Attributes and Skills

Here are some ways that the Attributes relate with Skills. Remember that to perform a skill the player rolls two dice and multiplies them together. The first dice is the actual Skill dice and represents the Experience the character has in that skill. The second dice is the character's innate ability to adapt to new situations. This is represented by one of the nine attributes. Here is a list that shows someways these attributes are used.

Aptitude: This attribute governs skills that deal with observations and making assessments. Since this attribute show the measure at which the character is able to discover errors and see solutions to these errors, it makes sense that this attribute determines how quickly and easily all other skills advance through the mastery levels. Aptitude also limits a character's maximum level at which he/she advance a skill without the mentorship of a teacher or coach (self-taught). The maximum level is equal to HALF of the character's Aptitude. This means a Character with the Aptitude of 8 could self-teach himself a skill (with the right practice of course and in the right setting) to a D4 (Novice level). An Aptitude of 12 could self-learn a skill up to a D6 (Trained level). Beyond these levels, the character would need to seek out a teacher with the desired skill level and high enough Influence attribute.

Influence: This attribute governs skill that deal with verbal and non-verbal communication.

Initiative: This attribute does not govern any particular skill sets. Yet, it still has an effect on ALL skills where a time limit or deadline puts pressure on the success of that skill. In these cases, an Initiative roll would need to be made. If unsuccessful, penalties would be added to the difficulty of the skill roll (difficulty increases).

Strength: Strength plays a major part in many physical based skills. This is the primary attribute that governs the distance and power behind throwing skills. This attribute determines how high and far the character can jump, how quick he/she can climb and run (movement). Over-burdened characters suffer penalties in combat and other physical skills. If over-burdened too long, the character will succumb to fatigue, placing a penalty on ALL skill rolls.

Coordination: This attribute governs most physical skills and skills requiring hand-eye coordination/dexterity. This includes most mechanical and electrical skills, although this is in combination with Aptitude. Coordination, Aptitude and Perseverance all contribute to the base Combat skill.

Endurance: This attribute does not govern most skills. Rather, it determines how long a skill can be performed and how much the body can withstand before succumbing to fatigue. Remember, fatigue penalizes all skill rolls.

Command: This attribute governs survival skills and skills requiring a mastery of the body (i.e. contortion, escape artist, etc.)

Perseverance: This attribute is used in combination with Aptitude and Coordination to calculate base Combat skill. It is also used in skills that resist persuasion. When a character becomes fatigued, the player must continually roll Perseverance to see if there is a penalty applied to any skill. Perseverance is also used in skill advancement. Once a character has found a teacher of the right skill level and right Influence level, the student must roll a successful Perseverance in order for that skill to be learned. Else, the student will give up before the training is complete!

Power: This attribute does not govern any skill in particular, but may change the outcome of an unsuccessful roll or even a successful roll by the use of game points. Power determines the amount of game points and if they can be used.

Changes to our flawless(?) Attributes

I have found that the Soul attributes are very under-represented. It is my belief that all attributes should carry with them about the same weight. That way one attribute is not preferred over another, based solely on the fact that it is USED more than the others (i.e. Physical Prowess, hint, hint---it was not just used more than other attributes, we ABUSED it). Hence the reason I wanted to take closer look at our Soul attributes.

Soul represents more than just the supernatural. It is a representation of the character's inner self. A self that truly governs all areas of self (Mental, Physical and Spiritual). Furthermore, a player should be able to use the character's Soul attributes in EVERY game, not just games or campaigns that have supernatural events or actions. In trying to adhere to these two concepts, I have constructed three new Soul attributes (replacing our old ones).

They are as follows: Command, Power, and Perseverance. Each of these names are pulled right out of scriptures, since that was the original idea of these attributes. In this post, I will suggest some ideas I have of how to use these. I would like you guys to add some more uses.

Let us start with Power. The universe is full of strange energies and sources of power both supernatural and natural. The character's Power attribute is a measurement of how much of those powers the character can gain access to. Think of an analogy of an electrical device or circuit. Power would be the voltage that passes through the wire.

Where supernatural abilities do not apply to a certain campaign, Power can measure how often a character might heal. It can also measure how often or how many character points a player might earn for completing a certain task. A GM might allow a player to roll a Power roll to save them from catastrophe, like a collapsing wall that the character could not get out from under. This is the ability to tap into Divine Intervention and Providence. Some might call this Luck when it is not united with a high Command attribute.

