Sherlock Holmes

This page contains one or more unofficial conversions of Classic material that can include fan expansion of canonical material (which should be noted in body text).

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character created by Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle and was heavily based on Joseph Bell. He was written up in the first and second printings of GURPS Horror but the values didn't fit how skills were supposed to be calculated (especially with his 18 IQ in the second edition). It also didn't contain some aspects of the character described in the canonical stories. Adding those back in with the changes in 4e produces this version. Default skills have also been added even through no actual points went into them.

Sherlock Holmes

Cost: 418 ([260]+[15]+[57]+[-30]+[116]+[0]) points

Advantages and Perks

Section total: [260]

Attributes			Secondary Characteristics				Speed	Move	SM	0
ST	14	[40]	HP	14	[0]	Basic	6.75	6	DR	0
DX	13	[60]	Will	16	[0]	Modifier	0	0	Dodge	9
IQ	16	[120]	Per	16	[0]	Final	6.75	6	Parry	11
HT	14	[40]	FP	14	[0]	Cost	[0]	[0]	Block	N/A
Total					[260]	Total	[0]

Air Move	Basic Speed x 2 (dropping all fractions)	NA
Water Move	Basic Move/5, rounded down	NA

Striking ST Bonus	0		Lifting ST Bonus	Lifting ST	Basic Lift	Cost
Striking ST	14		0	14	39.2	[0]
Thrust Damage	1d		Up to	Encumbrance Level	Move	Dodge
Swing Damage	2d		39.2 lbs	None	6	9
Cost	[0]		78.4 lbs	Light	4	8
			117.6 lbs	Medium	3	7
			235.2 lbs	Heavy	2	6
			392 lbs	Extra-Heavy	1	5

Social Background

Total: [15]

• TL 6 [0]
• Cultural Familiarity: Western [0]
• Language(s) [15]: English (Native) [0]; French (Native) [6]; German (Accented/Native) [5]; Latin (accented/accented) [4]

Advantages

Total: [67]

• Ally (Dr. John H Watson, 25% start points, App: 15) [3]
• Contacts (BSI streetwise: 15, App: 15 (x3), Somewhat reliable) [4]
• Contacts (Police, effective skill: 15, App: Fairly often (x1), Completely Reliable, x3)) [4]
• Danger Sense [15]
• Eidetic Memory [5]
• Intuition [15]
• Reputation (Famous Detective, Almost Everyone, Recog: All the time) x2 [10]
• Very Fit [15]

Disadvantages

Total: [-30]

Total: [-30]

• Addiction (Cocaine, Cheap, Totally Addictive, Legal) [-5]
• Enemy (Professor James Moriarty and allies, Hunter, 9) [-20]
• Sense of Duty (personal friends and Clients) [-5]

Skills

Total: [116]

• Acting (A) (IQ+2) — 18 [8]
• Biology (Botany)/TL 6 (VH) (IQ-7, default) — 10 [0]
• Biology (Zoology)/TL 6 (VH) (IQ-3) — 13 [1]
• Boxing (A) (DX+5) — 18 [20]
• Chemistry/TL 6 (H) (IQ-2) — 14 [1]
• Connoisseur (Musical Instrument-3) (A) (IQ-5, default) — 13 [0]
• Criminology/TL 6 (A) (IQ+2) — 18 [8]
• Cryptography/TL 6 (H) (IQ±0) — 16 [4]
• Current Affairs (E) (IQ-4, default) — 12 [0]
• Disguise (Specialty)/TL 6 (A) (IQ+2) — 18 [8]
• Forensics/TL 6 (Criminology-4) (H) (IQ-6, default) — 14 [0]
• Judo (Baritso) (H) (DX+3) — 16 [16]
• Saber (A) (DX+3) — 16 [12]
• Geology (Europe)/TL 6 (H) (IQ-1) — 15 [2]
• Guns (Pistol)/TL 6 (E) (DX±0) — 13 [1]
• Interrogation (Default) (A) (IQ-5, default) — 11 [0]
• Musical Instrument (Violin) (H) (IQ±0) — 16 [4]
• Psychology (Default) (H) (IQ-6, default) — 10 [0]
• Physician/TL 6 (H) (IQ-1) — 15 [2]
• Poisons/TL 6 (Physician-3) (H) (IQ-6, default) — 12 [0]
• Savoir-Faire (any) (E) (IQ-4, default) — 12 [0]
• Shadowing (on foot) (Stealth-4) (A) (IQ-5, default) — 14 [0]
• Stealth (A) (DX+5) — 18 [20]
• Streetwise (A) (IQ±0) — 16 [2]
• Tracking (A) (Per-1) — 18 [1]
• Writing (A) (IQ+1) — 17 [4]

Notes

Copyright

In 2013 it was ruled that the characters of Sherlock Holmes and John H Watson were in the public domain in the US which was confirmed on appeal in 2014 and the US Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal. Of The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes stories "The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone", "The Problem of Thor Bridge", and "The Adventure of the Creeping Man" were also ruled as being public domain in the US. The remaining stories go public domain in 2022 to 2023.

Additional Information

• That Time Sherlock Holmes Went off the rails

How good was he?

• "I have been beaten four times - three times by men and once by a woman." Sherlock Holmes in "The Five Orange Pips"
• "In publishing these short sketches based upon the numerous cases in which my companion's singular gifts have made us the listeners to, and eventually the actors in, some strange drama, it is only natural that I should dwell rather upon his successes than upon his failures." - John Watson in "The Yellow Face"

The Adventure of the Empty House

As pointed out in The Annotated Sherlock Holmes by William Baring-Gould there are many irregularities with Holmes account to Watson and the state of the places he claims to have gone. Enough that people who play The Game (ie assume the stories actually happened with names and sometimes dates changed to protect clients) have come out with various theories.

• Secret Identity [-5] or [-10]: Post return Holmes and the pre return Holmes are two different people.
  • Holmes was killed and either because he had a hand in it or was afraid of Moriarty's gang Mycroft Holmes had someone who looked like Holmes learn enough to pass himself off as Holmes.
  • It was not Moriarty but Holmes that died at Reichenbach Falls and it was the Professor who passed himself as Holmes to Watson.
• Secret [-10]: Holmes, to cover his failing abilities, framed some ex-professor named Moriarty to explain his problems.
• Split Personality (12): Holmes suffered from Multipule Personality Disorder and he was Moriarty

References

• Costello, Peter (1991) The Real World of Sherlock Holmes