1-20 Build: Bildocker

Bildocker: the 1 to 20 Guide for the GI Joe RPG

Bildocker had a memorable, if small, run in the IDW GI Joe series, appearing for a total of 9 issues; One of which was dedicated to him and his adventures scraping together parts in South Florida. In the book’s meta story arc, GI Joe became defunded, and hired Bildocker to be an equipment manager and acquisitions expert to keep the team in vital gear. It is Bildocker’s dream to be accepted as an official member of the GI Joe team and after an accomplishment he usually points this out to anyone within earshot, including Duke. Especially Duke.

Bildocker is like everyone’s favorite Uncle; Loud, boisterous, decked out in a New Jersey accent. He’s the used car salesman type that you have to be careful not to mention certain politics or religion around at holiday gatherings. Despite that type of personality, Bildocker has an affinity for loyalty, teamwork and camaraderie, and these characteristics have saved the team on at least one occasion. He is persistent, he is underestimated and he is very good at his job.

In today’s build we will outline Bildocker’s Influences, Origin, Role and Focus and outline what his character sheet would look like in a build from level 1 to level 20. So if you need him, you can drop him into any campaign at any level you might need him to be.

Bildocker’s theme is that he is really a Joe, through and through, but circumstance, design or just dumb luck has shifted him onto a different path, in which he encounters the Joes, forever looking in from the window. He helps the Joes, but he’s never a Joe. He takes a comic relief role in the books and has a lot of flaws that he needs to overcome on his quest to become a member of GI Joe. In this build we are going to embrace those flaws and use them to help build the character into a subtle, reliable member of the team.

Framing:

Bildocker Build

Equipment Manager

Origin: Civilian

Role: Envoy

Focus: Alien Ambassador

Bildocker is the equipment manager for the Joes.

He has no military background that I’ve been able to find, so he gets the civilian Origin. Easy enough so far.

With his role, he specializes in getting hard to find, hard to acquire equipment for the team. His comic pages frequently depict him as a smooth talker, willing to trade favors and influence to get what his team needs. So he’s a talker. He’s not exactly a faceman for a team, both because he’s an NPC and because the less you see how he makes the sausage, the happier you are. The Field Guide to Action and Adventure has the perfect role for Bildocker: Envoy.

You saw the focus, huh? Well, let me explain. I’m leaning into the” talk to anybody about getting the thing” angle. There are 3 Foci for the Envoy Role: Grid Psychic doesn’t work on any level, Military Attache doesn’t fit the bespectacled, overweight Bildocker, so that leaves Alien Ambassador. He can talk to anybody about anything and his bonuses reflect that often, the people he talks to may not speak the same language or may be hostile. This sounds like Bildocker.

The build:

Influences:

We are going all in on the Influences and embracing the Hang-ups they provide.

Desperate (CC): When you have 1 Health, you get an edge on all your skill tests. This sounds like Bildocker in a pinch. This is the first Influence so no Hang-Up here. Its not super relevant anyway.

Scapegoat (CC): Once per scene, if something targets your Willpower, you can have it target your Cleverness. And vice versa. Hang-Up: If Bildocker uses this perk, but the “attack” succeeds anyway, he takes 1 Essence damage to his Smarts. Betrayal is ugly.

Checkered Past (CB): You get an Edge to Smarts skill tests to find something hidden, weaknesses, or security flaws. Hang-Up: Snag on Social tests when trying to “convince” Police, authority or higher ranking officials. I don’t know Bildocker’s past, but the Influence checks out.

Specialist (CB): Once outside of combat, a specialization you have gets an Edge. Hang-Up: one time, if you would have to roll with a snag, you fail instead. Again, sounds like full-on Bildocker.

The official rules say you can only have 3 Influences at the start of play, but I couldn’t decide which one to get rid of. You pick one! I’d probably dump Checkered Past. The others are just so much fun!

Essence:

You get 12 points to start. Let’s go 2 Strength, 2 Speed, 4 Smarts, 4 Social. He’s a talky-guy. There is room for discussing 1 Strength, 5 smarts, but I like the evenness and we have more points to consider.

Civilian Origin gives us: 1 Health, 1 Essence anywhere. We’ll go Social. The Role and focus will give us more than enough smarts. 30 ft movement and we get “Well rounded” which means we get a General Perk for free, but we have to qualify for it. I like “Educated”. It gives us an extra Story Point for the group pool, one extra language, and once per day, he can be specialized in any Smarts Skill. That sounds like Bildocker. If you can’t bedazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bulls***.

Envoy Role gives us: +1 Smarts and Social and those points have to go into Alertness, Culture, Deception or Persuasion. We get the benefits of 2 factions. In keeping with the theme of Bildocker, I would refer you to Factions in Action Vol2: Interpol and Criminal Organization. Both of those fit perfectly. At this point, Bildocker only has 1 Health. That fits (and gives him an edge on his smarts skill tests per “Desperate”), but he’s a lover, not a fighter.

Let’s do a quick review and I’ll show you where I put the skill points.

Strength 2:

Athletics (d2), Brawn (d2)

Speed 2:

Driving (d2), Initiative (d2)

Smarts 5:

Alertness (d4), Culture (d2), Survival (d4)

Envoy level 1 gives us: Negotiate, Intervene, Manipulate, and First Contact (Focus Perk). The essence boosts are already incorporated above.

I can’t cut-and-paste each level of Envoy. There is no need. And, unfortunately, there are no multiclassing rules (yet), so once he is on the Envoy path, he’s locked in. I’ll spend a little bit of time talking about his General Perks, where the rest of his Essence points should go and how to make “Alien Ambassador” work for the Everyday Joe.