When a Noble class flunks out...

[GuitarEC]

I have an odd situation... A friend of mine and I were working to develop a character for him. She is a Noble with a SOC of 16. Her first term was to be University study, but she ddn't make the admissions test... So, it's off to Noble profession - she failed her Survival DC (elected to bump up the DC by 5 and rolled a 1 ). On the Mishap outcome roll, she lost her SOC standing and now no longer qualifies to be a Noble.

My question is... what happens to her Nobel specific Skills and Feats? Does she retain the skills but loose the feats? Does she loose both? How would that affect her future development?

Any assistance would be appreciated....

Eric "GuitarEC"

 

[Richard Saunders]

Hello.
So you where caught with your fingers in the cookie jar, Hum Hum.
Yes because you failed to survive the encounter you dont get anything for that term, but because you started with a SOC of 16 you dont loose that it just dosn't count for much.
Think of the British Empire around 1890's, A colonel is cashiered from his regiment, he is still a noble but everyone is going to treat him like a crook, UNTILL he leaves and goes somplace where he is not known, then he can carry of his SOC16 until somone finds out about the past and he must move on (or he gets blackmailed).
Massive amounts of fun can be had.
Does the rest of the group know he failed or not, if not Yippy, Fun and Embarressment all round after the rest find out they have been kissing up to an ignoble.
Dont forget the family will send an allowance to keep him away (if handled right).
Bye.

 

[GuitarEC]

Well, the Survival Mshap table my friend rolled on indicated a loss of SOC and dismissal from the service... I read that as a lowering of the characters SOC Ability - that brought it below the required 16 to be a Noble class...

What I'm trying to figure out is... does the character get to keep the initial feats and skills she picked up as an initial Nobel before the 1st term mishap?

Eric "GuitarEC"

 

[Tanuki]

Originally posted by GuitarEC:
Well, the Survival Mshap table my friend rolled on indicated a loss of SOC and dismissal from the service... I read that as a lowering of the characters SOC Ability - that brought it below the required 16 to be a Noble class...

What I'm trying to figure out is... does the character get to keep the initial feats and skills she picked up as an initial Nobel before the 1st term mishap?

It's your game. How do you want to run it?

Personally, I think a remittance man/woman with a deep, dark secret past would be great fun to run. You can tack on a recurring enemy hounding them to get revenge for the death of their heir caused by the PCs cowardice or the like. Add into the encounter possibilities the chance of being recognized -- small most of the time, but if the party strays into the PCs home neighborhood that might go up significantly. If the character is indeed a remittance man/woman, they should be from a sector or more away from where the PCs will be cruising around and should strongly resist any attempts to head off in that direction.

Probably the best way to deal with a remittance is a couple of memberships in TAS so that they have money (in the form of High Passage Vouchers) coming in regularly. Or they might have to pick up funds from local banks in a particular subsector or group of worlds to keep them semi-anchored far away from home.

You can give the PC a fetching eyepatch or a limp to carry as a reminder of the disaster as well.

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by GuitarEC:
Well, the Survival Mshap table my friend rolled on indicated a loss of SOC and dismissal from the service... I read that as a lowering of the characters SOC Ability - that brought it below the required 16 to be a Noble class...

What I'm trying to figure out is... does the character get to keep the initial feats and skills she picked up as an initial Nobel before the 1st term mishap?

Eric "GuitarEC"

Hmm, sticky situation, and ripe with great prior history nuggets. Personally one thing I would change is rather than "Anger the Emperor" I'd tell the player they angered a Marquis. I mean what are the odds that a Knight is even going to get to see the Emperor, unless your game is set near Capital. Anyway onto your specifics...

Like Hunter says it's your game so this is just my opinion, take it or leave it, or alter it to suit

The player shouldn't lose the feats or skills. However the skills will no longer be class skills unless they are for another class (once multi-classed) so future improvement will be based on cross-class cost and limits. The specialized class feats are a little trickier. Again they should be retained but altered perhaps. Just because the ex-Knight erred won't affect everyone's opinion so...

Noble Presence - Use the PC's Charisma or if they attempt to play the Knight make a general knowledge check for any NPC that might be affected. If the NPC makes it they know about the fall from power and are not going to be impressed, possibly even being affected in a negative way.

Noble Indignance - Very much like the feat above.

Patronage - No effect, this is something they learned early on. Though of course if they lecture about it the audience may be unimpressed.

Trust Fund - No real effect. The amount is of course reduced to the new SOC level and the family may take measures to distance themselves (at least publicly) by taking steps to insure the funds are not traced back to them.

I hope that helps and inspires a bit, have fun

 

[GuitarEC]

Thank you all for the insight. I do appreciate the time and thought you have given this little quantry... ...admittedly, this is the first RPG I have run in quite sometime, topped with the fact that the friend of mine generating this character has been DMing RPGs for quite sometime...

Again, thanks for the help and insight,

Eric "GuitarEC"

 

[kafka47]

Well...this individual could be the resident bastard, who is suddenly finding himself without status when his father dies and mother remarries his uncle...making a nasty Hamlet & Lear-like scenario. Save, this character would be more Edgar than waxing Hamlet.

Also, why not play him in a society with strict honor rules like the Aslan. The loss of status is something that he must now gain back to prove that he truly worthy of the title KO .

Another possibility, is that he simply mixed with the wrong crowd (low Int. score, perhaps). Who would believe that the faternity Sole Men could be linked to such an anti-Imperial conspiracy.