Character Stats & Gen

I'm having a bout of insomnia so figured I'd throw something out there that has been rattling around on some notebook scraps for awhile.  Basically it is a way to describe a character's core capabilities.

SKILLS

• Martial Arts / Physical Domain (Riding, Tilting, Fencing, Wrestling, Running, Leaping, Throwing or Archery)
• Mechanical Arts / Mental Domain (Fabric Making, Hunting, Commerce/Navigation, Armaments/Smithing, Surgery*, Agriculture, Cooking)
• Liberal Arts / Emotional or Spiritual Domain (Logic, Grammar, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, Astronomy)
• Common Sense / Catch-All

Each skill is rated from zero to five points.  Each point in a skill represents about six years of study.  For example, a single point in liberal arts could represent a grammar school education, two points a secondary education, and three some sort of time at a university or college.  In the mechanical arts, progression might follow the apprentice-journeyman-master model.  While a theoretical maximum of five (or even more!) is possible, most people will have one or two points in a skill.

Common sense is a "catch all."  If the GM is unsure what skill applies, common sense should fill the gap.  Additionally, anyone may make any other check with "common sense" at a -1 penalty (or the target number is increased by one).

Note that skill training has diminishing returns -- the first point invested has a more likely payoff than the second.

*Surgery is a mechanical art or trade and generally deals with trauma.  Internal medicine is a liberal art and deals with disease.

SKILL SPECIALTY BUNDLES (OPTIONAL RULE)

Some groups may want more refined skill sets that the bundles described above.  This variant rule is perfect for such groups!

Gaining skill specialty bundles:

• Option A (power neutral):  Expend one character point that would otherwise be used to improve a skill set or potential ability to gain two bundles.
• Option B (higher power):  All characters get one bundle at character creation
• Option C (power neutral):  All characters may take one bundle, but in turn, take one bundle as a "flaw."  The flawed bundle receives -1 to all checks.

Available bundles (All bundles list skills in the order liberal art, mechanical art, and martial art):

• SATURN:       Astronomy, Agriculture, Riding
• JUPITER:       Geometry, Architecture, Mounted Combat*
• SUN :              Arithmetic, Surgery, Climbing
• MARS:           Music, Armament (Smithing), Melee Fighting
• VENUS:         Rhetoric (Inform, Persuade, Motivate), Fabrics (weaving, tailoring, etc), Swimming
• MERCURY:  Dialectic (Logic, Argument), Commerce, Dancing
• MOON:          Grammar (Languages, quotations, history), Hunting & Tactics, Shooting

*At the GM's discretion, for cultures which lack mounted combat experience, this skill can cover regional tournament games such as Bull Fighting in a Spanish campaign.

Effects of skill specialties:  Gain a bonus die on all checks relevant to the skill, as if you had +1 rank in that skill.

ABILITIES

• Speed
• Stamina
• Strength

Each ability is given a "potential" from zero to five points.  The "potential" is used to generate an actual score from 3 to 18.  Not all people live up to their potential, after all!  Note that potential has diminishing returns -- the first point invested has a more likely payoff than the second.

• Zero Potential:  Roll 4d6 (avg 8.76), sum the lowest three.  Below-average potential.
• 1 Potential:  Roll 3d6 (avg 10.5).  Typical potential for most people.
• 2 Potential:  Roll 4d6, sum the highest three (avg 12.24).  Significantly above average potential.
• 3 Potential:  Roll 5d6, sum the highest three (avg 13.43).  Dramatically above average potential.
• 4 Potential:  Roll 6d6, sum the highest three (avg 14.27).  Extraordinary potential.
• 5 Potential:  Roll 7d6, sum the highest three (avg 14.9).  Legendary potential.

After rolling the ability score, apply the following standard modifiers:

• 0-1 (-3)  -- only used in special cases
• 3-5 (-2)
• 6-8 (-1)
• 9-12 (0)
• 13-15  (+1)
• 16-18 (+2)
• 19-21 (+3) -- only used in special cases

POINT DIVISION & STARTING AGE

Each character has ten points to divide between starting skills and starting potential.  The division, at the GM's discretion, is linked to character starting age.  It is recommended to start each character at an age of about 30.

• 18 yrs of age (3 skills / 7 potential)
• 24 yrs of age (4 skills / 6 potential)
• 30 yrs of age (5 skills / 5 potential)
• 36 yrs of age (6 skills / 4 potential)
• 42 yrs of age (7 skills / 3 potential)
• 48 yrs of age (8 skills / 2 potential)
• 54 yrs of age (9 skills / 1 potential)
• 60 yrs of age (10 skills / 0 potential)

Variant:  For more mundane characters, use a total of 8 points rather than 10.  10 points is intended to create well rounded characters who are somewhat above average.

