 February 4, 2014 - 6:06am | I'm just kicking around an idea here till it develops into something the idea is to arrive at a character with ability scores by the player choosing before he rolls any dice the values of mind, body and soul for the character he is developing. if he places a higher value on body then the physical characteristics of the character will be better, if he places a high value on the mind then the mental and if on the soul then the LDR/PER characteristics That's the idea but what the mechanic will be to get there is what I'm kicking around I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
February 4, 2014 - 7:07am | So I dont want to set a system where PER/LDR become the dump stats and one thought could be if the player uses the soul attribute as a dump stat then they must roll on a table for a personality disorder; obsessive/compulsive, eating disorder, fear of X (X can be any number of irrational things) and so on. Its not absolute that the character will have a personality disorder just a chance of it so its a risk you take making the soul attribute a dump stat. RE: body- using SF ability scores we have 4 body stats STR/STA & RS/DEX while mind and soul would have only two. I'm leaning toward a radical idea because of this. In life I have never been very strong or very fast but I have an amazing ability to endure. I once climbed a mountain in CO with a large group many that were stronger, faster, more athletically endowed than I never finished the hike and turned back early when the air got thin. I on the other hand made a decision of will to keep on and as the air got thinner each step became an act of will. For this reason I'm thinking to make STA a function of the soul such that your Body is your STR, RS & DEX and your soul attribute is your STA, PER, LDR and you Mind is, at the very least, your INT and LOG. (this might do away with any preventative measures over using PER/LDR as a dump stat) but we like symetry so I think under such a system Mind should be exapnded to 3 ability scores: with a new one included that is score that mentalism powers function off of. I dont think the system should be a pool of points you split between 3 abiltities as that sets us up for dump stats again but perhaps the play sets the value for mind, body and soul and then that value determines what table the ability scores are rolled on. High value means the table is skewed to produce higher than average scores. or the player gets to roll than add a small pool of points to any of the ability scores associated with that attribute. I'm going to call this high, medium and low value and one value is assigned to each of the attributes: the attribute with high value lets the player roll three ability scores (on the better than average table) and assign them as he sees fit plus he has a small pool of points to assign between the three ability scores the attibute assigned a medium value rolls on the better than average table but the player must announce the ability score he is rolling before he rolls. He may move points between any of the three ability scores in much the same way they are moved between ability pairs in AD either no more than 10 may be taked from any one score and no more than 10 may be added to any one score but points may be traded between all three scores associated with this attribute. the attribute assigned a low value rolls on the average table and again the player must state what ability he is rolling and he may trade points between the three ability scores but no more than 5 points may be taken from any one ability and no more than 5 points may be added to any one ability. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
February 4, 2014 - 7:13am | Note: mentalism is still optional and the mentalism ability score, call it mental power for now, will likely become a dump stat but I'm ok with this as using it as a dump stat has a built in negative feature: you cant ever gain mentalism powers. the Mental power ability can further be used to resist domination by sathar hypnotism and other such saving throws. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
February 4, 2014 - 12:44pm | So basically Tri-Stat than? technically 9 stats: 3X3 The original thought was starting with mind, body and soul and relating the 8 Sf abilities to that. Sort of a new system to potentially eliminate dump stats. As I played with it things turned into 9 abilities. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 February 4, 2014 - 1:19pm | How would you assign value to the Star Frontiers ability roster? Let me give you my valuation by way of explanation. Stamina is far and away the most important ability. It is literally your lifeblood as well as resisting poisons, radiation, sleep, and stun effects. Endurance actions are generally Stamina checks or depend on Stamina in some fashion. Furthermore, Stamina is the only ability where a current value is tracked and used. Almost any character who faces adversity would be better off making Stamina their highest score. Dexterity is the next most important. While it is used for relatively few defensive checks, it's the "kill others" attribute. Unless you never get into fights, you need Dexterity. Reaction speed is rated lower than Dexterity only because most weapons that can kill an opponent in one hit require reloading, making a missed shot terrible for survival. So many defensive uses make this a very important ability. Intuition governs surprise, perception, and is a major hint source. Strength can be replaced for combat by Dexterity and is thus much less important. Star Frontiers gear is heavy though and it is a possible source of many checks. Logic, Personality, and Leadership are all last. They have only situational value to most characters. Failing a check for one of these may put you in mortal danger but seldom end an adventure directly. A mentalism attribute could fit anywhere depending on the system. The one in the remastered book really limits mentalism with its high endurance costs and I'd place it low, around strength. If you're ratings are similar to mine, then the three groups would probably be something like this:
How would you rate them? I think that tells you how to group them if you want evenness. |
 February 4, 2014 - 4:20pm | So basically Tri-Stat than? technically 9 stats: 3X3Sounds like White Wolf. Here is how I do Nine-Stat:
How does that look? |
