Patron

A Patron with the Equipment modifier automatically pays for the character’s Cost of Living and allows the character to start off with the entirety of their starting wealth in equipment.

Rank

Different types of Rank can cost different amounts, yielding different benefits. The prices of the Ranks specified in the Organizations pages take all of the following into account.

All variant types of Rank are assumed to include two aspects at the start – a nominal hierarchical position with a title and a chain of command. This costs 2 points per level as a base cost; if a position lacks the chain of command aspect, then it costs 1/level base. A character may have some levels of Rank that are part of the Chain of Command and some that are not; represent this by a split Rank (for example, a character with 2,000 subordinates (Rank 5 in Chain of Command) but the ability to request assistance as a Rank 8 character would have Rank 5/8; if base cost for this rank is 5/level, then total cost would be 5*5 + (5-1)*(8-5) = 37 points).

Note that Resources are in comparison to the number of members in the organization – a small organization that spends lavishly on its members may have Large Resources even if the organization itself only has a few million in assets.

Every level of Rank for an organization with Total Control automatically grants one level of Status.

Rank for an organization that is either Legitimate or Dominant/Unique provides imputed Status, depending upon the total cost of the Rank.

Rank also provides an imputed Reputation when dealing with others inside or significantly impacted by the organization. This depends solely upon the level of Rank, not the points or the aspects used in the Rank. Use only the higher bonus of imputed Status or imputed Reputation for the situation, not both at once!

In general, the amount of Rank someone has depends upon the number of subordinates that they have; this does not apply in situations where the character is not within the chain of command. Rank should generally be within 1 level of the Rank suggested for the number of subordinates.

Talent

Talents commonly use the ‘Alternative Benefit’ rules from GURPS Power-Ups 3: Talents; these provide some type of special bonus gained from the talent in exchange for the reaction bonus. Further, not all Talents have the same skill listing as normal; see the list below for details.

The following Talents are available, among others:

• Cyberneticist: Computer Operation, Computer Programming, Computer Hacking, Computer Security, Netwise, Cryptography. Benefit: Success at Computer Hacking or Computer Programming lets you improvise code that removes -1/level from the penalty for not having proper software for a task that requires it. 5/level.
• Craftiness: Acting, Camouflage, Disguise, Holdout, Shadowing, and Stealth. Benefit: +1/level in Quick Contests against the above skills. 5/level.
• Craftsman: Armoury, Electrician, Electronic Repair, Engineer, Machinist, and Mechanic. Benefit: Success with an appropriate skill listed for this Talent lets you scrounge or improvise equipment for other skills that’s good enough to cut -1/level from the penalty for being improvised (p. B345). When rolling on the Enigmatic Device Table (pp. B478-479) or making any similar unskilled roll to figure out tech, apply +1/level instead.
• Tinkerer: Electronic Repair, Armoury, Forced Entry, Lockpicking, Scrounging, and Traps. Benefit: Success with an appropriate skill listed for this Talent lets you scrounge or improvise equipment for other skills that’s good enough to cut -1/level from the penalty for being improvised (p. B345). Apply +1/level or -1/level, whichever would be more beneficial, to rolls to avoid harm from mundane mechanisms you tamper with. 5/level.
• Truth Seeker: Detect Lies, Expert Skill (Conspiracy Theory), Hidden Lore (Conspiracies), Intelligence Analysis, Interrogation, and Research. Benefit: +1/level in Contests against attempts to perpetrate a cover-up. This aids Vision vs. Filch or Sleight of Hand if someone tries to hide or swap documents on you, Hearing vs. Electronics Operation to hear voices deliberately hidden in static, etc. 5/level.
• Hot-Shot Pilot: Aerobatics, Artillery (Guided Missiles), Gunner, Navigation (Air and Space), Piloting, and Electronic Operations (Sensors and Communications). Benefit: -1/level less-severe penalties from Familiarity (p. B169) when dealing with unfamiliar systems installed of any kind in a vehicle for which you know Piloting. 5/level.
• Born Copper: Body Language, Criminology, Detect Lies, Interrogation, Observation, Savoir-Faire (Police). Benefit: +1/level to Per rolls to notice clues when no skills would apply and to rolls to use Intuition.

Telecommunication

When adding multiple Telecommunication types to the same character, you may take the highest-cost base type and then add in one fifth the cost of the additional types, similar to how Alternative Abilities work. These are not counted as distinct Alternative Abilities – it is possible to use both Telecommunication types at once, and no action is required to switch between them.

The following Modifiers are available for Telecommunication:

Cellular: This is only available for Radio. You can only connect to base stations, which then transmit your signal to other receivers – similar to the way cellular telephones work. If you can not get a signal to a base station, you can not transmit at all – even if a receiver is two feet away from you. -30%.

Short Wave: Works as in the Basic Set, except it allows you to receive short-wave transmissions while underwater. These have 1/1000 the bandwidth of normal transmissions – they must either be very simple or, if you also have Digital (below), take a long time to transmit.

Digital: You can send and receive digital information, not just speech or pictures. Your telecommunication method determines your bandwidth:

Bandwidth may be increased using the Burst enhancement. If your Bandwidth is 100 GB/second or greater, you may utilize an Immersive Interface. +50%.