Table of Contents
Character Attributes
Different games have similar but different systems of dividing character attributes
the classic D&D system (as well as Pathfinder, d20, and many other systems):
- Strength
- Constitution
- Dexterity
- Intelligence
- Wisdom
- Charisma
Verterre System:
- Strength
- Constitution
- Reason
- Knowledge
- Charisma
- Agility
- Perception
The video game series Fallout uses “SPECIAL”:
- Strength
- Perception
- Endurance
- Charisma
- Intelligence
- Agility
- Luck
All three system use a triple edged approach to physical characteristics:
- Strength which determines ability to wield heavy weapons and affects amount of damage you deal
- Constitution/Endurance which affects HP and is essentially how tough you are
- Agility/Dexterity which affects your speed and ability to hit a target and dodge attacks
all three systems us Charisma to affect social situations
The biggest differences are how each system treats the mental side.
- D&D uses Intelligence and Wisdom
- Fallout uses Intelligence, and Perception
- Verterre uses Knowledge, Reason, and Perception
I do not agree with the use of the terminology of Wisdom, as this implies a heavy role in what choices a character may or may not make, which I feel is inconsistent with the openness of role playing itself, which ought to be left to the player to decipher and attempt to stay in character without direct influence by stats and rolls.
Perception is a useful attribute in determining the character's ability to notice things going on in the game. This may be employed to great effect by a crafty game master in situations involving unnoticed threats, traps, hidden doors, treasure, or descriptions involving arcane details.
Intelligence is not a bad starting point, but the Verterre system realizes a crucial division in application of different types of Intelligence. Knowledge is more about how much information the character is familiar with, whereas Reason measure the character's ability to engage in problem solving and learning. This division allows a far greater degree of realism in terms of character creation. You can now simulate the very real cases of a character who is “book smart” but not really that bright, or is easily fooled (high Knowledge and low Reason) or a character who is uneducated but great at improvising and “figuring stuff out” (high Reason and low Knowledge)
The split between Knowledge and Reason is well employed in my new magic system described HERE. Reason is used when Casting spells. In this context Reason equates to ability to remember the spell and concentrate on casting it. Knowledge is used when Learning new spells. This equates to the ability to understand and comprehend the theory behind the spell. It gives spells a more scientific flavour in that they are based on some kind of underlying system which is understood and then employed.
An interesting note is Fallout's explicit use of Luck as an attribute. Tabletop systems typically rely on the dice rolls to add randomness and chance into the gameplay. This implicitly involves luck (if such a thing exists), but it becomes the luck of the player rather than the character. It would be interesting to adopt a Luck attribute into a tabletop setting such as Verterre as a roll modifier; however, significant scaling and logorithmic advancement would be required to reduce its effect, otherwise a player could simply invest XP into luck for too-easy “God-mode” leveling.