Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="NichG" data-source="post: 4979105" data-attributes="member: 44666">One has to ask, why are some things stats and others not? You could in principle have stats for Temper, Kindness, Courage, Friendliness, Trust, Greed, etc, etc, which would be roleplay constraints. However that sort of thing is usually left to the player to determine, because by putting them in some sort of point system you might be unable to create the character personality that you want to play (and there's an implicit statement about the inherent value and breakdown of traits - someone cannot be Kind, Friendly, Calm of Temper, but not also be Greedy and Untrusting, because of the point structure).Generally stats are restricted to things with significant mechanical effect that broadly create various niches for the archetypes that a system wishes to evoke. Thus Strength and Intelligence exist because the game system wants there to be a group of things that martial characters do well and a group of things that spellcasters do well, and wants there to be synergy in those choices (you can always play against type but you sacrifice that mechanical synergy). As such, it is my preference to always take the reading that stats are basically there for sake of mechanical richness only, and that they should not be balanced against roleplaying constraints. Think of it this way: in a group where someone is okay with playing the low Int, Wis, Cha character - perhaps as a player he only really likes combat and the numbers game - but the other players want to have some modicum of ability to participate in puzzles, etc, then the guy who is okay with dumpstatting the mental stats has an unfair mechanical advantage due to his particular player profile. Or similarly, in a situation where the GM is an unknown factor, people must try to determine ahead of time whether the majority of the game will be roleplay/puzzle solving/etc or combat or risk being stuck with a character who is ineffective most of the time, while another player who made a different guess may end up dominating the spotlight. This issue also crops up in things like the Paladin (though more in older editions, where a class that had more raw power mechanically was balanced against a set of roleplay restrictions that may be unpalatable to some players but palatable to others). So if I'm designing a system, I always avoid things like Int, replacing it with something that carries the mechanical meanings I want without having a strong roleplay interpretation. In an existing system (e.g. D&D) I would read the mental stats as follows:Intelligence - Knowledge; This is the rate at which a character can learn, their ability to memorize and recall large bodies of information (as opposed to 'what was the name of that temple again?'), and their ability to work through particular procedures for using what they've learned (the arcane version of doing mathematical computations, basically)Wisdom - Awareness; This is a person's awareness of their senses and of their environment. In a druid, it controls spellcasting because it is the vehicle in which the character is aware of the nature of their surroundings and what can be brought into a spell - there are some roots poking out through that cobblestone, there is some moss on that rock, etc. In a cleric, it is the awareness of the presence of their deity or creed in everything around them. Why does it affect will saves? Because it indicates the degree to which the character is aware that their mind is being tampered with.Charisma - Presence; A character with high charisma draws attention to themself automatically (or can deflect it more controllably). They are more 'real' than everything else around them. When they say 'obey me' then even the universe listens (at least, if they're a sorceror or bard). It isn't a person's eloquence, or their ability to know what another person wants to hear (these are roleplay issues).YMMV of course, but I find that the game is more fun if I can make puzzles and situations to challenge the minds of the players, and not simply to challenge the pre-computed numbers on their sheets. Then the numbers on the sheet represent tools that the intellects of the players can wield to resolve the situation, rather than constraints on that intellect.</blockquote>

Verification