The Time Lord package for the Hero System

by Andy Horton

I have been playing and GMing in a long-term 'Dr Who' campaign, using the Hero
System (aka Champions) 4th edition rules.  These rules were deliberately
created to allow the design of player- and nonplayer-characters of almost any
type.  One feature is the "package deal", a set of skills, abilities and
disadvantages common to all members of a particular group or race (the rulebook
gives example packages for police officers and for Elves).  For the benefit of
anyone thinking of using the Hero System for a 'Dr Who' campaign, or of
introducing Time Lords into their Champions game, here is the package deal we
worked out for the Time Lords:  

Skills:  Area Knowledge:  Gallifrey  (2pts)
         Knowledge:  Time lords  (2pts)
         Knowledge:  Temporal Science  (2pts)
         Knowledge:  TARDIS operation  (2pts)
         Professional Skill:  TARDIS Operation  (2pts)
Talents:  Simulate Death (3pts)
Increased Characteristic Maxima:  Int 28  (8pts)
                                  Ego 23  (6pts)       
                                  Con 23  (6 pts)

Disadvantages:  Watched by the other time Lords (8-, More Powerful, NCI) 
(10pts)
                Reputation:  Time Lord 8- (5pts)
                Package Bonus (2pts)

The total point cost is 33, with 17 points of Disadvantages and package bonus,
sothe total package cost is 16 points.
     We gave the Time Lords 23 constitution maximum because they have two
hearts, and are probably hardier than Humans.  We could have included the perk
"minor nobility", costing 2 points, but as it would only come into play on
Gallifrey (where the TLs only seem to associate with each other rather than
with the commoners anyway), we didn't see the need.  Package deals are only the
minimum attributes which every member of the group has, so a Time Lord would
probably have increased skill scores, and many other areas of knowledge  etc.
     The Time lord regeneration ability was dealt with by a little judicious
fudging of the rules.  The hero system rules allow powers to have limited uses,
but only in terms of "3/day" or "1/month" - there was no provision for finite
uses (like the 12 regenerations per lifetime, which are never recovered).  We
croos-indexed the limitation cost with the time chart in the rulebook, and gave
the TLs 12 uses of the power within 1000 years game time.  With the other
limits written in, this is how it turned out:
   10 Body Regeneration; 12 charges/1000 years (-2 3/4), No Conscious Control
(-2), Only When on negative Body (-1/2), Changes character appearance and
personality each time (-1/4).
     The "no conscious control" limit allows the GM to have the power take
effect if the Time Lords force the PC to regenerate, or if the PC is affected
by disease or radiation.   

The points cost for regeneration is 100 points base, modified by all the
limitations.  I think it works out at about 15 or 16 real points.

Comments by Ian McDonald

(Well actually, I made rather more comments, but many were rejected).

Perks:
     Immunity (Gases)           3pts
(The legendary respiratory bypass.  Very useful in a tight squeeze.  I'm
not quite sure whether this, or Life Support, possible with a 'must be
consciously switched on' limitation, would be better, but I think the
points would be about right.)  (The addition of Life Support vs gases, with
limits such as "costs Endurance", would be quite practical - Andy)
     Immunity (partial to BLE)  3pts
(Time Lords can walk through Time Eddies [ref. Invasion of the Dinosaurs]
and have an immunity to certain side-effects of time travel because of
their symbiotic nuclei [ref. The Two Doctors].  BLE stands for Blinovitch
Limitation Effect, and is a catch-all fudge to get around time travel
problems.)

There are two other powers I think should be considered, but it is
questionable whether these should rightly belong to the Time Lord, or to
the TARDIS.  The first is Mind Link, to reflect the telepathic link between
the Time Lord and the telepathic circuits of the TARDIS.  The second is the
Perk Universal Translator, bought at a very high level and with a +2 Usable
By Others Power Advantage.  I have heard that the aliens all speak English
(i) because of a Telepathic ability of the Doctor that he shares with us,
and (ii) because of a Telepathic ability of the TARDIS that she shares with
us, which is why that much is ambiguous.