Idea for Advantage: Support Staff

[BillionSix]

I had an idea for a new Advantage, but am not sure how to define the details.

The game already has the Sidekick advantage, but what if you don't want Robin, but you do want Alfred the Butler. Someone who knows you are a hero, doesn't join you on adventures, but is still useful.
So while you are off fighting evil, your Totally Hot Personal Assistant is making sure your business is running, picking up the dry cleaning, and maybe gathering information on the enemy via mad computer skills.
In combat, they would function as minions.

Maybe it's a weird desire for "game balance" but they would be much less powerful than sidekicks, so what balancing factor could I give them to make them worth the cost? What additional bonus?

[CuMorrig]

Maybe you could get three to five support staff when you take the advantage instead of just one.

Like you would get Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, and that guy Morgan Freeman played (can't remember his name).

[Boost]

Lucius Fox

[kevperrine]

I had an idea for a new Advantage, but am not sure how to define the details.

The game already has the Sidekick advantage, but what if you don't want Robin, but you do want Alfred the Butler. Someone who knows you are a hero, doesn't join you on adventures, but is still useful.
...
In combat, they would function as minions.

Maybe it's a weird desire for "game balance" but they would be much less powerful than sidekicks, so what balancing factor could I give them to make them worth the cost? What additional bonus?

I think your want for game balance is fine but I'd first ask more on WHAT you want this "Support Staff" to DO functionally in-game play?
Do you WANT to EVER be able to use it for ANYTHING rule-wise? Would your Support Staff ever BE in a battle (other than just being available to the Villain to mess with)? Would they be available to offer "support" with Skill Checks, Extended Checks, or just general advice or research for YOUR crime-fighting efforts? Would they be there to make make or do things to increase any of your situation beyond normal (ie. work breakthroughs that gain $$, or provide HEALING aid, or come drag you out of the fire, etc...).

What GAME RULE effect will they have? This would help you "balance" the idea for this Support Staff.

Or rather help you PICK which Advantage it should be. Or even determine that it's either NOT an Advantage at all - but instead JUST a background NPC character for your "family" (as in the "Bat-family" of support characters). Or it might even end up being a Disadvantage as a Ward (a Ward, from my reading, doesn't need to be the helpless kid or old aunt - it could be a perfectly reliable person that just gets into trouble around you like Jimmy Oleson maybe)

But I looked through the core rules and found all the rules that would apply to THIS idea.

What I came to, based on what you said, is that you DONOT need to make a new Advantage. There are plenty of rules that can cover it. They just don't SAY "Support Staff" in the text, but they could each totally be used for this. Let me explain:


Contacts: This Advantage would allow for 3 primary "staff" (the staff managers or lieutenants or minor bosses, whatever...) and a bevy of lesser incidental staff that you could spend a point to "get" access to for a specific need. (like if you need a specialist in Forensics and your main 3 don't have skills in that, you spend a point and they call Dr. Bones from your Forensics lab department to come up and explain things)

Headquarters: This Advantage could give you a Staff to "take care of daily maintenance and can assist you on occasion". Even if you didn't want a full HQ, you could easily take this Advantage for 1 pt and "build" the HQ down to exactly what you want (maybe you ONLY take the Staff option multiple times).

Mentor: This Advantage could give you a "staff" that "offers guidance and support". ... "You can periodically ask your Mentor (staff) for advice, hints, or for knowledge (the Mentor is usually very knowledgeable in one or two subjects) though the Mentor will not always be available (at the Narrator’s discretion). The Mentor does not travel with you- you must take time to go and visit your Mentor to get help." ... "A mentor may have powers, like clairvoyance for instance, but such things should never be given stats or rolled the Narrator will just decide what happens (usually what is best for the plot)."

