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FATE:FantasticAdventuresinTabletopEntertainment

Pyramid Reloaded

T is is a Fate paper on visua y exp aining t e s ipyramid concept, in particular looking for a methodthat makes it easier to place in front of playersw o are new to t e i ea o t e pyrami , or w o are

aving trou e wrapping t eir ea s aroun it.

T is write-up a so proposes a revision o t e

p ase- y-p ase s i se ection process t at wiave at east a minor impact on t e way t at s ipyramids look from phase to phase dont expectthis to completely jive with the online pyramidgenerators at certain points, ecause it wont. T eproposition ere is in t e interests o spee ingup t e entire s i process, ma ing it easier to osuper-fast character creation as well as continue tosupport t e spirit o t e tra itiona p ase- y-p aseapproac .

Im Impatient Whats Changing? Select likely skills phase by phase, if youre doing

p ase y p ase c aracter creation, ut ontspen points on t em.

Skill points all get spent at the end, on the skillsyou put in your poo uring t e p ase y p asepart.

Pyrami is sti necessary, ut t e p ase-oun ary no onger exerts pressure on t e ater

pyrami , so ig er rate s i s start coming in

slightly earlier in some cases.

In or er to accommo ate t is new met o , w engaining s i eve s as part o a vancement, youreno longer forced to spend them when you crossanot er p ase- oun ary: you can now oars i points an save up or some ig er s i sto uy outrig t, rat er t an oing a it- y- itpromotion, so long as you continue to have apyramid that supports it.

T ats a you get. I you nee more, you ave to

actually read the damn thing.

Character Creation Overview

C aracter creation progresses in p ases. Eac p aseis tied to a background story for your character. Asyou and your GM consider what the story means

or your c aracters s eet, you etermine t eo owing:

What aspect (or aspects, in an aspect-heavygame) does the character gain from this

experience?

Which three to ve skills from the skill list mighthave been aected by the experience in thestory?

Write both of these things down for each phase,ut ont worry a out coming up wit ratings or

t ose s i s yet. I you ave a p otocopy o your

entire s i ist an y, you may n it easiest to puta check-mark next to each skill, since, once youredone stepping through the phases, youll want to puttoget er a uni e ist o t e s i s touc e y yourstor es.

Buying Skills

Once youre done with stepping through all thep ases, its time to move on to spen ing points ons i s or your c aracter. You get our s i points tospend for every phase your character went through,so a 5-phase character is going to have 20 skill pointsto spen .

Assuming you didnt miss any key skills that mighthave been touched by your background stories, yous ou imit yourse to spen ing s i points on yon t ose s i s. Its potentia y i e y t at youonly spend skill points onsome of the skills youveindicated dont feel like you mustspend points ona t e ones you c ec -mar e .

When youre buying skills, skills cost one for

each level increase above Mediocre (the default).T us, t e cost to uy a s i at Goo , t ree up romMe iocre, is 3 s i points.

Skill Level Cost

Legendary 7 points

Epic 6 points

Superb 5 points

Great 4 points

Good 3 points

Fair 2 points

Average 1 pointThere is a limitation, however. There must always

e one more s i t e next step own t an t ere is ont e step a ove it. T ere ore, i someone as two Fairs i s, t ere must e t ree Average s i s to supportthose.

In genera , t is is inten e to represent t ei ea t at a ot o topics get exp ore as you earna specialty, but it does mean that occasionally thecause an e ect perspective on t ings wi e


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ATE:FantasticAdventuresinTabletopEntertainment

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t at earning Bas etweaving ma e you etter atSwor g ting. Dont put too muc stoc in oo ingat t is as a cause an e ect t ing. T at sai , t eschool of cinema teaches us that getting good atCarwashing makes you better at Kung Fu, so maybewere on to somet ing ere.

At any rate, the resulting formation this lendsyour s i s is ca e t e s i pyrami , an it can

e one o t e ar er parts o t e game to wrap yourea aroun . T e goo news is, once you get past

this, its all smooth sailing. If it hasnt clicked for youyet, dont worry. Weve got pictures.

Building a Skill Pyramid

T in o eac s i as a ric t at youre using tobuild your character. The top of the pyramid, itspea , is w ere your c aracters ocuse specia tiesstan out, wit ratings t at ma e t ose pea s i s

t e primary way your c aracter ma es its mar onthe world from far away, the peak is what peoplesee about what you can do.

