Key Traits [Str, Dex, Con...]

Are you like me and you've always wanted to balance Strenght and Charisma?
In this world, there are some traits that seem much more profitable than others like Str and Dex opposed to Cha and Int.

Have you ever wished to change those rules?
Yes, but what would it look like is probably something you don't want to think about!

In fact, that's the way I used to think before I designed the following rules for new characteristics. I took every possible traits and have put them on the table. And so, you can have your character possess all kind of special and unique traits among the following with a combination of my 6 main traits:

Beauty,
Power,
Reflexes,
Intelligence,
Wisdom,
Charisma,
Resistance,
Instinct,
Faith,
etc...

I wanted to keep in mind every possible traits when one wants to build a character. However, I would never tolerate to have the control over many stats instead of 6 as a player. So I had to make every trait get closer one to the other.
Let's get a closer look at what I got for you:

Vigour
This trait is the fact to be powerful or skillful. Your muscles are just plain efficient when comes to fighting.
Agility
This trait is in respect to reach and slenderness. It affects your height and allows you to wield weapons that are slightly longer therefore deadlyer and more distanced from your ennemy. It also determines if you are nimbled or not.
Corpulence
This trait manifests the size of your muscles and your capacity to take blows. You are made of muscles that make you stout and heavy.
Knowledge
This is a mix of intelligence and wisdom where time has led your character. As the old rule would say, it represents the intelligence of your character.
Intuition
This represents the faith of a disciple of a deity or the instinct of a primitive character. It is also one's willpower.
Wit
This is the way someone speaks and how good he is at it. Those people know what to do when comes the time to do something and that's what makes the difference with someone who hesitates when we look at someone's leadership.

Now... the interesting part; where everything becomes clearer.

The modifiers of those traits influence various skills and other statistics.

Vigour
Bonus Chances to Hit on Melee and Ranged Attacks
Bonus on Reflex Saves

Skills: Climb, Jump, Ride, Swim, Tumble

Agility
Bonus on Damage
Bonus Armor Class
Influences Height

Skills: Balance, Escape Artist, Hide, Move Silently, Open Lock, Sleight of Hand, Use Ropes

Corpulence
Bonus Hit Points
Bonus on Fortitude Saves
Determines Bash and Grapple attacks
Determines Lift and Load Capacity
Influences Weight

Skills: Concentration

Knowledge
Bonus Skill Points
Influences Bardic Knowledge
Influences Starting Age

Skills: Knowledge (All), Appraise, Craft, Decipher Script, Heal

Intuition
Bonus Initiative
Bonus on Will Saves

Skills: Spot, Listen, Handle Animal, Survival, Sense Motive

Wit
Bonus Languages

Skills: Bluff, Diplomacy, Disable Device, Disguise, Forgery, Gather Information, Intimidate, Profession, Search, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device

Obviously, that lead me to change a few things with races.
I'll take the core races as an exemple of what would the new traits change but this is still under revision:

Elf:
+2 Agility, -2 Corpulence
Half-Orc:
+2 Corpulence, -2 Wit
Dwarf:
+2 Corpulence, -2 Agility
Halfling:
+2 Vigour, -2 Corpulence
Gnome:
+2 Wit, -2 Vigour

Lastly, beauty is a point that haven't been mentioned. It's still hard to determine beauty but I have thought of something. If you roll a weight modifier proportionnaly close to your height modifier, you are the more beautyful. If the proportion is not there, you are more likely ugly. This suggestion is under revision.

Flame_Excess said:

Obviously, that lead me to change a few things with races.
I'll take the core races as an exemple of what would the new traits change but this is still under revision:

Elf:
+2 Mightyness, -2 Endurance
Half-Orc:
+2 Endurance, -2 Wit
Dwarf:
+2 Endurance, -2 Mightyness
Halfling:
+2 Vigour, -2 Endurance
Gnome:
+2 Wit, -2 Mightyness

Click to expand...

Interesting take, but where's Might and Endurance? You don't have them detailed above.

Skills and Powers did something SORT of similar, back in the heydays of 2e. Broke down each attribute into two, so that a character could (for example) have more stamina than muscle, or be better at Agility than Aim. Really, it was pretty abusable, in the end (do you know how many high muscle, low stamina characters I saw?)

If you want to make charisma more powerful, there are easier ways. Charisma could add to action points, if you use that system (more charismatic people attract the gods more... ever notice that the good looking people in movies tend to do better than the Steve Gutenbergs?).

