Talk:Stats

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Status

Can we get a rough scale for the status stat? If a peasant is status 3 (assuming those are standard peasant stats; the note on stats say most stats are 3, but leaves room for this to be different), what would rough status levels be for things like skilled craftsmen, artists, soldiers of varying ranks, nobility, etc? -Derrick

Status isn't an "automatic" stat in any sense - you still have to / can buy it the same as any other. So, you *could* be a noble who hadn't bought up your status - people wouldn't give you a lot of respect, and you wouldn't be able to make rolls to throw your weight around very effectively. Or you could be a craftsman who had bought his status up very high, and was treated as an undisputed master of his craft.

For status in particular, a locally respected craftsman or military officer might buy into the 5-8 range without being surprising; you wouldn't be surprised to see nobles with 10+ status. The Butterfly King's status is likely in the 15-20 range.

Intelligence & Wit

I'm not sure which of these is used for what. Is there some general rule about which one I am rolling? (D&D Int vs D&D Wis, Knowledge vs Quick Thinking?)

  • Intelligence is for sheer intellect, memory, lore, figuring things out
  • Wit is for noticing things, for not being tricked, for avoiding traps
  • Resolve is for stubbornness, resolution, devotion, will rolls

Is perception still based on Wit when I am trying to find someone so I can shoot them with my bow?

Generally, yes. (Combat isn't what we mean by "social situations".) The Grace type of perception is Sense Motive, Detect Lie, that sort of thing. Weird corner cases like "I try to predict where they would hide" might use Grace, but if you're just flat out looking for someone or something, that's Wit.

Which one do I roll when I am trying to remember a bit of obscure lore?

Intelligence

Which one do I roll when I am hiding something?

If you mean "don't show on my face that I'm lying", Grace (this is ususally Defensive/Social - it's likely to be a roll the GMs ask you to make, not a roll you make against someone else)

If you mean "finding somewhere good to hide the key", Intelligence.

Which one do I roll for playing Chess?

For a quick 1-roll game, probably Intelligence. If it was a great big chess mechanic, you would likely take turns rolling your Int against your foe's Wit.

I was initially confused by what I perceived as reversed names. I've heard of biting wit and acid wit, which are clearly offense. Intelligence has no offense/defense connotation for me. However, "wits" are clearly defensive, in that I would hate to lose them, and having more of them makes it hard to lose them all. But then that's a reserve stat. Hmm.

Having read an actual definition of "wit" at http://www.yourdictionary.com/wit things became clearer. That implies that Wit is more like quick thinking and level-headedness. That leaves Intelligence to mean something like education/knowledge. Is that the idea?

Haydn 20:40, 9 February 2009 (EST)

We find it easiest to try and remember based on the offense/force and defense/precision split. Resolve is mental reserves.


Reflexes

Attack with Accuracy, Defend with Dexterity, get hit points with Energy. All are in the same Primary Stat, too, so your speed rolls are great. This is a fantastic deal for fighters, who should never waste a point on Body. Or anything else, really. Mind you, everyone else can get close to this efficient if they buy a shtick in attacking with a weird stat, so maybe it's not so unbalanced.

Haydn 20:40, 9 February 2009 (EST)

We think it's pretty much true for everyone that if all they want to do is one thing, they can focus on one stat and be quite efficient.

As you say, a lot of it is in the shticks. A Bear Fighter with lots of Body and a Tiger Fighter with lots of Reflexes will both be deadly in their way.

Charles says: Drew's comment is totally true in Comet, and one of the big things I'd change if I was revamping the system. It looks like you don't believe in +1 damage multiple shticks, though, which will change the balance some if a x6 sword requires a 6 power shtick that doesn't stack and a +5 damage requires a 3 power shtick that stacks with itself. If I dodge you entirely, your +5 damage shticks are all junk, though. It's something to keep an eye on as you price shticks, at least.

(On a related note, I tend to think 3 power for "I dodge with my best stat" is too low - you can do that once a round as a second level shtick.)

Andrea says: OK, asking the stupid question because maybe I'm just confused by your terminology/shorthand. :) When you say "+5 damage" do you mean "increase my damage multiplier by 5" or "add 5 dice to my roll" or "add 5 points of damage to what I do if I hit?" I think you mean the last thing, except that the price you quote for it is the price for "+5 dice for something specific," which is confusing me. :) But I can't figure out what the thing you don't think they believe in is -- do you mean, stackable schticks in "increase my damage multiplier"?

The thing we don't believe in is the thing you were asking about before - buying a shtick in x2 to magic missile, and buying another shtick in x2 to magic missile, and having a x4 magic missile. Damage is successes*multiplier + Strength, so Charles is converting from "+5 dice to Strength with Sword" to "+5 damage with Sword". Boojum 09:38, 10 February 2009 (EST)

OK, I understand, thanks. (But let me just say, that nomenclature makes no sense either grammatically or mathematically. :) ) --Andrea

(For people who grew up speaking Champions, the idea that "+1 plus +2 means multiply by 4" is entirely natural. For everyone else, maybe not so much. Boojum 10:03, 10 February 2009 (EST))

Categories/Meta Stats

Is there any intrinsic value to having high scores in a particular row or column of the stat table? For example, is there likely to be a ruling like "roll the smallest of your spiritual stats to save" or "add your reflex stats and roll that"? (I think hit points worked this way in Oath?)

It seems like it ought to be natural for characters to be strong in a particular column or row, but my first attempts at picking favored stats have me all over the board.

-- Heidi

Well, the most obvious reason to want a column to be good is that it determines your speed in combat.

Oh look, right at the top of the page! Thanks! So, next question: a sniper character seems to require accuracy and intelligence. I'm thinking that the best way to get the right flavor for the character under this rule set is the zen archer route -- weirdshit and insight are substituted for accuracy and intelligence. Does that make sense?

Also, I'm guessing that it's probably not a good strategy to max stat's along a row of the table. (Though "can't touch this!" would be a neat character concept!)

Speed is likely to be the most common usage of a primary stat (the minimum of a column), but there are probably rare examples where we'd ask someone to roll a primary stat. I can't imagine asking someone to roll the minimum of a row unless it was in the throes of a Mad Psychic Ritual, and it's no use planning ahead for those. :)

Rather than rolling your Tao instead of your Reflexes, you might want to put a shtick in adding Tao to Reflexes for arrow attacks. --Boojum 09:25, 23 February 2009 (EST)


Tao Stats & Skills

Is it possible to have Tao-based skills that are not fueled by a schtick? (Especially since, in general, a schtick has at most one associate skill, right?) If so, what would be some examples? --Andrea

  • Yes, but they probably aren't very common, and they'll all be sort of "weird". Reading the I Ching would be a Yin roll. *Resisting* some sorts of magical effects would be a Yin roll. Magic Ritual is a (sometimes) Tao-based skill (Intelligence to come up with a ritual, Tao to perform it). --Boojum

Is there a stat which corresponds to the Oath "Luck" stat without schticks, or do you need to spend a schtick to have something work like luck did? --Shen Wei Han 16:10, 26 February 2009 (EST)

  • The Tao Stats work something like Fortune, but only once a run. -- Charles
  • When we need to determine something random (is there a blacksmith in this town, is the ferry on this side of the river or the other?), the affected player will have the option of spending a karma point to resolve the randomness in their favor; if they don't, we'll determine it randomly. --Boojum 15:27, 27 February 2009 (EST)

Move

I think it's worth mentioning that you round your Move in your favor. So a 3 Strength and 4 Energy yields a 3.5, rounded to a 4 Move stat. Rejoice! --Eon 10:33, 26 April 2009 (EDT)