Attributes

In-order to quantify a characters physical abilities, appearance, and control, and their mental aptitude, a set of percentile characteristic termed “attributes” are assigned to the character. There are 16 attributes, 5 physical - Strength, Dexterity, Agility, Reflexes, Stamina -, 4 mental - Intuition, Reason, Will Power, Learn -, 4 which are both - Personality, Leadership, Perception, Spatial Awareness-, 1 which is abstract - Spirit- and 2 derived- Education and Speed.

The latter two, Education and Speed, are dealt with in more detail later.

Each Attribute has two values, termed “Current” and “Potential”. As the names suggest these are the values of the attribute at the current time and the value that it is genetically possible to raise the attribute to.

Raising the current value of a attribute is accomplished by expending Character Points gained through ‘adventure’ (See sections x Experience and Character points and x Character Points).

When a attribute reaches a certain value or falls below a certain value then bonuses or penalties to performing actions or using skills result.

Other than providing a means of determining how a character ranks in relation to other characters, attributes also provide a means of gauging whether it is possible for a character to perform an action not covered by a skill - such as remembering the name of a particular NPC, building, or place previously encountered. This is called an “Attribute Check”; and a set of guidelines on attribute checks is given below.

Basic Attributes

Strength (STR)

This is a measure of the character's ability to lift or carry objects. It affects how much force a character can put into a blow in a hand to hand combat, how much ‘gear’ they can carry about, and their chance to perform actions based purely on muscle power.

Dexterity (DEX)

This is a measure of the characters manipulative ability with their hands/feet. It determines how well they can handle a weapon or how well they can perform intricate tasks such as lock picking or micro-surgery.

Agility (AGL)

This is a measure of a characters physical co-ordination. It determines whether a character can dodge a blow or leap a chasm.

Reflexes (REF)

This is a measure of the character's reflexes and is used to simply determine and how fast physically a character is able to react in a given situation.

Stamina (STA)

This is a measure of the characters health and body size, fitness and energy reserves, and determines both how much ‘damage’ a character can absorb before he collapses and dies; and the length of time a character can ‘keep going’ before they collapse due to exhaustion.It is also a measure of the character's resistance to ‘stunning’ and tranquilliser drugs

Reason (REA)

This is a measure of the characters ‘calculating’ ability; the ability to arrive at a conclusion on a step by step basis.

Intuition (INT)

This is a measure of the character's ability to arrive at conclusions given insufficient data to make a logical decision. It is effectively a measure of the characters imaginative power.

Will Power (WIL)

This is a measure of the characters mental resilience and their ability to apply ‘mind over matter’. It determines the character's resistance to physical pain and their determination to continue when ‘exhausted’.

Learn (LRN)

This is a measure of the character's capacity to take-in and remember information. Thus it is a measure of how quickly a character can acquire new or improve existing skills.

Spatial Awareness (SPA)

This is a measure of the character's ability to judge the distance and orientation of objects in relation to their own body. This attribute affects the character's ability to ‘target’ and shoot accurately, to fight effectively, drive vehicles, or any other task in which the character's relationship to his physical environment is crucial.

Personality (PERS)

This is a measure of the characters emotional makeup. It determines how other characters (PC’s and NPC’s) react to the character.

Leadership (LDR)

This is a measure of the character's ability to command other intelligent beings and how well those beings will then follow the character.

Perception (PERC)

This is a measure of how much attention a character pays to his surrounding environment. It determines whether the character notices the trip wire before he falls over it or the booby trap on the bomb he’s currently defusing. It is also a measure of how good the characters hearing ,or sense of smell or ‘FAZ’ (see Thranx in the WhiteSands setting) is.

Spirit (SPT)

Spirit is an abstract measure of a characters soul or strength of character. In systems that use either Metaphysics or Magic it determines a characters Chi or Mana.

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Derived Attributes

A Derived Attribute is one which is obtained by averaging one or more of the Basic Attributes. The purpose of derived attributes is mainly to simplify and speed up play by avoiding having to constantly recalculate averages.
Derived Attributes are calculated at the beginning of the game from the Basic Attributes. There after derived attributes can only be improved using the same method as basic attributes; improving the basic attribute DOES NOT improve the derived attribute.

Education (EDU)

Education  is only used during character generation and determines the variable proportion of a characters starting skill points. It also determines their ability to enroll in further education, the specifics of which are dealt with on a setting by setting basis.

Education is is determined by averaging Reason, Intuition, and Learn  as follows

                    EDU= (REA + INT + LRN + LRN) / 4

A characters base Skill Points are calculated by muliplying EDU(sk) by 20.

Speed (SPD)

Speed is a measure of the characters movement rate. This is the characters base movement rate when walking at normal pace. When moving with stealth the actual rate may be 1/10th of this whilst when running flat out it may be 5 times this.

