Character Templates: Post-Apocalyptic Survivor

This next character is another one that hasn't proven hugely popular. Unlike the two I ditched, however, it seems to me that this one still fills a useful niche so, at least for the time being, I'm keeping them in the selection. In fact, the character type is one that has a specific subclass suited for them in Doctors & Daleks, so I'm probably not alone in feeling that they're genre-appropriate. It may just be that the players who gravitate towards this sort of character find some of the other options even more attractive.

The character as I've created them for DWAITAS has good outdoor skills - less useful on a space station, perhaps, but handy enough in jungle or rocky wasteland planets, both of which crop up a lot in the show. More importantly, though, they have decent combat skills and ability at first aid. Compared with the UNIT soldier, they also have fewer technical skills, coming from a postapocalyptic world where those are of less immediate use, replacing them with intuition and athletic ability. A key point, however, is that the character has a background that directly fits into a particular element of the Whoniverse.

Background

The Daleks invaded the Earth in 2157, destroying much of civilisation. You became a survivor, hiding out from Dalek patrols and scrounging what you could to survive, fighting back against the Daleks’ Roboman servants when you could. One day, your life changed when you found yourself inexplicably thrown back 150 years into the past. Discovering that other people had been trapped by the same temporal rift, you teamed up with them to close the anomaly and defeat the Gelth who had been exploiting it. However, that still left you all in the year 2022! Using a TARDIS drawn to the same location, you and the others are now travelling together through time and space (note: how effectively depends on whether one of the other players is playing a Time Lord…) either to help them get back home, or simply to explore.

DWAITAS stats

Concept: Post-Apocalyptic Survivor

Awareness  3	Coordination  4	Ingenuity  3
Presence  2	Resolve  3	Strength  3

Skills: Athletics-3, Conflict-3, Craft-2, Intuition-2, Medicine-3, Subterfuge-1, Survival-4

Focus: Hope            Story Points: 12

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The 5E "Survivalist" isn't quite the same concept as my original DWAITAS template. To allow for that, we emphasise the Wisdom score - which happens to be the basis of the Medicine and Survival skills anyway. This still allows the character to be physically capable, as they need to be given the intended role. We'll take Hiker as the background, which, since it doubles up on skill proficiencies we already have, allows some further customisation.

In Savage Worlds, it's also possible to focus on Athletics and Survival while still allowing some good combat skills, especially if we add a beneficial Edge. Since we have to split up hand-to-hand and missile skills, we'll just take the former. There are other characters with guns in the group, and having more than we need isn't really in genre. We'll also make the character heroic to the point of being a Hindrance, again to offset them from the others with decent combat skills.

BRP does not have a Survival skill as such, so we use the Hunter profession as the closest option in the core rules, giving a focus on Navigate and Track. This allows us a good weapon skill, but we'll pick a knife rather than a spear, as well as putting some points into First Aid and athletic skills. We need to pick a single craft and, in this case, we'll go with Cooking, since Mechanical Repair can cover the more general "put damaged stuff back together" function. Few of the crafts are likely to come up much and, this way, at least she can hunt creatures or gather plants on a jungle planet and turn them into a meal.

In GURPS, we have to pick a speciality for Survival. We'll go with plains because of the frequency of barren, rocky planets, but desert or jungle would do as well. Machinist will cover the "fixing broken stuff" aspect, since Mechanic would have to be overly specialised. We can also add a few more outdoors skills, and an Advantage to boost them and still have a point left over for a hunting rifle, even if the character doesn't normally carry one.

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5E - Post-Apocalyptic Survivor

3rd level Survivalist

STR 14 (+2)	DEX 14 (+2)	CON 14 (+2)
INT 10 (+0)	WIS 15 (+2)	CHA 8 (-1)

Saving Throws: Int +2, Wis +4

Armour Class: 12          Plot Points: 23

Speed: 30 ft.         Tech Level: 5

Quip Bonus: +4 Motivation: Hero

Skills: Animal Handling +4, Athletics +4, Medicine +4, Perception +4, Stealth +4, Survival +6

Tools: First Aid Kit, Navigator's Tools

Features: Jack of All Trades, Experienced Instincts, Tend Wounds, Scrounge, Pep Talk, Truth Bomb, Survival Expert, We'll Survive

Quips: Emotional Argument, Empathic Argument, Evasive Argument, Instant Weapon, Logical Argument, Parley, Light Sleeper

Savage Worlds - Post-Apocalyptic Survivor

Agility: d8	Smarts: d4	Spirit: d8
Strength: d4	Vigour: d6

Skills: Athletics d8, Common Knowledge (2160s Earth) d4, Fighting d6, Healing d6, Notice d4, Persuasion d4, Repair d4, Stealth d6, Survival d8

Hindrances: Cautious, Heroic, Stubborn

Edges: Combat Reflexes, Woodsman

Pace: 6                  Parry: 5                Toughness: 5

BRP - Post-Apocalyptic Survivor

STR 14	CON 14	SIZ 13
INT 12	POW 10	EDU 10
DEX 13	CHA 8
Hit Points: 14	Move: 10	Fatigue: 28
Base SR: 4	Damage Bonus: +1D4

Skills: Appraise 35%, Climb 60%, Cooking 55%, Dagger 75%, Disguise 21%, Dodge 46%, Drive Car 35%, Fine Manipulation 25%, First Aid 70%, Hide 35%, Jump 55%, Listen 40%, Mechanical Repair 25%, Natural History 45%, Navigate 75%, Ride Horse 45%, Sleight of Hand 25%, Spot 45%, Stealth 50%, Swim 50%, Track 60%

GURPS - Post-Apocalyptic Survivor

ST 11	DX 12	IQ 11	HT 11
Speed: 5.25	Move: 5	Thrust: 1d-2	Swing: 1d

Advantages: Fit, Outdoorsman 1, Strong Will +2

Skills: Brawling-14, Climbing-12, Escape-11, First Aid/TL8-11, Fishing-13, Guns/TL8 (Rifle)-12, Hiking-11, Knife-13, Machinist/TL8-11, Mimicry (Animal Sounds)-10, Naturalist (Earth)-11, Navigation/TL8 (Land)-12, Running-12, Stealth-12, Survival (Plains)-14, Tracking-13, Traps/TL8-12