Luck Attribute?

The described system would (imo) lead to poor play.

Example: Half the party rolls low luck for this session. Guess this is the session we all stay in town and talk to NPCs!

I can see that happening. Mind you, I'm not against the idea of a luck stat. Seems like the kind of thing you might ask your group if they want to experiment with it, but don't be surprised if they want to ditch it.

Also, it inherently gets worse over the session, but doesn't get better.

Final words: with any mechanic, it helps to ask yourself "what does this add to the game?" I feel that a good game, be it RPG, board game, or card game only chooses mechanics that enhance the theme and experience that the main game brings to the table to begin with. How does such a mechanic enhance the themes and motifs of D&D or your campaign?

Ironically, I had been toying with a very similar luck stat mechanic in the RPG I'm working on, and that post has helped me decide it's a no-go.

In general, 'Luck' is an almost impossible trait to balance. It is either a 'god stat' or else useless and there is little in between.

The problem with 'Luck' is that unlike something like Strength, Intelligence, or Charisma it applies to every situation you find yourself in. There is no situation where 'Luck' arguably couldn't influence the outcome.

So how do you balance that? If Luck has a strong influence over your chance of success, then Luck is strictly better than every other attribute and should be everyone's 1st or 2nd stat. Arguably Chill 2e, otherwise a strong system, had this problem to a certain extent. Almost everything your character wanted to do usually depended on some stat + luck, so luck was a way to be at least moderately good at everything. But if luck has a weak influence over your chance of success, then any point in Luck is strictly worse than putting the same amount of points in other stats (if it takes 6 points of luck to influence the outcome as much as 1 point of something else, why not put all 6 points in the something else?).

What you might call 'Luck' is folded into my game in the Charisma stat. As implemented, Charisma gives you a pool of rerolls ('Destiny Points') that replenish very slowly (usually 1 per level gained). The influence is fairly weak, but it insures that Charisma is not a straight up dump stat for someone optimizing for a non-social role.

Hey there. How about using luck as a mechanic instead of a stat? I remember that in the Stars without Numbers system the psychic class has an ability that allows them to reroll any roll but later on they much reroll a good roll in order to even it out? Would need to make sure that this isn't gamed though. Here is the ability as stated in the book:

Alternate Outcomes Level 3
When the psychic fails an attack roll, saving throw, or skill check
she can immediately trigger this power to gain a second attempt at
the roll. This last-minute aversion destabilizes future probabilities,
however, and the precog must voluntarily reroll a successful attack
roll, saving throw, or skill check before she can activate this power a
second time. Rerolling a trivial success is not normally sufficient to
rectify the probability debt

Arctic Wolf said:

Hey there. How about using luck as a mechanic instead of a stat? I remember that in the Stars without Numbers system the psychic class has an ability that allows them to reroll any roll but later on they much reroll a good roll in order to even it out? Would need to make sure that this isn't gamed though. Here is the ability as stated in the book:

Alternate Outcomes Level 3
When the psychic fails an attack roll, saving throw, or skill check
she can immediately trigger this power to gain a second attempt at
the roll. This last-minute aversion destabilizes future probabilities,
however, and the precog must voluntarily reroll a successful attack
roll, saving throw, or skill check before she can activate this power a
second time. Rerolling a trivial success is not normally sufficient to
rectify the probability debt

Click to expand...

Yes I do also like this idea - in fact I have a Reroll Pool (equal to level) in the game already (max 12th level).

Actually, with Luck, I decided to largely use it as (i) a saving throw substitute, and (ii) also to power martial exploits, but gave it a set number (rather than randomized) at 10+half level. So at the start of the adventure, a 3rd level PC would have 12 luck (round up). Then Luck steadily goes down over the course of the adventure (perhaps getting 1 point back at certain adventure milestones).

I like that Alternative Outcomes power, it has an interesting restriction attached to it.

Luck already exists in all games that use dice. It is what they represent. You are adding skill to that. No need for a separate attribute.

Tunnels & Trolls uses a Luck attribute. It grants combat adds (together with STR and DEX, from memory) and is used for many saving throws.

pemerton said:

Tunnels & Trolls uses a Luck attribute. It grants combat adds (together with STR and DEX, from memory) and is used for many saving throws.

Click to expand...

Yeah there are plenty of RPGs with a Luck attribute, including OSR DnD games such as DCC. I think as long as you have a good reason to include it, that it adds something fun to the game, it can be worthwhile.