Unusual Background
Unusual Background
Variable
This is a "catch-all" trait that the GM can use to adjust the point total of any character with special abilities that are not widely available in the game world. "Special abilities" might mean cinematic traits, magic spells, exotic advantages (for a human), supernatural advantages (for anyone), or almost anything else – it depends on the setting. Players are free to suggest Unusual Backgrounds to the GM, but the GM decides whether a proposed Unusual Background is acceptable, and if so, what its cost and benefits are.
Example 1: "Raised by wizards" to justify access to magic spells might be a 0-point special effect in a fantasy world where magic is common, a 10-point Unusual Background in a conspiracy campaign where magic is known but kept secret, and a 50-point Unusual Background – or simply forbidden – in a horror game where a PC who wields supernatural power would reduce the suspense.
Example 2: "Daughter of the God of Magic" to justify the Unkillable advantage would be an Unusual Background in any setting, and would be worth as much as the advantage itself – 50 points or more – if the GM allowed it at all.
Not every unusual character concept merits an Unusual Background. The GM should only charge points when the character enjoys a tangible benefit. For instance, it would be unusual for a human to be raised by wolves, but unless this gave him special capabilities (such as Speak with Animals), it would be background color, worth 0 points.
Unusual Background (Gadgeteer Friend):
If an adventurer has a gadgeteer friend who equips him with useful inventions, he has an Unusual Background. This is an unabashed game-balance measure – it is unbalancing to let a single gadgeteer outfit an entire party at no point cost, however realistic that might be. 15 points.
Unusual Background (Invention):
The character possesses one specific gadget without being a gadgeteer. This must be a unique invention; if it weren't, it would just be Signature Gear. The player must explain how his character came to have the item: he invented it through a lucky accident, his inventor grandfather left it to him, aliens planted the blueprints in his head telepathically, etc. The points in this trait buy a single, bug-free item. The owner can copy it, but he must pay the usual production costs. 5 points if the gadget is Simple, 15 points if Average, 30 points if Complex, or 50 points if Amazing.
Powers: Unusual Background
The Unusual Background advantage can be a useful tool in permitting players to develop "possible but exotic" character concepts without unbalancing the game. GMs should try to avoid over-using this; if all PCs have to take an Unusual Background, presumably their powers aren't as unusual as all that. Also, the point costs of GURPS powers and abilities were chosen to be as fair and internally balanced as possible; it shouldn't be necessary to charge Unusual Background costs just to stop anyone from being too powerful.
Rather, someone with an Unusual Background should have radically unusual abilities, giving the wielder an edge by virtue of their scarcity. They should be able to gain some advantage in fights (say, because they can breathe fire in a world where empty-handed combatants can't usually attack at range). Most people will fail to take simple, logical precautions against them. (If a teleporter can get into any room that he can see on live TV, people may be careful where they allow cameras – unless teleportation is thought to be a myth.) If powers don't carry an Unusual Background cost, then other people should be prepared for them. A telekinetic cat burglar has a huge advantage in a "secret powers" campaign; in one where telekinesis is old news, he might well choose another career.
The problem is with games where most or all of the PCs possess powers that are new and rare in the world in general. The first wave of superbeings will have huge advantages – but their powers won't be "unusual" among PCs. If powers are going to be truly universal in the party, then it's not worth requiring an Unusual Background – the GM can just drop the starting point level. But if some of the players are going to play normal humans, and if the rest of the world isn't going to adapt to the existence of these powers very quickly, then the special advantage granted by the powers justifies an Unusual Background.
Cost
The appropriate cost for an Unusual Background is closely linked to other details of the campaign, and may be proportional to starting point levels. A 50-point Unusual Background for a given power would mean that only a really determined player would take it in a 150-point campaign; in a 500-point game, it would be less of a problem.
In general, 10 points is appropriate if the character merely gains minor, occasional benefits, has an unusual combination of commonplace powers, or has a couple of levels more of the related talent than anyone else. A cost equal to 20-30% of PC starting points suits a power that is rare enough to cause surprise, but which is known to most opponents, or which grants substantial advantages given considerable effort. (Examples might include short-range teleportation that requires an hour of meditation per use, weak and unreliable telepathy or ESP in settings where such are held to be impossible, or magic in a superhero game that focuses heavily on psi powers.) Charging 50% of starting points is only appropriate for game-twisting powers that grant a reliable "killer" advantage; playing the only empowered priest of some powerful deity might merit 50%.
GMs should feel free to vary such costs, especially if players insist on taking powers that make the game much harder to GM – although if the power is really a severe nuisance, it's often better to ban it outright. However, the campaign style, and what PCs may be able to achieve, should be negotiated between the players and GM, and negotiation means compromise; a GM may choose to permit a player to take Precognition – so long as he gives it the Unreliable limitation and takes a 100-point Unusual Background...
Remember also that not every "unusual background" is worth any points at all. If someone acquires ESP thanks to 10 years of study in a Himalayan monastery, but other characters gain the same power thanks to the unexpected side-effects of a new type of aspirin, that's no special advantage – unless the monks also taught other useful techniques, or the drug had other, negative effects on everyone who took it.
Supers and Power Scale
GMs may want to follow a suggestion from GURPS Powers: charging an Unusual Background cost for them. For this purpose, treat D-scale abilities as comparable to LC1 armaments, with an Unusual Background cost of 100 points. Treat C-scale abilities as comparable to LC0 weapons, or strategic weapons, with an Unusual Background cost of 200 points. M-scale abilities should have an Unusual Background Cost of 300 points.
Supers: Unusual Background
Unusual Background has a lot of applications in a comicbook world.
Being a Super
In a world where only a few people have superhuman abilities – fewer than a hundred in the entire world, or no more than a single modest team in a large country such as the United States – being one of those people is a big Unusual Background worth 50 points. If superhuman abilities are more common, but rare enough that only a major city has more than one person with them, having powers is worth 10 points. If anyone can gain superhuman abilities by buying them off the shelf, as training or equipment, they don't count as an Unusual Background at all. This does not apply to super normals; everything they have is off the shelf.
Has a Super Friend
Personally knowing a super in a world where they are rare is worth 15 points, even if he isn't an Ally or Contact. It gives two advantages: the opportunity to approach the super and ask for help with a problem (whether the help is forthcoming depends on a reaction roll), and having a subject of conversation that interests a lot of people. The second doesn't apply in a world of hidden heroes, but being on the inside of a huge secret has its own comparable value. If superhuman abilities are worth no more than 10 points as an Unusual Background, personally knowing a metahuman is no longer worth any points.
This is parallel to the Gadgeteer Friend version of Unusual Background.
Omnilingual
This is an alternative to the usual rules for learning languages, designed for heroes like the super-spy who conveniently turns out to be fluent in every tongue he encounters. You don't actually speak all of the Earth's 5,000 or so languages; it's just that each new language you encounter turns out to be one that you've studied. By itself, this Unusual Background gives an accented comprehension level for both the spoken and written language; if you also have Language Talent, raise that to the native comprehension level. The Unusual Background cost is 40 points.
In a campaign featuring multiple inhabited planets, alien dimensions, or the like, Xeno-Omnilingual costs 80 points and grants the same benefit for alien languages. Those spoken by races with exotic vocal organs may require the Mimicry advantage and an IQ roll for you to speak them.
In either case, if a language is not generally know to exist, or has not been deciphered, you don't know it. At the GM's option, a suitable Hidden Lore roll may show that you have learned such a language.
Access to Technology
See Unusual Background and Equipment (below).