There are 12 statistics that define a character in the Tempus Tempera Era of Arae Rul. Strength, Dexterity, Speed, Intelligence, Wits, Charisma, Defense, Soak, Hit Points, Magic Points, Willpower, and sometimes Divine Power. All of these Stats are explained in depth below.
Strength (STR)Strength is a character’s physical might. Strong characters can do more damage in combat, push and pull more weight, and perform feats of might that weaker characters cannot.
Dexterity (DEX)
Dexterity is a measure of a character’s accuracy of movement and agility. A more dexterous character is more accurate at range and can perform more delicate, accurate movements than clumsier characters.
Speed (SPD)
Speed is a measure of how physically quick a character is. The faster a character is the more physical actions they may take per turn.
Intelligence (INT)
Intelligence is all about how smart a character is. More intelligent characters are better with magic and more proficient with thinking skills.
Wits (WIT)
Wits shows how quickly a character thinks. Like speed, the wittier a character is the more mental actions they make take per turn.
Charisma (CHA)
Charisma is a general measurement of how likeable a character is and how much force of personality they posses. Charismatic characters are better diplomatically and socially.
Defense (DEF)
Defense is how tough it is to hit a character. You also gain a bonus to this stat equal to (DEX + WITS) / 2.
Soak (SK)
Soak is a character’s resistance to damage. When you take damage, it gets reduced by your Soak before you subtract it from your Hit Points.
Hit Points (HP)
Hit points are how tough a character is. When a character reaches zero hit points, they pass out. Some attacks may temporarily reduce your maximum hit points – if a character’s Max HP reaches zero, they die.
Magic Points (MP)
Magic points represent how much magic influence that character has. Spells consume MP, which recovers slowly.
Willpower (WP)
Willpower shows how willful a person is. Willpower is rolled to resist being forcible persuaded and can be spent to make rerolls, gain bonuses, perform additional actions and resist damage above their normal tolerance. Willpower is regained when a character is in a situation that reaffirms their persona.
Divine Power (DP)
Divine Power is a mysterious force, far more powerful than magic in the world of Arae Rul. It is used to unleash the incredible force of the Divine Powers. How you acquire it and how it is replenished is unknown.
Addendum: Particulars
Most of the stats in this system are straight forwards. Strength, Dexterity, Speed, Intelligence, Wits and Charisma all function without complication. The rest all have some peculiarities that should be clarified.
Defense and Soak: These stats are naturally zero. You may put points in to them like any other stat however. Defense is always at least 1, as DEX and WIT must be at least one, getting you a net +1 bonus to Defense by default.
Hit Points: This is perhaps the most complicated, as it's three stats rolled up -- HPS, HPC and HPM. HPS is the Hit Point Stat, which is measured like STR, DEX or any normal stat, and has a minimum of 1. Any Versus HP rolls are looking for HPS. HPM is the Hit Point Max, which determines how much pain your character can take before passing out and dying. Some attacks and abilities lower your HPM; if your HPM hits zero, you're dead. HPM is normally your HP times 5, plus 1 per level. HPC is your current HP. It can never be higher than your HPM. Most attacks will damage HPC, and if it reaches zero, you lose consciousness.
Willpower: Willpower is a very potent stat and can allow you to perform feats above and beyond your normal capabilities. There are some roleplaying qualifiers to the use to WP -- spending WP represents fierce determination or need. It provides that extra boost of adrenaline, that extra bit of planning or that vital change of fortune, and it can't be expended willy-nilly. Similarly, a character with high WP is willful, self assured and confident, but using your WP is draining. If you use it all up, you will become unsure, compliant and doubtful. The more WP you have unspent, the more self assured you will be. Any abilities or checks that look at WP only look at unspent WP.
And that should be all the necessary foot-notes. Next; Game play mechanics!
[End]
4 comments:
OK, Greg. Here we go.
Reading about the Ascendants, some sort of basic plot about my character has formed. I think the half-Ascendant personality suits him well.
The problem is, I really don't see the discipline system fitting him at all now. "A large assortment of very specific and very potent abilities" just isn't what I have in mind for him. His magical abilities would be extremely general, as his jobs would be: spread thin to the point of weakness. His spells wouldn't be that potent, but they'd be applicable to a wide variety of situations. Ascendant just doesn't really fit into that.
See, I was thinking more about this character, and my concern that he is too close to me. As he is, he's different, but, when I imagine his character progression, I see him becoming more and more like me, which concerns me. A central point of roleplaying (for me, anyway) is understanding other ways of being. However, I see in his generalisation something very different from myself. I am a specialist: what I know, I know cold. What I don't know... I am completely ignorant of (something I learn very quickly when [strike]playing[/strike] losing at Trivial Pursuit). (Blogger doesn't allow "strike" tags. How annoying.)
When I approach problems, I approach them head-on. I see the problem, I use my skills to find the solution. I have everything that I need at my fingertips because I know it all and have done it so many times. I can go into an argument I know nothing about and instantly make insightful comments because I have such a thorough understanding of logic that I can see the implicit premisses of any position.
But my character couldn't do that. He doesn't have that sort of specialised knowledge. He'd have to approach problems laterally, use a wide variety of techniques, think about them from different ways, and draw upon a vast net of knowledge in order to catch something similar to what he already has. It's a slower approach, but one that can solve a much vaster series of problems.
So, I really see him as full human, now. However, the problem is that I had developed his back-story on the assumption that he would be half-Ascendant.
Still, it's not hard to adapt my story to him being human. Now, I see him as the product of two Ascendant half-breeds. They are both on the outskirts of Ascendant society, wanting in. They have really bought the Ascendant belief in their own superiority, and try as much as possible to be part of that superior race. They try as much as possible to hide their human heritage, and adopt the Ascendant way of life.