Speed is is determined by averaging Dexterity, Strength, Agility, and Reflexes  as follows
                   SPD = ( DEX  + STR  + STR + AGL  + AGL + REF ) / 6

Current And Potential Attributes

As previously stated each of the above stats has two values, its' current value and its' potential value. The current value of a stat is effectively a temporary value because it can rise (due to stat improvement and other factors) or fall (due to injury, disease, old age, etc..).

Because an attributes’ potential is genetically fixed it is difficult to alter, but can change due to critical injury or by the use of cybernetic parts, in technologically advanced settings.

Of course the current value of an attribute may not normally exceed its potential value, but the use of certain drugs (legal or otherwise) or certain meta-physical manipulations, can cause this to happen for short periods of time. However, the use of these drugs may result in a general degradation of attributes other than those enhanced.

Generating Attributes

Both the current and potential value of an attribute are generated, for normal ranges, by rolling percentile dice against the requisite table below. The normal range for attributes is 01 to 124. Beyond this value it is up to the GM and the setting to determine if values exist and under what circumstances these values occur. Typically in any setting that does not involve Super Powers or high tech robotics the maximum allowed value should be 150.

Where robots and superpowers are allowed the upper limit should be raised to 350, although anything beyond 250 would be very unusual. In a system where supernatural creatures exist then anything beyond 250 should be considered supernatural. The absolute maximum value allowed by the system is 499. Great care should be taken when assigning values beyond 120 because of the parabloic nature of the attribute skill curve. An attribute of 125 has a skill value, or true value, of 154 but an attribute of 350 has a skill value of 577! See Attribute Checks and Skill Values below.

	Die Roll	Attribute Value		Die Roll	Attribute Value
	01-07	30		48-60	55
	08-14	35		61-85	60
	15-25	40		86-90	65
	26-36	45		91-95	70
	37-47	50		96-00	75

Table 3.1.1(Initial Attribute Values)

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	Die Roll	Attribute Value		Die Roll	Attribute Value
	01-03	30		63-71	75
	04-06	35		70-74	80
	07-12	40		75-79	85
	13-18	45		80-83	90
	19-25	50		84-87	95
	26-33	55		88-91	100
	34-42	60		92-94	105
	43-52	65		95-97	110
	53-62	70		98-00	115

Table 3.1.2 (Potential Attribute Values)

Attribute Checks & Attribute Skill

When a check against an attribute is required in most circumstances the check is made against the attribute skill.

The attribute skill transforms an attribute value in a similar manner to the skill profile except that the higher the attribute the higher the bonus. This reflects the fact that ability is not linear. The attribute skill value, written as Attr(sk), is calculated as follows
   Divide the attribute by 5 rounding up to the next whole number.
   skill value = (res%7) * 5 +
                     ((((res-7)>0, (res-7),0) % 10) * 6 +                   
                     ((((res-16)>0, (res-16),0) % 8) * 7 +
                     ((((res24)>0, (res-24),0) % 5) * 8 +
                     ((((res-30)>0, (res-30),0) % 20) * 9 +
                     ((((res-49)>0, (res-49),0) % 20) * 10 +
                     ((((res-69>0, (res-69),0) % 20) * 11 +
                     ((((res-89)>0, (res-89),0) % 15) * 12 +   
                     ((((res-94)>0, (res-94),0) % 6) * 13

The skill values for attributes in the range 01 to 399 are given in the table below.

	Value	Skill		Value	Skill		Value	Skill		Value	Skill
	01-04	1		100-104	118		200-204	285		300-304	476
	05-09	5		105-109	125		205-209	294		305-309	486
	10-14	10		110-114	132		210-214	303		310-314	496
	15-19	15		115-119	139		215-219	312		315-319	506
	20-24	20		120-124	146		220-224	321		320-324	516
	25-29	25		125-129	154		225-229	330		325-329	526
	30-34	30		130-134	162		230-234	339		330-334	536
	35-39	36		135-139	170		235-239	348		335-339	546
	40-44	42		140-144	178		240-244	357		340-344	556
	45-49	48		145-149	186		245-249	366		345-349	566
	50-54	54		150-154	195		250-254	376		350-354	577
	55-59	60		155-159	204		255-259	386		355-359	588
	60-64	66		160-164	213		260-264	396		360-364	599
	65-69	72		165-169	222		265-269	406		365-369	610
	70-74	78		170-174	231		270-274	416		370-374	621
	75-79	84		175-179	240		275-279	426		375-379	632
	80-84	90		180-184	249		280-284	436		380-384	643
	85-89	97		185-189	258		285-289	446		385-389	654
	90-94	104		190-194	267		290-294	456		390-394	665
	95-99	111		195-199	276		295-299	466		395-399	676

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Improving Attributes

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Site Created and Maintained by Kevin CowleyAzer Games 2008
Page Created 10/01/2008 Last Updated 01/08/2008