OOC:
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OK, PEOPLE INFORMATION:
I actually tend to run Gather Info checks slightly differently for people than the flat dc 10 in the book, b/c I find it very odd that with a single 1p advantage, someone can know EVERYBODY they might bump into with an AVERAGE check. (DC 10 with no skill points or ability modifier=avg).
Heck, take our PCs for example..
Uomo has +11 persuasion, his avg of 21 is 3 degrees of success.. he knows, on average, Specific, Restricted information about EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE WORLD, by the letter of the rule. That means walking down the street, he can literally recite peoples credit card numbers.
Grid has +10 investigation - same.
Enoch has +13 Investigation - same.
Cass has +8 investigation, so she only has SPECIFIC details about everybody.. So she could only know, oh say the home address, phone number, and life story of every single person she ever meets.
AND none of these skill checks are even the max they could be at this level..
THUS, you can see my dilemma here.
I understand people wanting to know about other people, but the logistics of the Well Informed advantage are rather odd..
For groups/organizations/High profile people, it makes sense. For most individuals, it does not.
Take Katrina for example. Before today, there was no reason anybody WOULD know anything about her.. yet with an average check, half the party could have spotted her on the street and just 'known' that she is a metahuman shape shifter who works at starbucks and dates a guy named David, while secretly going out at night to be a vigilante...
Despite the fact that there is no real way they SHOULD be able to know ANY of that.
ALSO, keep in mind that the gather information rules (Which are what well informed is based off) specify that the base dc of 10 assumes there is no reason that the information would be withheld.
Up till now, I've basically been winging it, but I'm going to have to come up with some consistent way of doing it from now on.
For the moment, I'm going to raise the base DC to between 15 and 20 on anybody who isn't a public figure, depending on how 'knowable' I think they should be..
SO For Enoch's checks:
With Uomo, I would say that a 30 would know the generals of Uomo's character (Name, immortality, some important things he's been involved in, etc), but only one specific piece of sensitive information, not EVERY dirty detail of his life.
Nothing about Kat(14) or Felix (19-10=9) *NOTE: Felix has cipher 2 listed on his sheet*
If he was introduced to terry as "Grid" or heard him referred to as such, then he would know the generals of the hacker Grid (Public figure)
He knows a fair bit about Frost, being a fairly publicly talked about figure.
Uomo only knows some general stuff about Katrina, perhaps he recognizes her face and name from somewhere - for most intents, she's literally an average person who just became worth knowing about.
Likewise, checks about Enoch are only even attemptable if he shows you his real face or tells you his real name. You can't know things about someone if you don't know who he is. (IE You couldn't make a well informed check about batman and just kinda 'know' he's bruce wayne..)
IF so, then his status as an 'insane congressman's son' would leave the base DC for him at 10.
For now we'll assume that Enoch let his disguise slip, or mentioned his name, and managed to figure out some of Uomo's secrets, so what's already been posted doesn't have to be altered. He could merely be bluffing (Or more likely inferring from what he does know) about Uomo's sordid past.
These are just rules for the instant 'well informed' check. Other advantages/normal info gathering beyond that is still possible.
Zerith - That expertise check wouldn't work, Expertise specifically covers all tasks EXCEPT those covered by other skills (Which knowing about people is most certainly covered under, else nobody would be able to do it WITHOUT expertise)
Also a final note - If you can't work your characters together, I'm not going to do it for you. So if you want to be part of the story, find a way to get along. I'm fine with some in character friction and good roleplaying, but make sure that's all it is, please. Just a friendly warning.
Any questions/comments, please post them into the OOC thread. I just wanted to post this here to make sure everybody saw it.
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