Let us look closer at Command. Command is the ability to alter or manipulate the world around you. Do not confuse this attribute with Influence; Influence is the ability to persuade others to your way of thinking or to rally others to your cause. Influence is governed by prestige and logic. Command directs or allows control of the natural and supernatural energies and powers. Thinking back to the electrical analogy, Command is the ability to direct where the voltage goes. It determines which direction is the flow of current and to what circuits are powered.

Command can be used to direct the outcome of a character point. We know that character points can be used to better the outcome of the campaign. Yet, it does not have to be the best outcome for ALL the party. The GM can throw in IRONY. Command can be used to reduce this, so that he/she determines what might occur. Example: A player attempts to shot a fleeing orc with a last minute arrow. This orc is carrying the item needed to win the game. The player rolls to hit and misses! He uses a character point to hit the orc. The game master has the player roll a feat of Command. If the Command is successful, the player choose the outcome (with certain limits of course). He might choose a gust of wind (which he had been praying for) to suddenly extend the flight of his arrow hitting the orc with an instant kill. If the Command roll fails, the GM decides the outcome. Maybe the orc still flees, but drops the item in an attempt to dodge the arrow. This still benefits the party, but is not optimal for that player.

Command is also used with controlling super powers and abilities when these are included in a game.

Last, Perseverance. This attributes is a measurement of the amount of energy and power the character can ACTUALLY handle at a given moment. It is also a measurement of time a character can withstand the maximum energy (any energy). This includes both kinetic and metaphysical energy. Both inflowing energy or outgoing energy. In the analogy electricity, this is best represented by the resistance of the wiring (I think this is correct). It measure the amount of electrical load a circuit can take before short circuiting or blowing a fuse.

Perseverance is much like the Palladium attribute M.E., but has some elements of P.E. as well. It would be the base for the secondary attribute I.S.P. (inner strength points). A "save vs." feat would be handled by Perseverance in most cases. It reflect the mind over matter, which is really based more on belief (Soul) than that of the mind. It is a measurement of hope and belief in a particular power.

The last attribute that I wanted to update is Intelligence. I have never liked an attribute that actually represents the player. Intelligence is one of those attributes. It says that a smart player can play an intellectually dumb character, and vice versa. This is absurd. The player is the logical and rational mind of the character. Attributes should represent the way that the player is able to relate to the imaginary world of the GM through his character. The character is the player's avatar, if you will. Therefore, the use of an Intelligence attribute is useless. BUT, the true attribute that we have been using doesn't really correlate to intelligence of the player, in the case of I.Q. of the Palladium. It is different. In fact, the problem is not the attribute, but rather a misnomer of the attribute. I believe we should call this attribute Aptitude, rather than Intelligence. Aptitude measures the ability to adapt to new situations and changes. It is the ability to learn things well and learn it the first time. It is also the ability to see and recognize changes in ones environment or a system; and be able to come up with a solution (okay that last part will be left up to the player). When the player performs an Aptitude roll, he or she is trying to gain deeper access into the details of what is going on. Now this does not work when interrogating an NPC for information, that would be handled by the Influence attribute. But, Aptitude could pick up on nonverbal ques that the NPC might be displaying (i.e. "You notice a slight tilt of his neck to the right" or "He suddenly displays a slight show of disgust in his lips.") Interpreting this information would either require another successful roll of Aptitude or the reasoning powers of the player. Aptitude also aids in the die that represents a characters natural combat ability along with Coordination attribute.

After our last Campaign, I became very interested in the use of dice as multipliers (i.e. D6 X D8) rather than additives (i.e. D6 + D8). I wanted to submit the idea of using multipliers for the use of skills in the game. To the right I have a multiplication chart that has been broken down into 6 categories based on difficulty level (i.e. Easy, Average, Extreme, Incredible, Near Impossible, and Impossible). This chart serves a tool for the Game Master to apply a difficulty rating to a task or feat. All skills/feats are accomplished by rolling two dice. Each represent two attributes or factors that control the skill or feat. For example, let us look at using the skill of picking locks. The two factors that control picking a lock are the attribute "Control" and the amount of learning put into the skill (i.e. Skill Level). Both of these factors are turned into a die. Let's assume that the character has a 6 on control (D6) and a Picking Locks skill level of Expert (D10). So, when this character wish to perform a feat of Picking a lock he must roll a D6 and D10 and multiply them together. Referring to the chart, you might notice that he has a fairly good chance of succeeding if it is an Extremely Difficult lock (possibly against a tough combination lock); and actually has a slim chance of picking an Incredibly Difficult lock (possibly a lock that has fail-safe mechanisms that render the lock frozen if tampered). So gameplay might proceed as follows: Hank, an Expert Thief with a Control attribute of 6, needs to crack the lock on a common combination lock safe that the characters have found hidden behind a family portrait. Inside he knows there are important documents that will provide evidence of the party's innocence in a framed murder. He decides to crack the safe (normally an Average difficulty rating of about 20%, meaning that an Expert would only fail 20% of the time), BUT a klutzy member of the party trips an alarm! The Game Master declares that the lock must be picked in the next 20 seconds in order to give the players enough time to get away without getting caught. This added stress takes it from an Average Difficulty rating to an Extremely difficult rating of 45%! That gives Hank only a 8 out of 60 chance of success...rather than the previous 26 out of 60. Hank's player rolls a 5 and a 10, success! The safe opens in just the nick of time. Documents are in hand and the party flees the scene before any security can apprehend them.