At ve p ases, youve got 20 s i points. As ithappens, the highest single skill you can buy on that

u get an support wit a pyrami is a Great. Itrea s own i e t is:

1 Great 1 x 4 points 4 points

2 Good 2 x 3 points 6 points

3 Fair 3 x 2 points 6 points

4 Average 4 x 1 point 4 pointsTotal: 10 skills for 20 points

To understand why this would be called a pyramid,oo at it t is way:

Great(4)

Good(3)Good(3)

Fair(2)Fair(2)Fair(2)

Avg(1) Avg(1)Avg(1)Avg(1)

If you visualize the pyramid in this fashion, itll beclear why you cant take away one of the lower-rated ric s t at wou ma e t e w o e structurea ove it unsta e.

At this point, you may have gured out that youarent obligated to go or t e Great may e you wantto spen points on more t an ten s i s. T is wigive you a thicker base to a pyramid that doesnt yethave a peak on it (well show you this shortly).

Sti wit a u get o 20 s i points, ets eci et at t e ig est we rea y nee to go is Goo on a ewo our s i s, one step own rom t e ig est we cango with 20 anyway. To support a good, wed have thisbreakdown:

1 Good 1 x 3 points 3 points

2 Fair 2 x 2 points 4 points

3 Average 3 x 1 point 3 points

Total: 6 skills for 10 points

T at eaves us ten points over, a ter spen ing ourrst ten on our core (meaning, supported with theminimum necessary lower skills) Good pyramid:

Good(3)

Fair(2)Fair(2)

Avg(1)Avg(1)Avg(1)

Since we already have one Good supporteda ter spen ing ten points, a ing anot er Gooto t e pyrami wi on y require a ing one moresupporting ric at eac eve own, so we on yneed to buy one more Fair and one more Average tosupport the additional Good. Thats 3 for the good,2 or t e Fair, an 1 or t e Average, or 6 points,eaving us our over. A ing a c ain o sing e s i s

like this to a pyramid is called thickening. Ouronce-thickened pyramid, costing 16 points at thispoint, oo s i e t is:

Good(3)Good(3)



We cou nt a a t ir Goo at t is point, sincewe now t at a Goo t ic ener costs a tota o6 points. A Fair t ic ener costs t ree 1 Fair + 1Average for 3 points), leaving us one point for spareAverage, and a pyramid that looks like this:

Good(3)Good(3)


Avg(1) Avg(1)

Fair(2)


Or we could simply spend all four points on fourAverages:


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Good(3)Good(3)


Av g( 1) Av g( 1) Av g( 1) Avg (1 ) Av g( 1) Av g( 1)Avg(1)Avg(1)

As a piece o rien y a vice, its usua y a gooidea to build out your pyramid rst without worryingabout what skills go where, and then slot in the

s i s a ter youve ui t t e structure.

Speed Pyramidding

Now that youve got the idea what we mean when wesay core pyramid and thickener, you can start

ui ing pyrami s extra- ast wit t is an y- an yit o mat ematica s ort an . First, t e ta es.

Core Pyramid Total Cost Gets You

egendary 84 points Legendary, 2 Epic,

3 Superb, 4 Great,

5 Good, 6 Fair,7 Average (28 skills)

pic 56 points Epic, 2 Superb,

3 Great, 4 Good, 5 Fair,

6 Average (21 skills)

Superb 35 points Superb, 2 Great,

3 Good, 4 Fair,


Great 20 points Great, 2 Good, 3 Fair,


Good 0 points Good, 2 Fair,

3 Average (6 skills)air points Fair, 2 Average

(3 skills)

Average point Average (1 skill)

Thickener Adds Cost Gets You

egendary 28 points Legendary, 1 Epic,

Superb, 1 Great,

Good, 1 Fair, 1 Average

7 skills)

pic 21 points Epic, 1 Superb, 1 Great,


6 skills)

Superb 15 points Superb, 1 Great,


5 skills)

Great 10 points Great, 1 Good, 1 Fair,

Average (4 skills)

Good 6 points Good, 1 Fair, 1 Average

3 skills)

air 3 points Fair, 1 Average (2 skills)

Average 1 point Average (1 skill)

Using t ese ta es, you can very quic y constructan optimize pyrami :

Determine the highest skill rating you want toave, t at is as a Core Pyrami cost ess t an t e

num er o s i points you ave to spen . Buyt at core pyrami , e uct t e cost.

T e iggest t ic ener you can uy rom ere on

can start no ig er t an t e pea o your corepyramid, and must have a cost less than or equalto the points you have left. Lather, rinse, repeat,unti you ave no points e t.

Example. Lydia is creating a quick, eleven-phase

character. She picks eleven aspects for him and quickly

determines a likely list of skills. With eleven phases, she

has 44 points to spend.