And then they have a purely human baby. Of course, they tried to call him a late bloomer at first. He has some similarity to the Ascendants: light red hair, almost metallic amber eyes, pale tan skin. But these, though uncommon, are found among humans. Eventually, they had to accept it: their son was human.
His parents are not evil people, merely bad ones. They wished no harm upon him. They did not completely abandon him. But it was obvious he was unwanted--he was all too human. In him, they saw their own failure to completely assimilate into Ascendant culture. Every time they looked at him, they were reminded that they were outcasts, too. When they saw him handle objects, they were reminded that they, too, were better with their hands than with teleknesis (his parents make a point of never using their hands for anything).
His parents, by denying their human heritage, have gained more acceptance in Ascendant society than most other Aszem, but they have also prevented themselves from ever gaining true acceptance. They are like a one-armed man atempting to be a football player in a small, American town: accepted because he reinforces their belief system, but never as good because he's always trying to do something that he cannot match the others at.
But, oh, how they try.
Of course, leaving my character behind was also partly for his benefit (at least, that's what they told themselves). They were aware that he would not learn under anyone, that he would forever be even more outcast than they. He would be miserable, and, whatever pathetic talents humans could learn, he could not learn while there. He would be better off with humans.
His parents left the city for a while, and, when they came back, he was gone.
They had given him to a husband and wife. They were sickly, though not on the verge of death. They rely/ied (I haven't decided whether they're living or dead yet) mostly upon the charity of others. My character immediately found ways to make himself useful. Being sickly, his parents couldn't do much maintence of the house, so he quickly learned how to patch things up, and, in so doing, how they worked and were built. He also learned how to find food for them to eat. He gave them medicinal herbs, pointed out by the village elder, that would help his parents. He could not do enough for them alone, but others always helped. His parents, though weak now, were honest, generous people, and had given others much in their life, and most people in the village felt a little indebted to them. Still, in a small village, resources are scare, and people often hardly have enough for themselves.
Eventually, as my character aged, he became more and more skilled, and people started asking him to help them out with their own problems with their homes. They would often give more food in return than was really worth the job he did.
As for his personality, I believe I need only say one thing when taken in conjunction with his life story:
He, even when drenched in sweat, working all alone in summer, wears long sleeved shirts.
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His jobs are fabrication and survival. The former I've talked to you about, how it is a general building skill, including carpentery, metalworking, masonry, and leatherworking--basically, anything that could be built in a small village (but none of it done professionally); the latter is essentially boy-scout to the max. He can do all the basic wilderness things: find water, construct taps to collect dew, forage, identify poisionous plants/berries, identify basic herbs for soothing pain/increasing healing, basic first aid, set simple traps, basic hunting, basic weather prediction skills, basic animal empathy skills, and a basic ability to find/build shelters. He can't do any of it with the skill of a specialist hunter or herbalist, but he could do enough to support himself and, if resources are not scarce, another (especially if he gained ability in the job over time).
Both his skills have a strong streak of independence. He could find himself alone and naked in the middle of the woods, and, within a couple months, have himself a decent cabin. He has depended upon others most of his life, and hates feeling like a burden. His motto essentially boils down to "Don't unnecessarily inconvenience others" (yes, that wording is significant. Why do you ask?)
His weapons are the axe and bow (both of which he built himself). Powerful and deadly weapons, but slow and leaving him open. He is not an expert with either (most of his skill with his axe comes from chopping wood, and most of his skill with the bow comes from his periodic hunting). Still, he is always found standing near the front lines when the Nyghres come. It's not like the village has anyone better.
Here's my idea of how his stats will be, where "+" means it's higher than average, nothing means it's average, and "-" means it's lower than average:
STR+
DEX+
SPD-
INT+
WIT-
CHA-
DEF-
WP-
SK+
HP
MP+
I generally think strength, dexterity, and intelligence are his main attributes.
Oh, I should mention that the place he grew up is probably better described as a hamlet than a village.
Because I can't seem to stop thinking about how this character would work, I made him as a GURPS character. Keep in mind that, for GURPS, a 100-point character is seen as heroic (and it's generally the number PCs start at).
ST: 12 20
DX: 12 40 Basic Move 4
IQ: 12 40 Will 8 -20
HT: 12 20 Basic Speed 4 -40
Stat point total: 60
Advantages:
Talent: Outdoorsman (2): 20
Talent Artificer (low TL) (2): 10
Magery (3)-one college only; solitary: 11
Disadvantages:
Gullibility -10
Poor -15
Shy -10
Low Self Image -10
Vow: Never be a burden -5
Quirks:
Always wears long sleeves
Defers to Ascendants
Always tries to help others
Dislikes others helping him
Advantages and Disadvantages point total: -13
Skills: Skill Points
Masonry (IQ/E): 14 1
Machinist (IQ/A): 13 1
Leatherworking (IQ/E): 12 1
Gardening (IQ/E): 12 1
First Aid (IQ/E): 12 1
Carpentry (IQ/E): 14 1
Bow (DX/A): 13 4
Naturalist (IQ/H): 14 4
Tracking (Per/A): 13 1
Smith-Iron (IQ/A): 13 1
Camouflage (IQ/E): 14 1
Navigation (IQ/A): 13 1
Two Handed Axe (DX/A): 11 1
Woodworking (IQ/H): 12 1 (from carpentry)
Survival (Per/A): 13 0 (from Naturalist)
Making and Breaking (IQ/VH): 14 4
Skills point total: 24
Total points used: 71
Heh, I shouldn't have just copied-pasted from a spreadsheet. Ah, well.
One thing I forgot: that should be
Thaumaturgy (IQ/VH): 13 2
Making and Breaking (IQ/VH): 13 2
instead of just "Making and Breaking."
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