - 16 (8 pts), Philosophy/Existentialism - 17 (2 pts), Physics - 20 (8 pts), Piloting/High-Performance Spacecraft - 14 (1 pt), Poetry - 17 (1 pt), Power Blow - 18 (4 pts), Psychology - 16 (1 pt), Research - 17 (1 pt), Shortsword - 18 (12 pts), Singing - 11 (2 pts), Speed-Reading - 18 (2 pts), Staff - 16 (4 pts), Stealth - 16 (4 pts), Theology/Buddhist - 16 (1 pt), Theology/Christian - 16 (1 pt), Throwing Art - 17 (12 pts), Weird Science - 15 (1 pt)
Total: 617 pts.
Comments: Her powers are a guess based off of what we've seen her do, and yes, some of it is based off of what we didn't get to see until Serenity. A few of her skills are guesses based off of what Simon has said she did or could do before she went to the Academy; I've left off a few things (Computer Programming, for instance) that would be reasonable to assume she has learned at some point but that we've never seen her use. I did go ahead and add Vacc Suit and Piloting to her skills as things she learns in play; a River at the beginning of the "game" wouldn't have those two skills yet.
A pre-Academy River would lose Weapon Master; all of her Powers except for one level of each Talent, Danger Sense, and Empathy; all of her disads except for the Sense of Duty (replace Serenity with her family); and Escape, Weird Science, and all of her combat-related skills as well as the two mentioned above. She also gets one point of HT back, for a HT of 10. Yes, my assumption is that she was already a latent ESPer/Reader when they found her, and that's why they recruited her, not for her formidable intellect; it is that intellect, and her personal strength of Will, that prevent her from simply disintegrating under the pressure of everyone else's thoughts and emotions. The combat monsterism is the result of their training, although based on a certain amount of already-present physical talent.