Resources: This Advantage seems like it would be a virtual GIVEN that you could pay for a staff, kinda like you can just *HAVE* any normal gear in the game (long as you're not destitute)... You'd have enough resources to pay the staff... If you did this, I'd probably just say they function as complete NPC-Minions for the Narrator to control as you need. Probably not as reliable as direct aid for RULE checks, since you didn't "pay" for them with Character Points, they're just a background element for an Advantage you did get... Example - to quote the core rules: "it is possible that unsupervised employees who work in your companies can do things in your name you don’t want or embezzle your money."

Sidekick/Pet: This Advantage is obviously the MOST "powerful" effect for a "Support Staff" to create, because you can have a set amount of points to BUILD them with specific skills, advantages and powers of their own. I don't see why you couldn't split this "sidekick pool" up into multiple less powerful staff with builds as you like. Spend all the points across as many as you want (including 0 pt. "bystanders" as the general support runners) and you're done.

Ward: (Disad): This DISadvantage could also fill the role similar to Resources or HQ, but with some drawback. You could probably get some more control - meaning you might build these "staff" as minions for the Narrator - so you could build them with beneficial skills, etc... but they're open to get into messes...




HERE are the two key things that I think you should consider when thinking of all of the above for a "support staff"...

Assistants: : When you try to do something with a skill, you can have people with the same skill help you. These are assistants. Each one up to 5 gives you a +1 Dice bonus for a skill check.

Teamwork: If two or more Heroes hold-off and combine all their panels for that page together, they might get a teamwork bonus. ... If there is only one roll needed to resolve the action, both roll and take the better.

If/when your "staff" start helping with those rule uses, they become MORE than background NPCs. So they're either helpful NPC-Minions that the Narrator controls (and provides) and THUS are only background and not needed to spend YOUR character's Points on.
[Example: Dr. Connors helping Spiderman by looking at a DNA blood sample to see what's different - which would likely ba a good description of a Streetwise or Science skill check at the Narrator's discretion]
Or
They're more reliable to your character at an instance needed. And you need to spend points on them.
[Example: Lucius Fox aiding Batman by building something at request as needed. Which would be a skill check or gadget switch-out that YOU control]



In the end...
I think the rules provide PLENTY to define this Support Staff without making a new rule.
But I can also see that it COULD be important enough of a Comic Book Superhero "cliche" that it might be a good addition (even if it's a duplicate rule). Sometimes just having the name of an Advantage makes new players to the rules "get" the idea, whereas with a little more understanding and creativity for the rules you can define things as I did creatively above.

make sense?
How does that sound to others that are familiar with the rules??

hope that helps
-kev-

[BillionSix]

I had actually considered some of what you said. I noticed that a support staff could be covered by stuff like Contacts or Headquarters, et al.

I also agree it's nice to have a dedicated advantage for that sort of person, since it is a known comic "cliche" as you said.

Another point is that if you have someone specifically on your character sheet, it becomes more a part of your character's personal legend. Anyone who is familiar with Batman knows who Alfred is. He is more than just one of the character's Contacts.
Technically, he would be part of Batman's Headquarters, but that does a disservice to the character, I think. It would be too easy to think of him as a bit character to be ignored or killed off, instead of an important part of Batman's story.

I would say that Mentor is the closest. It would be the one I would be most likely to adapt to the Support Staff idea. A single person who offers assistance. The difference is that a Support Staff character would be more subordinate and more reliably available than a Mentor.

[kevperrine]

Another point is that if you have someone specifically on your character sheet, it becomes more a part of your character's personal legend..

Well...
What I would say (or translate my thought on this) is that putting it on a player's character sheet, ie. PAYING FOR IT with your Character Points and having the rule and stats ready to go make it...

YOUR

"resource"
Not the Narrator's NPC for * with (completely). I think of PC non-player characters like this (any bought with character points) as ones that can't really be "changed" completely without the Player's approval for a story change.
Like a piece of weapon/gear or the hero's primary powers, etc...

Those are things that MAKE the character, so it would be unfair for a Narrator to just say BANG 'cause of the "story" "hey Spidey, you now no longer have spider powers, you have magic spells instead" or "hey Cap... you're shield, the one that's a symbol of you as a hero... it is now destroyed... get a new one."