Looking at the Core Pyramid table, she sees that the

most 44 points can afford is a Superb core pyramid. That

costs her 35 points, and leaves her with 9. She writes

down that she has 1 Superb, 2 Great, 3 Good, 4 Fair, and

5 Average.

Now she moves on to buying thickeners. The biggest

thickener she can afford with 9 points is a Good, for 6,

leaving her with 3 points. She adds 1 Good, 1 Fair, and 1

Average to her pool.

With 3 points left, she can afford a Fair thickener

exactly, which she buys, adding 1 Fair and 1 Average to

her pool.

Her totals are 1 Superb, 2 Great, 4 Good, 6 Fair, and

7 Average, an optimally constructed pyramid of 20 skills

for 44 points. She places skills from her pool into the

pyramid, starting at the top with the one she considers

most important for the character, and moving on down

from there.

Creating a less-than-optimized pyramid is just asast a you ave to o is pic t ic eners t at are

we un er your remaining u get.

Example.Lydia is creating a quick, 6-phasecharacter that she wants to give a broad skill-base. She

decides to do this by buying one down from the most

expensive core pyramid she can buy. With 6 phases, she

has 24 skill points to spend.

For her core pyramid, she could buy a Great one for 20,

but she decides to step one down and buy a Good one for

10. This leaves her 14 points and gives her 1 Good, 2 Fair,

and 3 Average.

Since shes starting with a Good core, she cant buy

more than a Good thickener. 2 Good thickeners at 6

points each costs 12 of her 14 points, adding 2 Good,


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2 Fair, and 2 Average. With her remaining 2 points, she

can only buy 2 more Average skills.

Her totals are 3 Good, 4 Fair, and 7 Average 14

skills and a solid spread. If shed gone for optimized, shed

have 1 Great, 2 Good, 4 Fair, and 6 Average one less

skill. If shed bought lower on her thickeners, she could

have gotten 4 Fair thickeners instead of the 2 Good ones,

and would have had 1 Good, 6 Fair, and 9 Average, 16

skills 2 more skills.

Handling Advancement

Advancement will occasionally involve the awardingof skill levels. With the older method of phase-by-p ase pyrami construction carrie orwar intoa vancement, t is cou get super-aw war witskill point expenditures being forced every time yougot a phases worth of skill points.

So, rst o , we t row out t e i ea t at youshould beforced to spend skill points, ever. Wantto hoard up 7 of them and spend them all at once?Go rig t a ea . But t eres more to a just wit t ea vancement process t an just a owing oar ing.

T e Pyrami Re oa e met o encourages,imp icit y at east, a new perspective on t e pyrami t at its a unc o s ots w ic you can s i e yourskills (bricks) into. Its good to make use of this newperspective when it comes to advancement, if youview it a as uying new s ots.

The old method, and perspective, introducedquan aries suc as, i I spen a point to upgra e myGoo Swor p ay s i to a Great, Ive e t a gap ownin t e Goo s t at I now ave to ! O , woe! But iwere just buying slots, and can save up our points,we can buy new slots on the pyramid the tables inSpee Pyrami ing, a ove, wi e p on t is ans i e some or a o our s i s up, ing in any emptys ots e t wit as yet unta en s i s.

T is is rea y w at we were oing e ore, ut it a

t e ownsi e o ee ing constraine , since we werefocusing on spending 1 point on skill X, another onskill Y, and so on. If we focus on the slots rst, andt en gure out w ere t e s i s t, weve ma e t epro em a ot easier.

When buying new slots on our skill pyramid, thereare severa approac es we can use.

New Thickener. This is very straightforward:i you ave t e points to spen on a new t ic ener,an it oesnt excee t e eig t o your core

pyrami , you can just uy it, outrig t. Use t e ta erom Spee Pyrami ing, a ove.

Upgrade Thickener. If you have a thickenert ats s orter t an t e eig t o your core pyrami(e.g., if you have a Good core pyramid with a Fairt ic ener attac e to it , you can spen pointsequal to the cost of a single skill one higher than thet ic eners eig t, upgra ing t e t ic ener to t atnew eig t. T is is soun s more comp icate t an itis: to upgra e a Goo t ic ener to a Great t ic ener,you spend the points it would cost to buy a singleGreat skill (4).

Upgrade Core Pyramid. I you ave athickener thats the same height as your corepyrami , you can com ine t e two into a arger corepyrami y spen ing t e points necessary to uy asing e s i one ig er t an eit er piece. In ot erwords, to upgrade a Good core pyramid, youll need

a Good thickener to start. To combine the pyramidan t e t ic ener into a arger core pyrami , spenour points to uy a sing e Great s i : you now ave a

Great core pyrami an your t ic ener is no ongerconsidered a thickener, since its part of it).

