Here There Be Monsters


Paradigm	Key Notes	Assumptions	Starting
House Rules	Gear	Abilities (Summary)	Abilities (Skills)
Abilities (Talents)	Abilities (Perks)	Abilities (Powers)

Starting Characters

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This document details a number of assumptions involving the creation of new Player Characters in the Here There Be Monsters setting. Individual GM's may vary on specific details.

ABILITIES

In a Here There Be Monsters campaign characters are limited to spending their points on Characteristics, Talents, Perks, and Skills. Special abilities and outright Powers are available, but only via specific Special Resource Pools, depending upon their SFX. For instance "Super Skills" (which are called signature abilities in Here There Be Monsters campaigns) are only available via the Professional Pool, and mystical "Spells" are only available via the Mystic Pool, and so forth.

ORIGIN

All Players must pick one of the provided Origins for their character, which among other things will indicate the sort of Special Resource Pool available to that character when starting play. Origins are a very soft limitation for Here There Be Monster characters as all of the Special Pools can be unlocked by a given character if the GM allows; characters simply get a "freebie" unlock based upon their Origin.

ARCHETYPE

For each Origin a handful of Archetypes are presented describing various sorts of characters often associated with each Origin; for instance the Professional Origin discusses Ex-Military, Survivors, Cryptozooligists, and other backgrounds one might expect to find among Professionals within the setting. Archetypes are elective; they merely provide some structure to well recognized broad skills sets that are useful to Hunting the Supernatural in a general sense. Players are free to use or ignore the idea of Archetypes to inform their character design.

RESOURCE POOLS

Players start with free points with which to seed Resource Pools. The Resource Pools start off empty, and players use the free points they are granted plus any additional Character Points they elect to spend. Each character has an allotment of 25 free points to seed their Resource Pools with during character creation, in addition to their normal Character Points.

RESOURCE POOL	POINTS

Equipment	1 : 5
Vehicles \ Bases	1 : 2
Contacts \ Followers	1 : 2
Special Pools	1 : 1

These 25 free points are not counted as part of a character's point total. Characters can also spend their Character Points and later Experience Points to further increase their Resource Pools.

Every 5 points of Equipment Pool costs 1 Character Point, every 2 points of Contact / Follower or Vehicle / Base Pool costs 1 Character Point, and every point of Special Pools costs 1 Character Point. However, the special costing for Vehicles, Bases, and Followers applies. For instance, each point of the Contact and Followers Pool spent on Followers grants 5 points with which to build a Follower per the Follower rules. This can get a little confusing in theory, but it works out in practice.

RESOURCE POOLS DESCRIBED

Equipment Pool: a characters normal gear, including basic weapons (publically available handguns, rifles, shotguns), simple body armor, and consumer electronics. The Kit and Armory concept applies to Equipment; the number rating of the Resource Pool indicates how much gear a character can carry with them (their Kit); however they can have more things that are availble to them with time and access (their Armory). Gear that would be considered "standard" or "street" level in a typical Dark Champions campaign can be taken in a character's Equipment Pool; more uncommon and special gear must be taken in an appropriate Special Pool.
Vehicles and Bases Pool: any vehicles and or bases a character might have. This Pool is particularly efficient as the normal pricing of Vehicles and Bases applies, so each point of Vehicle and Bases Pool spent on Vehicles is really 5 points of Vehicle effect, and similarly each point spent on a Base is effectively 5 points worth of Base.
Contacts and Followers Pool: any contacts a character might have; the Well-Connected Perk reduces the cost of these Contacts as normal. With GM permission this Pool can also be used to pay for Followers; the normal cost structure for Followers applies so each point of Contacts and Followers Pool spent on Followers is effectively 5 points worth of Followers.
Special Pools: Special Pools control a character's access to various sorts of special abilities and unusual gear. A character's Origin unlocks one Special Pool during character creation, but the other Special Pools are attainable as well with extra expenditure and GM permission. Each type of Special Pool is usable for different things, as described below. The Kit and Armory concept does not apply to the Special Pools, and a character can only change out abilities in their Special Pools with GM permission or as a reaction to events that transpire during the game as the campaign unfolds (such as if special gear is lost or destroyed).
- Mystic Pool: a character pays for enchanted items, spells, mystic powers, and other supernatural abilities they have out of their Mystic Pool.
- Psychic Pool: a character pays for any psychic items or powers they have out of their Psychic Pool.
- Believer Pool: a character pays for any relics and / or faith-based abilities they may have out of their Believer Pool. They can also take something ephemeral like a one-time boon granted by a powerful being.
- Innate Pool: a character pays for any innate Supernatural abilities, such as Lycanthropy or Immortality or other abilities that represent a Supernatural character's normal state of existence from their Innate Pool.
- Professional Pool: a character pays for any special or one-of-a-kind custom gear and / or signature abilities (i.e. Super Skills) they may have out of their Professional Pool. "Mundane" equipment considered to be Military or Advanced Military in a typical Dark Champions campaign can be taken in a Professional Pool by characters who can justify it with their concept.