Or... in this case...
"hey Batman, Alfred is now dead because the Riddler thought it would be a good puzzle to tear him into pieces"


THINGS that you make and buy as a player should NEVER be permanently changed without some sort of player discussion.

And this...
is, as you say, a part of the personal legend.


Although I would also say that it doesn't NEED to be only paid for with points. A player could easily write a great background and say an NPC is an important part of the legend.
A good example is Uncle Ben for Spider-Man.

He's NOT "paid for" with Character Points, because he can't be "used" during a game. But he's just as important.

What I'd caveat is that a Narrator should not take away or change a player's "purchased" items, whether gear or NPCs. (for more than a story, 'cause taking away Thor's hammer or Iron Man's armor or capturing Robin or Alfred for an Issue is a great hook on occasion)
But not having access to something a player PAID for originally in general stinks.

just my humble opinion
-kev-

[BillionSix]

Yeah, you pretty much nailed what I was thinking. Uncle Ben is important, but he is more part of Spider-Man's origin story than an existing part of the narrative. He can't really be "taken away"

That's what I was trying to say. If you pay for something, you get to use it. If I was statting up characters, Batman would pay for Alfred the butler, thus making it so that Alfred couldn't be taken away because the GM felt like it.
(Oddly enough, Batman seems to go through Robins fairly quickly.)

[kevperrine]

(Oddly enough, Batman seems to go through Robins fairly quickly.)

LOL
Yes and no.

#1. Batman "goes through" Robins but he (as a PC) would never "lose" the points the player paid for at character creation, because he always gets a replacement.

I've done this with the D&D3.5 "leadership" Feat. If a PC's "cohort" or "follower" dies somehow, they may lose that "spot" for a game session or two but I always allow them to think of a creative way to get a NEW replacement for the spot no matter where they are. Then they have the OPTION of a replacement but it may be better to wait until they're in a safer (or different) place.

Example: Playing an Iron Kingdoms game, the PC with a high leadership saw over 100 of his followers and his cohort DIE in a horrible invasion. But he didn't WANT new replacements that could be there immediately. He rather, wanted to wait (months) to have new recruits sent from his government. The ones he COULD have gotten from the local area would have been just as "reliable" to the PC (since they were HIS followers/cohort) but he rather wanted NPCs that were of the same race and country as his character completely.


#2. I am a huge "Robin" fan (I just got to PLAY Robin in a one-shot at the recent Green Ronin 10th Anniversary for M&M3 DCAdventures). And I wouldn't say that Bats "replaces" Robins so callously... Even though Robin could/is described as the "human target" or "boy-hostage" sometimes. hehe
For the most part Robins grow up and develop into their own things.... * did. Jason died (but then came back). Tim is probably overall the most competent "replacement" for Batman when he's older. And Damien is (as yet) just MESSED UP! But working on it. Even Carrie (in the future Dark Knight) is very competent!
Anyway... Robin is more of a "namesake" place holder. Almost as "replaceable" as a Batarang... but DIFFERENT because Bruce has cared about each Robin and generally trains them to BE better heroes for the world (better overall than Bats IS himself ... not in skill perhaps but in "spirit" of good for the world). So he's okay with "letting them go" when it's time, and he rarely looks back. The hero continues but Robin stays young forever, Bat's only real connection to HIS lost youth and lost innocence (which may be why Damian is not currently a great Robin).

STILL.
Yes.
In game terms if Bats is a PC... His Narrator is being very cool about allowing him to swap out his PAID FOR sidekick with no "real" troubles. And the "okay" that Robin can regularly be put in deadly danger (and may not make it out alive or unscathed) but "a" Robin will always be there for the PC.


make sense?
-kev-

[BASHMAN]

Having extremely competent personal assistants is kinda rolled-in with the Resources Advantage.

[danbuter]

Maybe a disadvantage, as well? Consider Pepper in the Iron Man movies. She's competent, hot, and has to get rescued.

[BASHMAN]

Then she's a Ward.