MSRD:Lifestyle and Services
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Lifestyle
Lifestyle items include travel expenses, entertainment and meals beyond the ordinary, and housing, for those characters interested in buying a home rather than renting. Lifestyle items are shown on the table below.
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Housing
A number of types of homes are mentioned on Table:Lifestyle. The purchase DC covers the down payment, not the total cost of the home. (A character buying a home does not have to worry about mortgage payments; they simply replace the hero’s rent, which is already accounted for in the Wealth system)
The small house and condo are one- or two-bedroom homes, probably with curbside parking. The large condo and medium house are three-bedroom homes with garage or carport parking for one or two cars. The large house is a four-bedroom home with a two-car garage, while the mansion is a five- or six-bedroom home with an extra den, spacious rooms throughout, and a three-car garage. All of these homes are of typical construction; luxury appointments or avant garde design is available with a +2 increase to the purchase DC.
Location dramatically affects a home’s value. The given purchase DC assumes a typical suburban location. An undesirable location, such as a bad neighborhood or a remote rural site, reduces the purchase DC by 2. A particularly good location in an upscale neighborhood or city center increases the purchase DC by 2.
Entertainment
Purchase DCs are given for several entertainment options. They represent the purchase of a single ticket. A pair of tickets can be purchased together; doing so increases the purchase DC by 2.
Meals
Several typical meal costs are provided. The cost of picking up the tab for additional diners adds +2 per person to the purchase DC.
Transportation
Airfare tickets are for a single passenger round trip. One-way tickets are available, but only reduce the purchase DC by 2. Car rentals and lodging rates are per day.
Services
The broad spectrum of services available to characters is only represented in overview here. Services are identified on Table: Services.
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Auto Repair
Having a car repaired can be expensive; how expensive depends on the amount of damage the vehicle has suffered. The purchase DCs for damage repair assume the vehicle has not actually been disabled; if it has, increase the purchase DC by +3. Repair generally takes 1 day for every 10 hit points of damage dealt, and results in the vehicle being returned to full hit points.
Bail Bonds
Characters jailed for crimes can seek bail. Bail is a monetary guarantee that the suspect will show up for his trial. The bail amount is set by a judge or magistrate, sometimes immediately following arrest (for minor crimes) and sometimes days later (for serious crimes). If bail is granted, a character can arrange for a bail bond—a loan that covers bail. The purchase DCs represent the fees associated with the loan; the bond itself is paid back to the bond agency when the hero shows up for trial. If the hero fails to show up, the agency loses the bail loan, and may send bounty hunters or other thugs after the character.
Bail amounts vary dramatically, depending on the seriousness of the crime, the suspect’s criminal history, his or her role in society, his or her family life, and other factors the judge believes indicate that the character will or will not flee (or commit other crimes) before the trial. An upstanding citizen with a good job and a family who has never before been charged with a crime gets minimal bail; a career criminal with nothing to lose gets maximum bail or may not be granted bail at all. The purchase DCs shown assume the suspect is viewed positively by the court. If not, increase the purchase DC by as much as 5. Whatever the base purchase DC, a successful Diplomacy check (DC 15) by the suspect reduces the purchase DC by 2.
Property Crime: The crime involved only the destruction of property; no one was attacked or seriously hurt as part of the crime.
Assault Crime: The crime involved an attack intended to capture, kill, or seriously injure the victim.
Death Crime: Someone died as a result of the crime.
Medical Services
A character’s medical insurance is built into his or her Wealth bonus; the purchase DCs represent the ancillary expenses not covered, or only partly covered, by insurance. Medical services must be paid for in full regardless of whether they are successful. See the Treat Injury skill for more information on the medical services described below.
In a hospital setting, the necessary treat Injury checks are always successful. The purchase DC is per check.
Long-Term Care: The purchase DC represents treatment for regaining hit points or ability score points more quickly than normal on a given day.
Restore Hit Points: The purchase DC represents treatment for hit point damage from wounds or injuries on a given day.
Surgery: The purchase DC represents the cost of a single surgical procedure.
Poison/Disease: The purchase DC represents one application of treatment for a poison or disease.
Buying Services
When a hero buys services, use these rules to arrive at an asking price and a bare minimum price. In most cases, the arrived-at cost is per task performed on the hero’s behalf, regardless of how many skill checks are involved.
These rules are specifically for buying services, as opposed to labor that results in tangible merchandise.
Determining Cost
Every service has an asking price and a bare minimum price. The person providing the service starts by asking the highest price he thinks his services are worth, expressed as a Purchase DC. This number is equal to his total skill modifier for the appropriate skill, multiplied by 1.5, rounded down. If two or more skills apply, multiply the average of the skill modifiers by 1.5 to arrive at the Purchase DC. If no particular skill seems to apply, use the character’s Profession skill modifier. If the Purchase DC is fewer than 2, the character refuses to take the job—or takes it, then badly bungles it.
A hero can attempt to negotiate a lower price with an opposed Diplomacy check. For each point by which the hero beats the supporting character’s Diplomacy check, the Purchase DC drops by 1. But for each point by which the supporting character’s Diplomacy check beats the hero’s, the Purchase DC goes up by 1. You can take 10 or take 20 on this check (as can your opponent). No retries are allowed. Haggling the price in this fashion can never reduce the Purchase DC to fewer than the supporting character’s skill ranks in the relevant skill (or average ranks in the relevant skills), multiplied by 1.5, rounded down. This is the bare minimum price; doing the job for less starts costing the character money.
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