DIrector Weishaupt

    The goals for this character build are pretty simple:

  1. introduce myself to you all in song
  2. challenge myself to build something akin to an Average Joe in a game where Indiana Jones in his prime would be considered one.

    With that in mind, let's go.


First Tier

    Having been something of an academic, we're going with the Explorer type, as it's the biggest on skills and abilities that don't require Kryptonian ancestry to justify, and adding Skills and Knowledge flavor for even more skills.  Our starting pools, in might/speed/intellect order, will be 10/9/9 before we invest our six discretionary points, and 12/9/13 after; while I haven't hit the gym for a while, we are still talking about six feet and 240-ish pounds of cunning linguist (keep that last part in mind for later).  We start with 1 might edge from our Physical Nature, a cypher limit of 2, and a collection of goodies:

  • 2 expensive items (fully loaded laptop and smartphone, of course)
  • Weapon of choice (an M16A2, because Army… and this is still a Cypher System character)
  • 2 moderately priced items (Swiss Gear backpack and winter coat)
  • 4 inexpensive items (power pack, 1L bottle of hand sanitizer, poncho, and some fourth thing I'll leave to you)
As for background, it would be #6 (You served in the military with honor).

    Now for our type abilities.  We'll grab Investigative Skills and Interaction Skills from our flavor for training in Assessing Danger, Tinkering with Devices, Seeing through Deception, and Persuading.  As for our type, we'll take Decipher, which allows us to capitalize on language school for 1 intellect point, and Improved Edge, choosing Intellect because the only thing bigger than my brain is my stomach.  Not so much my gut—that one's been fading away for a while.

    If I had to choose a word to describe myself, it would be Inquisitive, which means I get +4 to my intellect pool for an even bigger brain, training in learnin'—book or otherwise—geography, and history at the low, low price of inabilities to sense danger (which means my Assessing Danger skill just went bye-bye), and Initiative.  But I do get three books on any subject(s).  You can switch any of these out, but if you want the authentic Weishaupt experience, here's your reading list:
  • An Architectural Approach to Level Design by Christopher W Totten
  • The Ultimate Sniper by John L Plaster
  • The Historical Reliability of the New Testament: Countering the Challenges to Evangelical Christian Belief  by Craig L Blomberg
  I'll leave the initial link to the adventure to you.

    And for the cherry on top, we'll select Would Rather be Reading as our focus, which grants us training in two non-combat skills that we aren't trained in via the Knowledge is Power perk..  We'll go with Korean and game design.

Going Forward

    This build not only offers insight into the proprietor of this blog, but allows you to play a character who's more skilled than powerful without having to go full skill monkey.  In the meantime, be on the lookout for D&D-Cember, where I'll be building the three classic classes and one controversial throw-in from the "world's greatest roleplaying game", and a monthlong RPG-character-a-day challenge in January.  See ya there!

Maybe next time I try to introduce myself in an RPG-related thingamabob, I'll just say hi.

Oh, and before I forget, your character sheet should look something like this.

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