Ability Scores - A different arrangement

[Galethorn]

Going on what I've seen work quite well in various systems...

Resolve (Self-confidence; it would affect your ability to inspire, intimidate, resist persuasion/domination, and concentrate, as well as giving a bonus to whatever sort of action/courage/whatever-point system you'd use)

Brawn (Affects damage, carrying capacity, athletics, and all the stuff that Constitution usually does, minus concentration)

Agility (Affects abilty to hit and avoid getting hit in melee combat, as well as 'jumping out of the way' and that sort of stuff)

Intuition/Instinct (Affects ability to hit and avoid getting hit in ranged combat, along with all those sorts of things that involve anticipation and doing things unconciously)

Wits (a person's concious mind; their ability to learn, plan, communicate, etc.)


With this system, you would have multiple ability scores (and skills) modifying most skills/"saves", so that a character's high Resolution might give them a bonus against a poison (a Brawn-based save), or high Intuition might help with delivering a particularly damaging blow.

All that said, I just came up with all of this in 10 minutes, so I'm sure things could be better-named, or otherwise improved.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Planesailing, were you the one who said a few weeks back that they had extensive playtime with Runequest and CoC logged? That's darned close to the BRP system that those two games use.

I've not really played CoC so it was probably someone else, but I've had very extensive play with Runequest2 - the RPG system of choice for me!

Would you like a short story? OK, I'll begin.

We liked RQ so much, we thought it would be cool to play a Sci-Fi game using the RQ rules. So I wrote them, called it StarQuest and we had a ball. So much so that (back in mid 80's) we thought "hey, why not turn them into something publishable?" So I did... I went through five iterations of the game, and in the process obviously had to make it clearly different to RQ/BRP, and by the early 90's got it finished, playtested, all ready... but didn't get around to doing anything with it.

Round about 1994 I heard about the www and put it up there - so if you want to read the complete Starguild RPG, you can find it here http://www.starguild.freeserve.co.uk/starguild/

For a bit of fun I thought I'd have a go at retooling Starguild to make Starguild d20 (or at least Starguild OGL), but I keep whiffling between on the one hand making it as consistent with d20 modern as possible and on the other hand making changes which are closer to my original Starguild concept and simultaneously "fixing" things that I didn't like in d20

The attribute list above is what I'd like to use in Starguild d20, but I'll probably go with the standard six for best compatibility.

So, did you like my story?

Cheers!

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

Here goes, and with little thought...

Strength: heavy weapon to hit, all damage, encumbrance

Health: body saves, HPs, combat fatigue

Speed: combat sequence, movement allowance, bonus attacks

Coordination: defensive bonus, light weapon to hit, reflex saves

Knowledge: bonus skills, light weapon damage, maximum skill level

Wisdom: mind saves, instinct checks, bonus rerolls

Appearance: initial reactions checks, seduction checks, bonus crowd appeal

Presence: authority checks, cause emotion, crowd appeal radius

 

[Rasyr]

Oohh.. I'll play...

Strength (ST) – Not merely brute force, Strength is an estimation of a character’s build and muscular structure. Characters with a high Strength are able to use their might to its fullest potential.

Constitution (CO) – Reflecting a character’s general health and well-being, Constitution also helps determine stamina, resistance to poisons and diseases, and the ability to weather fatigue and wounds brought about by combat.

Agility (AG) – Characters that exhibit outstanding feats of manual and physical dexterity have a high Agility.

Quickness (QU) – A measure of reflexes and coordination, Quickness also determines the reaction time of a character. Characters with high Quickness values have increased movement on the battlefield and are adept at dodging blows.

Self Discipline (SD) – Representing inner resolve, dedication, and stubbornness, Self Discipline also helps determine a character’s resistance to the machinations of others.

Reasoning (RE) – The capacity for logical, rational, and analytic thought is governed by a character’s Reasoning. Characters with high Reasoning scores seem to be particularly astute and are of sound sense and good judgment.

