[AToW Companion] MW2 Character Conversion - Characteristics?

[kronovan]

I'm going to run AToW in a month or 2, so when prepping I dug out my old Comstar Sourcebook and noticed some MW2 NPCs listed in the back. I noticed those MW2 NPCs list something called Characteristics, which I see no mention of in the AToW Companion's MW2 conversion section.

Having never played MW2 or read the rulebook, I'm wondering if I should be concerned about those characteristics when I convert those NPCs? Or are they something that was made obsolete by newer editions of the RPG rules?

[guardiandashi]

could you post an example or 2 because it would give me an idea how important they are.

[kronovan]

Sure thing and thanks for the reply.
As an example, the stat block for the Comstar True  Believer MechWarrior (Adept Epsilon)
________________________________

Attributes.           Characteristics

BLD  5  (7+).       Athletic.  7+
REF. 6. (6+).       Physical.  8+
INT. 4. (8+).         Mental.    10+
LRN. 4. (8+).       Social.     10+
CHA. 4. (8+)

Skills

Gunnery/Mech     3.  (5+)
Leadership.           1.   (7+)
Piloting/Mech.     3.   (5+)
Small Arms.          1.    (9+)
Interests.               3.     (7+)
   The study of the  writings of Jerome Blake
Tactics.                  1.     (9+)
Unarmed Combat 1.     (6+)

Edge: 2
___________________________

I didn't include the assets or equipment and this NPC doesn't have any advantages. All the extra periods are just something my silly Android touch keyboard is auto-adding.

The more I look at those stars, the more I suspect those Characteristics are just derived stars that have been replaced by AToW's expanded list of attributes, but never having read the MW 2 rule book, I can't be sure.

[guardiandashi]

actually the characteristics are VERY important.
they are the derived stats that many skills calculate from.

athletic skills:
acrobatics
blade
etc.

Physical skills
gunnery
piloting
small arms
etc.

mental skills
administration
career skills
technician
etc.

social skills
Bureaucracy
Leadership
Seduction
etc.

Athletic is calculated 18 minus build and reflexes
the others are derived similarly just with different attributes used.

so gunnery would be:
18 -reflexes -intuition = physical - gunnery skill = target number

[bluedragon7]

You only need one convert the attributes, the characteristics are replaced by fixed target numbers for each skill based on its complexity.
In AToW the influence of attributes is greatly reduced.

[skiltao]

Or are they something that was made obsolete by newer editions of the RPG rules?

Obsolete in newer editions for the reasons bluedragon7 said. Important in MW2e for the reasons guardiandashi said.

[kronovan]

Oh OK - got it. That also explains the number in brackets beside each attribute, which I can see are the difference of 12-attribute. Which I'm guessing was the TN  that was used when a single attribute roll was required. Or was it the case in MW2 that some skills were based on a single attribute simular to the way some are in AToW, so those would be the TNs for any such skills that are untrained?

With just 3 fixed numbers ranging from 7-9 in AToW for skill TNs, my thinking is that the superior/lower skill TNs in MW2 should be taken care of through the conversion process as detailed in the companion. That said, when I did a test conversion of one of those Comstar NPCs last night, there was a heap of XP left. So it seems logical that the superior MW2 skill TNs should influence which skills get some/more of the additional XP.

[skiltao]

Which I'm guessing was the TN  that was used when a single attribute roll was required.

Yep!

it seems logical that the superior MW2 skill TNs should influence which skills get some/more of the additional XP.

That does seem logical. Remember also though, that one of AToW's selling points is that it has a much wider range of skills than MW2e did, and AToW characters tend to end chargen with a larger number of "background" skills to "round them out." (I'm not sure if AToW Companion's conversion process accounts for that.)

[Daryk]

I'm away from my books, but I don't recall any skills in MW2 that were based on a single attribute.  The main flaw in the system was the huge impact of Intuition (INT).  The character you provided could be a 4/4 Gunner/Pilot without changing the target numbers of any of his other skills by simply shifting a point each of LRN and CHA into INT (it cost double, but as you can see, it was more than worth it).

[kronovan]

Remember also though, that one of AToW's selling points is that it has a much wider range of skills than MW2e did, and AToW characters tend to end chargen with a larger number of "background" skills to "round them out." (I'm not sure if AToW Companion's conversion process accounts for that.)

It doesn't seem to account for that much, but it does discuss the difference between MW2e's adventure points and skill points and that APs convert at a 1:1 ratio and SPs at a 5:1 ratio. That doesn't help me much though, since I'm working from fixed stat blocs in a book - I don't have any idea what APs or SPs were used in those builds. I was somewhat mindful of the background skills and began with the standard 850 XP expenditure for life stage 0 and gave my converted NPC the Language, Perception & Protocol skills which the MW2e stat block didn't have.

That still ended up with an AToW NPC that was woefully underskilled, so I increased the 2 attributes they had at 6 to 7 (7 of their 11 MW2e skills after conversion were linked to them) and increased a number of skills a level or 2. I also brought their 2 advantages/traits up a level to 2.  That still left me with about 700 XP remaining, but the NPC is at a point where if I added more they'd risk becoming OP.

[guardiandashi]

It doesn't seem to account for that much, but it does discuss the difference between MW2e's adventure points and skill points and that APs convert at a 1:1 ratio and SPs at a 5:1 ratio. That doesn't help me much though, since I'm working from fixed stat blocs in a book - I don't have any idea what APs or SPs were used in those builds. I was somewhat mindful of the background skills and began with the standard 850 XP expenditure for life stage 0 and gave my converted NPC the Language, Perception & Protocol skills which the MW2e stat block didn't have.

That still ended up with an AToW NPC that was woefully underskilled, so I increased the 2 attributes they had at 6 to 7 (7 of their 11 MW2e skills after conversion were linked to them) and increased a number of skills a level or 2. I also brought their 2 advantages/traits up a level to 2.  That still left me with about 700 XP remaining, but the NPC is at a point where if I added more they'd risk becoming OP.

AP were used for pretty much all advancement, SP were only used for skill advancement

so lets say your char has a skill at level 4 that they want to advance to 5 they would normally spend 10 sp, and 6 ap and they now have level 6 if they have a trainer (someone who already has a level 6+ in the skill and training
they can also advance it by spending 12 ap or 10sp plus another 60 sp (if they have TONS of sp that they don't know what to do with)
I want to say advancing without a trainer cost double ap but I would have to reread that portion

to advance an attribute cost 2x the ap of the level of the new stat, or it was 10x with ITN (intuition) costing double as it always cost 2x as much as any other stat because most things tied back to it.