UNLOCKING ADDITIONAL SPECIAL RESOURCE POOLS

Players can spend extra character points to unlock additional Special Resource Pools beyond the one they have access to for free via their Origin. First, this requires conceptual justification and GM's approval. Second it requires the purchase of a custom Talent per Special Resource Pool.

Cordelia Voss is an example of a character that has unlocked a second Origin; in her case she is both a Psychic and a Mystic.

Cost	Ability
5 each	Unlock Special Resource Pool (Mystic, Psychic, Believer, Innate, or Professional)

INCREASING RESOURCE POOLS

Players can spend extra character points to increase the size of their Resource Pools at the costs indicated previously. A GM might opt to limit the sizes of Resource Pools on a case by case basis, but by default there is no cap.

Extra points are purchased as a Perk (if using HERO Designer, use the Custom Perk and name it appropriately according to what Pool you are increasing).

MONETARY COSTS OF STARTING EQUIPMENT

Characters do not have to pay the monetary cost of stuff that they start with in their Resource Pools; it's assumed that they acquired the stuff (whatever it might be) prior to coming into the spotlight of the campaign. In the case of Resource Pools that use the Kit and Armory concept, a character that has more stuff than they can fit into their Resource Pool must pay the monetary cost for the extra stuff in their kit from their starting funds.

AVAILABILITY OF STUFF

Characters can have mundane, normal, off the self gear in their Equipment Pool. More unusual items, up to and including rare or unique items, can be taken in Special Pools based upon their nature and the nature of a given character. Thus a fancy one of a kind custom gun could be taken in a Professional Pool by a gun-oriented character, while a Staff of Power could be taken in a Mystic Pool by a magic-oriented character.

STARTING FUNDS

The following assumptions are in effect for starting funds that are easily and freely available to a character:

WEALTH LEVEL	STARTING FUNDS

Destitute	$50
Poor	$500

Normal	$2,500

Wealth (1)	$10,000
Wealth (2)	$20,000
Wealth (3)	$30,000
Wealth (4)	$40,000
Wealth (5)	$50,000

Wealth (6)+	Not Available for starting PC's

CHARACTER POINT LEVELS

This paradigm is expected to be mid powered and to rise into high power as Hunters gain experience. The assumed point level range of Here There Be Monsters is detailed under Assumptions.

It is assumed that new characters in this paradigm start with 75 Base Points and up to 50 points from Disadvantages (5e, 75+50), or 125 Base Points and up to 50 points of matching Complications (6e, 125/50). This value can be altered by the GM at will.

Rather than the starting levels of Resource Pools being arbitrarily set, Player Characters also get 25 "free" points to seed their Resource Pools with as their players see fit to allocate them. These extra points do not count as part of the character's total points. However, a character making full use of Disadvantages (5e) / Complications (6e) and all of the 25 extra points gained to seed Resource Pools with is effectively a 150 point character.

CUSTOM GAME ELEMENTS

The Abilities page details various Skills, Perks, and Talents that are in use in a Here There Be Monsters campaign. These abilities count as standard abilities paid for normally by any character regardless of Origin, not abilities that must or should be taken in Special Resource Pools.