Insight (IN) – Covering the intuitive faculties of a character, Insight is the capacity to discern the true nature of a situation. It also expresses a character’s connection to, and understanding of, the world around them.

Presence (PR) – A character’s bearing, quality of self-assurance, and mien are reflected in his Presence. Those with high Presence scores are full of charm and wit, with a distinct force of personality. Presence also helps determine a character’s ability to interact with and influence those around him.


Note: These ARE the stats that I used for HARP.

 

[Particle_Man]

Strongbad sez...

[channelling Strongbad] "You only need one attribute. Awesomeness! For instance, my character is Totally Awesome! Other characters can be Fairly Awesome, Almost Awesome, and Anti-Awesome."[/channelling Strongbad]

 

[A'koss]

These would be my picks.

Strength
Agility
Constitution
Knowledge
Willpower
Perception
Presence

Resolve I actually use in my own game, but as a kind of mental hit points.

I don't include reason, charisma or wisdom as these things should be the province of the person portraying them. Whille you can "dumb" yourself down when playing a character, you simply can't viably portray someone who can reason or is wiser than you are.
Cheers!

 

[Woocash]

I suggest following attributes:
Build - size, toughness and muscle mass
Agility - general physical efficiency (how good you run, jump etc., also how good you aim in melee)
Health - ability to resist poisons and diseases, endurance, speed of natural healing
Perception - senses, reflexes (initiative), precision (for tasks which need manual dexterity, or ranged weapons) and empathy
Intelligence - quite general, both logical and intuitive reasoning, memory too
Personality - both charisma and willpower
Comeliness - looks, attractiveness, affects social reactions

Average of Build and Agility is what we call Strength in D&D (carrying capacity, damage). There are no additional rules regardinh how size category affects carrying capacity, trip, grapple etc. - size can be computed from Build (it means, that increasing Build by spells or magic items increases size).

Average of Built and Health affects HP.

Intelligence affects skill points, as in D&D.

Both "book-using" (wizards) and "natural" (druids, rangers) casters use Int as their casting stat. Both "divine" (clerics, paladins) and "innate" (sorcerers, bards) use Personality.

Many skills are based on average of 2 stats (Disable Device - Perception and Intelligence; Sense motive - Perception and Intelligence; Bluff - Intelligence and Personality; Perform - Agility and Comeliness; Swim - Agility and Health etc.)

Comeliness would be a dump stat for most characters, if it didn't affect social "first reactions". For an NPC who knows party well it doesn't matter, for those who don't, it matters a lot (we all subconsciously think "ugly = evil" ). And it is the lowest Comeliness in the group what matters, not that of the person who speaks.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

I'd stick to the six stats, but I would move the Will Save (and Cleric/Druid spellcasting) to Charisma and the Profession skill to Intelligence. I would rename Wisdom to Perception, both to clarify its purpose and to allow reckless, maniacal characters to take high Wisdom if they seem like they'd have keen senses.

Perception is a more logical combination of traits than the current Wisdom, and certain Wisdom traits make more sense as a function of Charisma. Thus, you have a more logical system that is still relatively simple.

Of course, certain races would need adjustments. The Orc's Wisdom penalty would go right out.

As for Comeliness or physical appearance-- screw it. Characters look the way the players want them to look, and beauty is too subjective to be neatly classified by a single statistic.

 

[Gentlegamer]

I'd go with something like that from MEGS:

Physical: Dexterity/Strength/Body
Mental: Intelligence/Will/Mind
Mystical: Influence/Aura/Spirit

The first in each category is skill, the second power, the third resistance.

 

[reanjr]

Strength - raw power over short spurts
Stamina - the ability to keep up with physical activity
Health - overall bodily health, resistence to injury, healing, immune system
Intellect - ability to learn facts, memorize things
Reason - higher thought; logic, computation, deduction
Perception - how acute your senses are
Reflexes - your ability to instinctively react
Dexterity - you hand-eye coordination
Personality - ability to sway others