ASSIGNING POINTS

Players may choose to assign points.  Alternatively, they may use the following random method:

1. Pull only the face cards from a deck of playing cards.
2. Draw five cards (for a 30 year old character).  Each card represents six years of training and development.
   Jack = Speed
   King = Stamina
   Queen = Strength
   
   Aces = Martial Arts
   Diamonds = Mechanical Arts
   Hearts = Liberal Arts
   Clubs = Common Sense
   
   For example, if the first card I drew was the King of Aces, I'd place one point in Stamina and one in Martial Arts.

MAKING STANDARD CHECKS

To make a check, roll one D6 for each point in a skill, retain the highest die, then apply any modifiers from your ability score.  Treat "boxcars" (two sixes) as a natural seven.  Treat three sixes as a natural eight, and so on.

For example, say the GM calls for a Martial Stamina check.  My character has three ranks of training in the martial arts and a +1 modifier from a stamina score of 14.  I roll three D6 and get a 2, 4, 5.  The best die is a 5, so I retain that then add my +1 modifier for a total of six.

If you are entirely untrained in a skill, roll one die (c.f. "critical failures" below), or you may substitute "common sense" but must subtract -1 from the result.  While success with "common sense" may be less likely, it mitigates the chance of a critical failure.

Critical Failure:  If all of your dice come up with a "one" showing ("snake eyes") your character suffers a critical failure.  If you are entirely untrained, any failure is considered critical.

As you can see with this mechanic, training reduces the odds of getting a poor roll and creates more predictable results.  Training does have diminishing returns though, particularly above three ranks. Some degree of natural ability is needed to get the best results.

DETERMINING STANDARD CHECKS

In general, use Domain + Ability for all checks.

• Speed:  Used to determine who acts fastest or first, and for rapid activity.
• Stamina:  Used to resist the actions of others, or for sustained activity.
• Strength:  Used to overpower obstacles or others.

The domains and training are self explanatory.  Here are some typical combinations:

Martial plus...

• Speed:  Initiative in physical combat -- who acts first in combat?
• Stamina:  Resist physical damage or attacks.  Use a martial skill over a long period of time ("aerobic"), such as swimming in calm water for a long duration.
• Strength:  Hit someone, or surge aggressive use of a martial skill ("anaerobic"), such as swimming through a difficult obstacle.

Mechanical plus...

• Speed:  Initiative in mental challenges, puzzles, or craftsmanship problems.
• Stamina:  Resist mental fatigue.  Use a mechanical skill over a long period of time, such as focusing on making some sort of item.
• Strength:  Solve a challenging problem or use a feat of skill, such as making an extraordinarily complex item.

Liberal plus...

• Speed:  Initiative in social situations -- who acts first at a party?
• Stamina:  Resist social or emotional fatigue.  Use a social skill over a long period of time, such as staying out through a long party or looking for recruits for an army.
• Strength:  Solve a social problem, such as making a strong favorable impression at a party or rallying troops to your cause.

As discussed previously, common sense is a catch all; it can also be used to substitute for any of the other specialized skills at a -2 penalty.

Correspondences of Seven

I've been coming up with a table of correspondences for the number seven, which is core to "Septimus." This is what I have thus far.

• Quality of Associated Signs: Each planet is associated with astrological signs as a "ruler." I've extracted the quality (fixed, mutable, or cardinal) of those signs.
• Elements of Associated Signs: Each planet is associated with astrological signs. I've extracted the element (air, earth, water, fire) of those signs.
• Humour: Each planet is often aligned with one of the four humours.
• Roman Deity: Each planet is associated with a Roman deity.
  
• Liberal Art: Dante Alleghri (yes, that Dante) associated each planet with a liberal art.
• Mechanical Art: I've matched up the planets with the mechanical arts.
• Probitate: I've also matched up each planet with a probitate.
• Metal: Each planet has an alchemical association to a metal.
• Primacy of Matter, Mind, and Spirit: Each planet has one of these three over another. For example, "Matter over Mind." You can extract it from the symbol for the planet.
  