Here is a list of the Fifteen combination of multipliers and how they compete against the levels of difficulty:
D4 x D4: Moderate success with low Average tasks and feats (~19% success rating)
D4 x D6: Performs Average tasks at a Fair level (38%); but cannot perform Extreme tasks/feats
D4 x D8: Fair level against Average feats; a Slim chance (~3%) of success with low Extreme feats
D6 x D6: High level of Difficulty with Extreme feats (~8%); Performs Average feats with ease
D4 x D10: Moderate to High level of difficulty with Extreme feats/tasks (10%)
D6 x D8: Moderate level of difficulty with Extreme feats/tasks (~17%)
D4 x D12: (Same as above, roughly = to D6 x D8)
D6 x D10: Fairly successful with Extreme feats (~25%); Slim success with Incredible feats (~5%)
D8 x D8: (Same as above, roughly = to D6 x D10)
D6 x D12: Moderate to High difficultly with Incredible feats (~10%); Very Slim success with Near Impossible feats (1%)
D8 x D10: Moderate difficulty with most Incredible feats (~13%); Slim success with Near Impossible feats (4%)
D8 x D12: High level of difficulty with Near Impossible feats and tasks (~8%)
D10 x D10: Moderate to High level of difficulty with Near Impossible feats (~10%); VERY slim chance with Impossible feats (1%)
D10 x D12: Moderate difficulty with Near Impossible feats (~16%); Slim chance with Impossible feats (~3%)
D12 x D12: Fairly successful with Near Impossible feats, while High degree of difficulty with Impossible feats (~8%)!

NOTE: If a player rolls the exact difficulty rating, it is still successful. But, is still subject to interpretation of the GM. For example, if Hank in the above example rolled a 9 and a 5, he still would succeed at cracking the safe. BUT, the GM might say that one of his tools broke in the haste or was left behind.
Also, if a certain feat can only be applied to ONE factor, such as a feat of Strength (i.e. lifting a car off your team mate) that factor is used for both dice. So a Strength of 6 would yield a roll of D6 x D6.
A roll of a 1 is ALWAYS a failure, obviously. The GM can interpret the results of a roll of a 1 (possible applying a save versus Luck)

Summary of the New System

The following is a summary of agreed proposals:

> INITIATIVE
> GREEN ROUND
> RED ROUND
> COMBAT
> SHOOTING

Click on comments to read full details:

Continued Conundrums

This section is reserved for foreseen problems and possible solutions. Comments must reflect Ron's revised combat system.

Initiative

This section is regarding the tools related to Initiative either in combat-oriented initiative or non-combat initiative rolls.

The Five Levels

We have got pretty attached to the Five-Level system that Ron created a few years back. But, I believe it needs a simple revision that will actually make it easier to formulate different gaminig tools. The original levels were categorized as Novice (lvl 1), Trained (lvl 2), Skilled (lvl 3), Expert (lvl 4), and Master (lvl 5). This seems simple when we keep it at this level, but I have always had a problem with the way we convert each level to a die (i.e. 1=d4, 2=d6, 3=d8, etc.) I propose that we add a level beneath Novice (possibly Inept or Unskilled). This new category becomes level 1, thus increasing the previous levels by one (Novice = lvl 2; Trained = lvl 3; etc.) What this does is allow for easier conversions that can be taught more easily to newbies to RPG. A dice conversion is simply twice the level (lvl 3 = d6, lvl 6 = d12, etc.)

Level three would still be the average skill level, but now it will be Trained and be represented by a d6. This allows for more improvements during gameplay. The d4 represents a skill or attribute that is slightly below average. The new category is represented by a d2 (odd or even); this skill level is definitely below average, almost impaired.

I am willing to bet that if we start to use these conversions we will find less complexities and will begin to come to more agreements.