Once youve a e a new s ot or s ots to yourpyramid, you can use the opportunity to shu earound where the skills are positioned on thepyrami . A goo ru e o t um to use ere is t atno s i may e move more t an one ran ing

up or own on t e pyrami at any given point odevelopment but its a rule you should feel freeto rea i t eres a ecent reasoning e in t ec ange.

This is best explored by making use of an extendedexamp e.

Example. Lydia has a character with a Good core

pyramid and a Good thickener, for a total of nine skills.

She has accumulated four skill points and wants to spend

them all at once, to buy a Great slot on her pyramid,

combining the Good core pyramid and Good thickener

into a single Great core pyramid. With this decision made,

she doesnt have to worry about skill points for the rest of

the process. The result looks something like this:

Brawl

?

Sword

RunBowBluff

Listen SmithSearchSpot


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With a new slot added at the peak of her pyramid, she

could simply add in a new skill there, at the Great peak,

but that doesnt appeal to her for several reasons. For

one, it doesnt seem organic to her (or her GM) that a

new skill appear from out of nowhere at Great. As well,

shed like to use the opportunity to improve one or more

of her already-existing skills.

Considering what she has already, one option could be

to cascade several skills upward she could take her

Good Sword to Great, then her Fair Bow to Good, and her

Average Listen to Fair, leaving Listens slot open on the

pyramid, to be lled by whatever new skill she decides to

take.

Brawl

?

New Skill

Sword

RunBowBluff


Looking at this, shes not sure she really wants to

upgrade her Listen skill; she rarely uses it and shes looking

at a third combat skill as her new skill. So she could just

slot the new skill into the space vacated at Fair by her

Bow skill. While it does involve a new skill appearing

at a position higher than Average in her pyramid, some

accelerated development for a new skill does make sense

for her combat-oriented character.

Brawl

?

New Skill

Sword

RunBowBluff


Since spending four skill points all at once represents

a fairly signicant developmental point for her character,

Lydia could contemplate a more extensive shufing of

skills the changes neednt be limited to lling in spaces

vacated by skills as they ascend the pyramid.

For starters, she contemplates a cascade like before

Sword bumps to Great, Bluff bumps to Good, Splot bumps

to Fair, and a new skill hops into Spots Average space.

But she realizes as well that her character rarely uses

his sts he has come to see the sword as the civilized

way to settle disputes. Further, hes a stand-and-ght sort

of guy, so he doesnt actually use his Run skill that much.

She decides to drop those two skills Brawl from Good

to Fair, and Run from Fair to Average.

Now she needs to decide which of her lower skills can

ascend to take Brawls Good slot. She settles on Smith, on

the idea that her characters adoption of the Sword as his

primary manner of relating to his opponents also means

hes taking a lot more time learning how to build the ideal

sword.

Brawl

?

New Skill

Sword

RunBowBluff


S u ing s i s aroun t e s ots in your pyramiis a powerful technique for making the pyramid a loteasier to digest. Characters evolve; some skills fallout o avor or ac o practice, ot ers improve witt eir use. W en you can accept t at your pyramiis just a stac o s i s ots, you ave a muc moreuid model for development, while still retainingt e a vantages o a re ative y mat - ig t approac to

capping s i growt .

How Ofcial Is This?

Well, Im an author of Fate, and I wrote this up allso o. So its a out as o cia as t at.

The Legal Crap

This document is Fred Hicks, 2004, but otherwisecovered by whatever license currently covers Fate.At t e time o t is writing, Fate is covere un er t e

Fu ge icense. I Fate gets re ease un er an OGLlicense, this document is considered an extensionof that work, and thus covered under that as well.Or someone can nu ge me to up ate t is ocumentwit an o cia OGL ec aration. Ba .

Fate: Fantastic Adventures in TabletopEntertainment is a tra emar o Evi HatPro uctions, ya a ya a.


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Where Its Due

Cre it in t e main or t is i ea goes to LeonarLandon Darkwood Balsera, a good friend and oneo my avorite soun ing- oar s or Fate i eas.

Beyond the inestimable Mr. Balsera, this documentsure as hell wouldnt have happened without a loto ive y iscussion on t e Ya oo! iscussion group.

T an s, guys.

Here Are Some Websiteshttp://www.faterpg.com/

http://www.evilhat.com/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FateRPG

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