	SATURN	JUPITER	SUN	MARS	VENUS	MERCURY	MOON
Sign	Capricorn	Sagittarius	Leo	Aries	Taurus	Gemini	Cancer
Sign	Aquarius	Pisces		Scorpio	Libra	Virgo
Humour	Melancholic	Sanguine	Choleric	Choleric	Phlegmatic	Variable (Melancholic)	Melancholic
Dante's Virtue	Contemplatives	Kings	Theologians	Warriors	Love & Friendship	Good for Fame	Virtue
Vice	Sloth	Pride	Greed	Wrath	Lust	Lying	Envy
Metal	Lead	Tin	Gold	Iron	Copper	Quicksilver	Silver
Roman God	Saturn	Jupiter	Apollo	Mars	Venus	Mercury	Diana
Greek God	Cronus	Zeus	Helios	Ares	Aphrodite	Hermes	Selene
Quality: FIXED	X		X	X	X
Quality: CARDINAL	X			X	X		X
Quality: MUTABLE		X				X
Element: EARTH	X				X	X
Element: WATER		X		X			X
Element: AIR	X				X	X
Element: FIRE		X	X	X
Primacy (Over)	Matter	Mind	Spirit	Matter	Spirit	Mind	Mind
Primacy (Under)	Mind	Matter		Spirit	Matter	Spirit
Primacy (Not Present)	Spirit	Spirit		Mind	Mind	Matter
Liberal Art	Astronomy	Geometry	Arithmetic	Music	Rhetoric	Dialectic	Grammar
Mechanical Art	Agriculture	Architecture	Medicine	Armament	Fabric Making	Commerce	Hunting
Probitate	Riding	Jousting	Climbing	Fighting	Swimming	Dancing	Shooting

Most of the linkages are straightforward. I'll explain the ones that aren't directly from the classical sources.

The mechanical arts:

• Agriculture: Saturn has a clear link to Agriculture. Heck, Saturn's symbol even looks like a scythe. This one is easy.
• Medicine: The sun is associated with Apollo, the god of the sun. Historically, the sun has been associated with positive, healthful things like the healing arts.
• Armament: This one wasn't perfect, but I thought a correspondence to Mars was appropriate. Traditionally, Hephaestus was the god of smiths. However, given the martial bent of Mars and the strong association with Fire, Mars is appropriate enough. I would prefer Fire + Earth.
• Commerce: Mercury is traditionally associated with Mercatura.
• Hunting: Diana, the huntress, is the patron of hunting. Easy.
• Fabric Making: Traditionally, Athena is the goddess of weaving. However, she doesn't have a planetary association, although she is sometimes linked to Venus. I ended up linking it to Venus almost by default.
• Architecture: This, like Fabric Making, was "left over" after I matched up all the other arts with their obvious associations. I paired it with Jupiter as Jupiter is associated with kingship, mind, and matter.

The probitates:

• Riding: I linked this with Saturn due to the agricultural association. However, the Roman God of horses was Neptune which could lead to a weak linkage with the element of water, which would be a reason to put riding elsewhere.
• Jousting: Linked with Jupiter. This was a "left over" as well and I dropped it here due to the linkage with kings. I thought about replacing it with Chess (tactics) as well.
• Climbing: Linked with sun. This was also a weak association, based solely on the idea of vertical ascent. It isn't bad, though, as Helios was known for climbing across the sky in his chariot every day. It would also be appropriate to use "Poetry & Music" here as Apollo was well regarded as a patron of both.
  
• Fighting: An easy linkage to Mars.
• Swimming: I paired this with Venus primarily based on the strong presence of the element water. Venus is the only Phlegmatic planet and has the strongest association with water.
  
• Dancing: This was matched with Mercury. Mercury was known for being fleet of foot as well as being very social, which is a nice match with dancing.
• Shooting: The link between archery and the huntress seems straightforward and natural.

Clubs: A Fourth Skill List?

I feel comfortable with the three skill lists I have generated thus far:
Probitates (Warrior - spades)
Liberal Arts (Priests - hearts)
Mechanical Arts (Artisans - diamonds?)

The last question is -- what about clubs? Clubs are often associated with the peasantry. I could give them a few of the mechanical arts, such as agriculture. Or, I could go with DW's taxonomy and use them for rogues, thieves vagabonds, and highwaymen.

On the other hand, I could just ignore them. Three skill lists is good. However, at this point I also like the idea of having one list for each suit of cards.

What about recycling other skill lists?

I don't think I can just reuse, say, the AD&D thief skills here. For the first thing, some of them have already been claimed by other lists. "Climbing" and scaling walls falls under the warrior's probitates, for example. "Deciphering languages" should probably fall under the liberal arts.

One thing I might be able to do is split up the Mechanical Arts. Put all those related to industriousness and agriculture under Clubs, and all those related to merchants/trade/urban pursuits under diamonds.

The Danger of Class-as-Role

Skills should not be overly technical or essential. For example, if you have a skill for "Assassination" then it implies anyone without this skill can't do some quiet killing. Likewise, skills shouldn't be obviously criminal in nature. For example, "hunting" is already one of the mechanical arts; hunting could obviously be poaching, as well! A villein cotter might have a rank in "Armaments/Smithing" from the mechanical arts.

