Attributes

From Weirlands
Revision as of 13:58, 17 July 2017 by Weirfish (talk | contribs) (→‎The Attributes)
Jump to: navigation, search

Attributes are the core statistics of inhabitants of the Weirlands. They represent an abstraction of an inhabitants abilities.

The Attributes

Strength

Strength generally represents the physical offensive ability of a being. By default, it effects:

  • Melee attacks
  • Melee damage
  • Thrown weapon damage
  • Carrying capacity
  • Weapon and Armor capabilities
  • Acrobatics, Athletics

Dexterity

Dexterity generally represents the physical finesse of a being. By default, it effects:

Constitution

Constitution generally represents the physical defensive ability of a being. By default, it effects:

  • Health
  • Environmental fatigue
  • Resistance to Poisons and Illness
  • Actions that require extended usage
  • Actions that are especially draining
  • Concentration

Charisma

Charisma generally represents the mental offensive ability of a being. By default, it effects:

Intelligence

Intelligence generally represents the mental finesse of a being. By default, it effects:

Wisdom

Wisdom generally represents the mental defences of a being. By default, it effects:

Attribute Modifiers

Each attribute provides a modifier to actions. This value is often referred to by putting the attribute in square brackets. For instance the Strength modifier for a character could be referred to as [Str].

This modifier is calculated as:

[math]\text{Modifier} = \mathrm{sign}(\text{Score} - 10)\lfloor |\text{Score} - 10|^\frac 2 3\rfloor[/math]

This can be calculated as follows:

  • Subtract 10 from the Attribute Score
  • If this is negative, make it positive
  • Put it to the power of 2/3 or 0.66
  • Round down
  • If the Attribute Score - 10 was negative, make the result negative

The result of this is described by the following table.

Score Modifier Score Modifier Score Modifier
1 -4 11 +1 21 +4
2 -3 12 +1 22 +5
3 -3 13 +2 23 +5
4 -3 14 +2 24 +5
5 -2 15 +2 25 +5
6 -2 16 +3 26 +6
7 -2 17 +3 27 +6
8 -1 18 +3 28 +6
9 -1 19 +4 29 +6
10 +0 20 +4 30 +7

The result of this is that repeated investment in any one stat causes diminishing returns after a point, as it becomes harder and harder to gain an effective modifier. This is designed to prevent degenerate late-game attribute stacking. 30 (+7) is not intended as a ceiling; attribute scores beyond 30 are possible, and the modifier follows the same formula.

Generating Attributes

Attributes are generated by point buy or dice roll. Point buy is recommended, but dice roll can be more entertaining and tends to create more polarised characters.

Point Buy

Using the Point Buy process, all attributes begin at 10. Each attribute can be increased or decreased. The cost of this is equal to the modifier of the new score. This means that decreasing a score gains points that can be put elsewhere. In addition to points gained by lowering attribute scores, each player starts with a pool of points that they can allocate during character creation.

The number of points available is tabulated below, along with sample arrays for each power level. If you want to skip the hassle of figuring out your scores, you may choose an appropriate sample array. All of the arrays for a given power level are of equal value; the difference between them is the amount of specialisation.

Power Level Points Sample Arrays
Expert Professional Jack of All Trades
Low 5 [5, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15] [8, 8, 10, 11, 13, 13] [9, 10, 10, 10, 12, 13]
Standard 15 [5, 8, 11, 13, 14, 17] [9, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15] [11, 11, 12, 12, 13, 14]
High 25 [5, 9, 11, 15, 15, 18] [10, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16] [12, 12, 13, 13, 14, 14]
Epic 40 [5, 10, 12, 16, 17, 19] [11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18] [12, 13, 14, 14, 15, 16]

For instance, Alex is entering a Standard Power campaign, and is intending to create a Paladin, a class that works off of their Strength and Charisma. Given that his class relies little on its Dexterity, he reduces his Paladin's Dexterity score from 10 to 8. This costs him

  • -1 point for 9
  • -1 point for 8

These points are added to his pool, rather than subtracted, because they are negative, leaving him with 17 points to spend. He then increases Strength to 16. This increase costs

  • 1 point for 11
  • 1 point for 12
  • 2 points for 13
  • 2 points for 14
  • 2 points for 15
  • 3 points for 16

for a total of 11 points spent, leaving 6 more with which to increase his Charisma and other scores. He may wish to increase his remaining pool by further lowering his Dexterity, or by reducing his Intelligence, Wisdom, or Constitution.

This process can result in polarising scores, and is intended to. No one character should be able to excel in all areas of adventuring. Note that, for sentient beings, the mental statistics (Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma) cannot fall below 3, and allowing physical statistics (Strength, Dexterity and Constitution) to fall too low may result in undesirable effects, such as being heavily encumbered by normal clothing, being unable to walk in a straight line, or dying in the face of a stiff breeze.

Dice Roll

The suggested dice roll for this system are tabulated below. Please bear in mind that Point Buy is recommended, as it is more easily balanced around. Also note that attributes generated via dice roll will average much higher than via point buy for all power levels above Low.

Power Level Dice roll
Low 3d6
Standard 4d6-L
High 5d6-2L
Epic 6d6-3L

The GM may require that the dice rolls are applied in order, or that the players may choose the order.

Retrieved from ‘http://weirlands.com/index.php?title=Attributes&oldid=801’