Modeling a Feat as a Power

[Lord Fell]

Alright... so I have some character edits on hold, because it looks like there is still debate over whether they fly.

Basically, one of Pompadour's powers is that he's superhumanly attractive. I purchased Attractive 3, primarily because in a different thread a Ref ruled that Attractive 2 was within the realms of possibility for a normal person, but a 3rd rank was "superhuman." Unfortunately, 3 ranks of attractive puts a PL6 character over Skill Caps, so I need to rework.

The problem of course, is that Attractive is basically Enhanced Skill +4 (Diplomacy & Bluff) [Limited to those that find you attractive] all for 1 point. Characters are limited to PL+5 in skill ranks, and this Feat enhances my skills, so I'm limited to +11. I consider this a technicality, but it's one I'm told the Refs feel obliged to enforce. So be it.

So... my problem is that my points in Skill are too high, why not go the other way, and model the Feat, but as a Stat... and since I want it to represent superhuman levels of attraction, make it a power. So, I came up with Enhanced Charisma (limited to those who find him attractive, limited to Diplomacy and Bluff).

No ref I've talked to has had a concern with "limited to those who might find him attractive" -that's roughly half the population, and therefore a 50% limitation.

Regarding limiting it to only Diplomacy and Bluff... Well, I'm modeling it after attractive, which only effects those two abilities. I could see it, conceivably affecting something like Gather Information -except that Attractive doesn't, and just because someone is really attracted to you doesn't mean they know what you want to know.

As for usage... would this come into play roughly 50% of the time? I would say yes. Pompadour has all 5 charisma based skills (Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Gather Information, and Perform).

:arrow: How often do I use Intimidate? Well, so far I've used it more than I've used Diplomacy.

:arrow: Gather Information? I'll be buying Contacts with my next batch of PP. This is the skill to use that feat.

:arrow: Perform? Well, this was described to me as a useless skill, but I've already committed to putting MORE ranks into it because my character is an aspiring Rock Star.

...because my character is a "Charisma Monkey" having this Enhanced Charisma only effect 2/5 skills is, I contend, a legitimate limitation.

So, why not just buy straight, unadulterated charisma you ask? Well, I want to model the effects of Attractive, and I need to work around the rules. This isn't exactly an efficient way of doing it (2pp for a +3 bonus, as opposed to 1pp for a +4 bonus that the Feat gives), but I think it's a legitimate way of doing it. Of course, straight up Charisma could also be defined as "being attractive" -but I just didn't have the points to buy enough Charisma to model the effect I wanted. In the future I will be putting points into un-flawed Charisma, but for now, this is what I'd like to run with.

[Avenger Assembled]

I am disinclined to accept something that the system already provides for adequately. Attractive handles Pompadour's situation well, given the way you've played him in the past and the way you're talking about playing him in the future. Pompadour is a PL 6-7 character; he shouldn't be as good as Bluff/Diplomacy as characters of a higher PL.

[Lord Fell]

something that the system already provides for adequately.

If the system were providing adequately, I wouldn't have started this thread...

Pompadour is a PL 6-7 character; he shouldn't be as good as Bluff/Diplomacy as characters of a higher PL.

My total Stat + Skill cap is +22, and even if I were allowed to take Attractive 3, I am not meeting these caps.

...I don't think I'm trying to do something broken here, just building my character to concept in a way that I can make work with my points.

[angrydurf]

Heres the thing from my perspective if it just effects Bluff/diplomacy it is in fact a skill bonus not an attribute bonus.

I would suggest modeling it as Enhanced charisma (Flaws: Limited to people who are attracted to you -1) for a final cost of 1 point for 2 points of charisma. Then its an attraction based charisma bonus not a skill bonus in disguise to get around caps.

With your current charisma you could get plenty of it and it still represents supernatural attractiveness just of a broader sort than the feat gives and would work on all charisma based skills.

[Dr Archeville]

You are aware that, if the builds you're looking for are allowed, you'd have a situation where straight women (and gay men) would be rather enamored by you, but straight men (and gay women) would see you as only slightly better than mediocre, due to the ~ 10 point difference in your Bluff and Diplomacy skills?

Wouldn't someone who's "Superhumanly Attractive" be able to use their looks to sway most anyone, regardless of sexual orientation?

[angrydurf]

THis is also a good point I'm already looking to upgrade Aces attractive to just normal bluff/diplomacy

[Lord Fell]

Heres the thing from my perspective if it just effects Bluff/diplomacy it is in fact a skill bonus not an attribute bonus.

This is sort of the core of my frustration with this issue... To me, a skill is something a character can learn to do better, where being attractive isn't really a skill; you can't practice it until you're better at it. That's just a peculiarity of how the Feat was designed.

I would suggest modeling it as Enhanced charisma (Flaws: Limited to people who are attracted to you -1) for a final cost of 1 point for 2 points of charisma. Then its an attraction based charisma bonus not a skill bonus in disguise to get around caps.

But then it would influence Intimidate, which doesn't make any sense: "You're really hot... I'm afraid of you." Given that Pompadour has and uses all five Charisma skills, I would definitely get more mileage out of buying it this way, though.

You are aware that, if the builds you're looking for are allowed, you'd have a situation where straight women (and gay men) would be rather enamored by you, but straight men (and gay women) would see you as only slightly better than mediocre, due to the ~ 10 point difference in your Bluff and Diplomacy skills?

I'm OK with that. He still has an additional edge because of pheremones, and his bluff and diplomacy (without a bonus through attractive) are still decent. I will definitely want to be pushing more points into unmodified Charisma in the future, but this is what I'd like to be purchasing now.

Wouldn't someone who's "Superhumanly Attractive" be able to use their looks to sway most anyone, regardless of sexual orientation?

To a large degree, I'm thinking Pompadour's "super attractive" powers are linked to sex appeal, so not in this case. On the other hand, I didn't limit his pheremones or emotion control to gender, so he has some general appeal -which I intend to augment in the future with straight up unmodified Charisma and Enhanced Charisma (some of each).