GURPS - Compendium 1..

This advantage is useful to shamans and those in meditative
disciplines, and gives +2 on all rolls to use ritual magic, contact
spirits and so forth while in a trance. People with this ability
may find that they tend to slip out of awareness of their immediate
surroundings quite easily. Netrunners with this advantage
receive a +2 bonus on their Cyberdeck Operation skill (see p.
153).
Bardic Immunity
10 points
This advantage may only be taken by professional bards
and minstrels, not dabblers in song, and only in medieval
European or fantasy settings. For a PC to become a professional
bard, he must spend at least 1 point on Bardic Lore skill (see p.
146).
Bardic Immunity represents the old laws and customs regarding
bards. These customs give bards the right to sing what they
please - or, in some cases, what they've been ordered to sing -
without fear of serious consequences. If you have Bardic
Immunity, you may even go as far as to sing a grossly insulting
song to the king - you may get banished for it, but you can't be
killed or imprisoned. You cannot even be whipped - harming a
bard in any way is completely out of the question. The
Immunity applies only to the content of your performances, not to
anything else you might do.
Proof of the bard is in the performance. True bards can prove
their position by performing epics and poems beyond the ability of
the amateur.
Anyone who violates a bard's Immunity risks damage to his
name and reputation. If the bard survives, or other bards hear
about the offense, two things will happen. First, the offender
will become known as a bad host, and will receive no more visits
from traveling minstrels. Second, if the offense is severe
enough, vicious satires about the offender will be composed
and distributed. These will impose a bad Reputation of at least -
1 (higher for more severe offenses) on the violator. If the violator
has any Secrets, they are very likely to be found out and sung
about.
These penalties are meted out by the Bardic College, a loose
guild-like organization of professional minstrels and bards.
Beast-Kin
15 points
This is a more powerful form of Animal Empathy (p. B19). If
you possess this advantage, you will never kill an animal
unless it directly threatens your life or the life of another. This
prohibition applies to anything above the intelligence of an
insect! Should you kill an animal for any reason, you will be
affected emotionally as described under Pacifism (Cannot Kill),
on p. B35.
You may fight normally against humans and other intelligent
races. However, you must make a Will roll before offering violence
to an intelligent creature that looks like a familiar sort of
animal (GM's ruling).
Those with Beast-Kin are always strict vegetarians, and get
no extra points for this Vow. You may not kill an animal for
food, even if you yourself are starving, or help others hunt for
food. You may drink milk, and eat the eggs of tame fowl (but
not wildfowl).
Those with this advantage get a +4 reaction from any wild
animal, or a +6 from a tame animal, and +4 on all Animal skill
rolls.
A mage with this advantage learns Animal spells more easily.
Mental/Hard spells become Mental/Average, and
Mental/Very Hard spells become Mental/Hard.
Breath-Holding
2 points/level
Each level doubles the length of time you can hold your
breath (see p. B91). This advantage can be combined with the
Breath Control skill (p. B48). More than a level or two of this
advantage is probably inappropriate, except in very cinematic
campaigns.
Chronolocation
15 points
Like Absolute Timing (p. B19) but better. Time travel does
not upset the ability; you always know what time it is in an
absolute sense. Note that you can still be confused by things like
Daylight Savings Time and calendar reform. Your chronolocation
ability is related to the "entropic charge" of the world
around you. Thus, when you travel in time, the GM may tell
you, "You have gone back exactly 92,876.3 days," and let you or
your character - deal with questions like, "What about leap
year?"
Claim to Hospitality
1 to 10 points
The person belongs to a social group which encourages its
members to assist one-another. When any member of the group is
away from home, he or she may call on any other member for
food, shelter and basic aid.
The cost of this advantage varies with the extent and wealth of
the group. A single friend with a house in another city might be
worth 1 point; a small family, 2 points; a society of merchants
along an important trade route, 5 points; a vast alliance of
comfortably wealthy figures, such as "every merchant in the
world," 10 points. In the appropriate situation, members of the
group should be quite easy to find (roll 14 or less after ld-1
hours looking), but the chance of meeting one at random should be
fairly small (roll 6 or less to meet one in a small crowd in an
appropriate place).
This advantage mainly saves the cost and trouble of finding
an inn while "on the road," but it can have other functions.
Members of such a group are essentially friendly to each other
(+3 reaction), and may provide advice, useful introductions, and
small loans, if asked. However, GMs should not let this advantage
be misused; if NPCs are to give more than a little aid, they
should be paid for as Allies or Patrons. Wealthy characters may
also be expected to give gifts to their hosts.
The other restriction on this advantage is that it cuts both
ways. Any character taking it can be asked, when at home (at the
GM's whim), to provide NPCs with exactly the same sort of hospitality
as he or she claims while away. PCs refusing such aid
will soon get a bad name, and may lose the benefits of membership.
Because the PC is expected to reciprocate in kind in this
way, all members of such a group should generally be of approximately
the same Wealth level as the PC taking the advantage.
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