What should Temian spend his points on?

So Temian has 6 unspent character points – and since he’s just about to head into a new adventure, this seem like a good time to spend them!

Hmmm… what to spend them on?

Should Temian….

…save up for attributes?

It would be great if I could save up 20pts to raise IQ by one – Temian has a wide range of IQ-, Per-, and Will-based skills, so raising the base stat would be really worthwhile.  And generally speaking, it’s just better to raise base stats, when you’re upgrading a generalist.

But that would mean leaving a lot of points lying fallow for the next few adventures – and I’m reluctant to do that, since he’s probably going to need all the help he can get.  GURPS combat can be deadly – as can my adventure system – so who knows if he’ll survive that long without some upgrades?

…buy a new advantage?

I’m not sure I see much narrative justification for adding any new physical or mental advantages at this stage – but a social advantage could be nice.  Maybe word has got around about his last adventure, and now Temian has a positive Reputation in Eldervale as “the man who survived the Demons of Heirloom Peak”?   Alternatively, it might be fun to buy Aed Steadlark as a Contact or Ally – if Aed becomes a recurring character, then the betrayal plot from last session will make for a fun back-story.

And yet, the adventure system actually provides special packets of points called “social points”, to be used on precisely these sorts of things, so I’m tempted just to hold off on buying social advantages until those come up.

…raise existing skills?

As I observed when he was first created, Temian has a lot of skills at level 10 or 11, many of them with just 1 pt in them.  And we’re talking skills that are pretty important for his shtick: skills like Occultism, Navigation (Land), Survival (Mountain), Diplomacy, Stealth…  In cases like that, a single point invested will significantly improve his chances of success – due to the way 3d6 rolls work, a level of 11 is vastly better than a level of 10; and the same goes for 12 vs 11.

So there’s certainly a case for putting my points in those kinds of skills.

He could also use an upgrade in Broadsword, which is currently at [4] 13.  Raising it to 14 would raise his Parry by one, too, which could well save his life.

…learn new skills?

…at the same time, it’s always fun to get entirely new skills, especially if Temian might plausibly have learned them “on the job” during the story.   He spent so much time with Demons over the last six sessions that I’m tempted to give him Hidden Lore (Demons), or similar.

Plus, as Nessalantha quite rightly pointed out in the comments on last session, Temian has made a bit of a habit of trying to disarm people (despite the crapness of the tactic) – and if he plans to continue trying that, then putting a few points in the Disarming technique will drastically increase his odds of staying alive.

Hmmm…  well, having laid out the options, I find that I can’t decide.  Not right away, anyway.

I’ll have to give this some thought….

(Don’t hesitate to weigh in, if you have a view on this!)

Later Edit: Here’s the post in which I actually spend the points.  But first, don’t forget to check out everyone;s excellent comment, below!