In my post-apocalyptic game, charisma is a VERY important stat, since it - a) Indicates starting equipment points, b) indicates the number of starting "special" items the character begins play with, c) is vital for the barter system, meaning a high charisma character can spend more with his money

Nyaricus said:

Interesting take, but where's Might and Endurance? You don't have them detailed above.

Click to expand...

I have changed their names during my revision and I'm still wondering if the names fit perfectly as they are.

Wik said:

...charisma is a VERY important stat, since it - a) Indicates starting equipment points, b) indicates the number of starting "special" items the character begins play with, c) is vital for the barter system, meaning a high charisma character can spend more with his money

Click to expand...

A),B), starting equipment doesn't affect long term gear that is found.
C), barter can be done with only one character among the group to have the most benefits out of it

The balance of Strength and Charisma is up to the DM, not the mechanics.

K.I.S.S.

Flame_Excess said:

A),B), starting equipment doesn't affect long term gear that is found.
C), barter can be done with only one character among the group to have the most benefits out of it

Click to expand...

Yeah. Which is why I said it was for my post-apoc game, which involves less gear acquisition as D&D. It works great, there.

And I'm not sure if the fact that only one PC barters is really a bad thing. In a group where one PC picks traps, and one PC casts spells, what's wrong with a group where only one PC is responsible for bartering?

In the end, I just think that a system like you've got adds complexity and confusion for limited gain.

Flame_Excess said:

Corpulence
This trait manifests the size of your muscles and your capacity to take blows. You are made of muscles that make you stout and heavy.

Click to expand...

Er . . . that's not quite what "corpulence" means. Is English your second language, by any chance?

If the influence that charisma has is up to the DM, that leaves him the choice to change the mechanics. It all started when I've thought of a battle system that would make non charismatic characters be the first targets from attacks in a fight. The idea was good until all of my player's characters chose to be charismatic and so no one would benefit from his high score of charisma more than anyone else because there would still exist a lowest score even if it was 15.

GreatLemur said:

Er . . . that's not quite what "corpulence" means.

Click to expand...

I'm taking suggestions; got any new name for it?
In my opinion, corpulence and constitution usually belong together. In fact, there is also the "Obesity" feat in the manual of evil characters that grant you +2Con, -2Dex.

Flame_Excess said:

If the influence that charisma has is up to the DM, that leaves him the choice to change the mechanics. It all started when I've thought of a battle system that would make non charismatic characters be the first targets from attacks in a fight. The idea was good until all of my player's characters chose to be charismatic and so no one would benefit from his high score of charisma more than anyone else because there would still exist a lowest score even if it was 15.

Click to expand...

Can you change the mechanics? Sure. Why? Regardless of how you work the mechanics, if you never use Bluff, Diplomacy or Leadership then Charisma isn't going to be as effective. The game already provides avenues to change how a game works.

If all the enemies always attack from range then Strength is going to be much less useful.

If all encounters take place on the sea, heavy armors won't be used as much.

Game elements are emphasized or downplayed based upon the situations that the DM provides the players. Want to emphasize Charisma? Have more social interaction. Want to downplay Strength? Outlaw weapons inside city limits (so they can only carry Daggers) and keep people at range.

Flame_Excess said:

In my opinion, corpulence and constitution usually belong together. In fact, there is also the "Obesity" feat in the manual of evil characters that grant you +2Con, -2Dex.

Click to expand...

I've noticed--and shared--the common conception that the Constitution score indicates raw physical mass, but I'm starting to realize that it doesn't really make a hell of a lot of sense. From the d20 SRD: "Constitution represents your character's health and stamina." Furthermore, it contributes to Fortitude saves, and Conectration checks, is often damaged by both deadly poisons and life-draining attacks, and determines how long a character can run or hold his breath. These are not mechanics that suggest the score is about fatness. Instead, they seem to indicate it's more about edurance and vitality.

Of course, the reason a lot of us tend to associate Constitution with sheer bulk is its contribution to hit points. Naturally, if you're meatier, you've got more flesh to hack through before an attack hits something vital, right? But I think these days we also realize that hit points are a heavily abstracted resource, representing a character's ability to avoid or mitigate damage much more than they represent the ability to to withstand damage. Otherwise, we'd just base 'em on the creature's size category and maybe natural armor, and we sure as hell wouldn't be adding more with each class level.

So, I submit that a high-Con character is more likely to look like a long-distance runner than a sumo wrestler.