So, I want to keep this skill list "dual use." They should be things that can be done for woe or weal, although they might have a predilection for nefarious activity.

I haven't been able to find an easy reference for this. However, this site has had some interesting primary source links.

What Other Associations do We Have

Clubs is associated with more than agriculture. Originally, the Latin suite was that of "baston," which means a stick, club, or cudgel. While these have associations with the mob and peasantry, the fasces was also a symbol of authority. There is also the tarot association with staves and power (either wielding it or submitting to it). Another theme is simplicity and nature. Yet another is creativity and willpower.

We could use the seven "mancies" -- hydromancy, pyromancy, etc. These represent various magical arts. For peasants, they could just represent connections with the land in various ways. But for those with "the gift," they could be keys to magical power. I don't like this approach however as it undermines the relationship that each of the suits already has to an element.

Perhaps something to stew on for awhile...

Gambling for Checks

Earlier I've written about using alternate mechanics for skill checks:
http://vedronspotionshop.blogspot.com/2009/12/gambling-for-skill-checks.html
http://vedronspotionshop.blogspot.com/2009/12/more-on-gambling-and-auctions.html
http://vedronspotionshop.blogspot.com/2009/04/hack-overview-of-classes.html

Upon a little more thought, I was thinking that it might be appropriate to use this mechanic as a class or archetype specific one. That's one neat thing about AD&D: each class has its own mechanics, which makes them feel unique. Clerics have the turn undead table, magic-users vancian magic, and fighters use the THAC0 D20 roll more than anyone else. Thieves have their percentile charts, but I've never been a big fan of those.

What if you used a Klondike poker style mechanic for a trickster/rogue type archetype? That seems like it would perfectly reinforce the desired feel of the class. The trickster is a classic archetype that goes back through the earliest literature.

The scenes in Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress," where Loonies casually roll for almost every transaction, are really flavorful in a book and I think it could be equally flavorful for an RPG.

One issue is that manipulating the odds in Klondike is obscure. The easiest way is to deal with ties: If ties are a tie (resulting in a reroll), then the chance of the player winning at 50/50. If ties go to the house/DM, then the DM has an edge of 5%. If ties go to the player, then they have an edge of 5%. I am not sure how rerolling dice or rolling larger pools would manipulate the odds (although I can tell in which direction they'd move). Another method might be to manipulate information if betting is involved. For example, a skilled character might have the privelege of last action (like being the big blind in Texas Hold 'Em). This lets them see what their adversary roles before they place a bet. If unskilled, then they might have to place their bets with no such advantage.

Alternatively, you could just keep the odds pretty much 50/50. This encourages roguish types to only use their special skills against very hard tasks. For example, if the normal chance to succeed is much less than 50%, then the rogue's gamble is a big improvement in the odds. If the chance to succeed is much greater than 50%, then its a foolish gamble. That could also be interesting as a mechanical way to reward (and permit) the trickster archetype to bite off more than he can chew!

However the details are worked out, I think its an intriguing idea for a class-specific mechanic. Double or nothing!

More on Gambling and Auctions

Earlier I wrote about an idea for using gambling mechanics as a sub-system within the game. I still think this idea has merit; clearly gambling games hold our attention, as they are widely popular. I also like the idea of different subsystems to resolve different tasks.

Upon further thought I'm not exactly sure I'm implementing it in the right way. When you gamble in poker, in general you place your bet based on how strong you think your hand is relative to every other player's hand. Obviously there are strategies which deviate from this such as manipulating the pot odds which makes the game interesting, but that's the general rule.

What I am trying to do at the moment, however, is find a free market, interactive and exciting method for determining how "costly" a commodity (success at a task) should be. Bear in mind that "cost" could be a finite amount of resources (X Healing Surges, Y Spells, Z Gold Pieces, whatever) or a percentage chance of expending resources (X% chance to die, Y% chance to lose healing surges, etc).

One traditional method is an auction. Basically, in an auction, you take an item for which a general cost is known and allow the purchasers to decide its value. Just looking at Wikipedia, there are a wide variety of auction techniques out there.

One major problem I can see right away with using auctions is collusion. Unless you're playing a game like Agon that pits players against each other, in general, the players will want to collude to get the best possible "price" for their "item" (success at the skill check), because usually their goals overlap.

I see a few ways to beat collusion:
- Offer the players incentives to compete against each other. Agon does this rather well with its emphasis on individual glory over group goals. It doesn't matter if the whole team makes it from Athens to Marathon; what does matter is who makes it first. This gets closer to creating a true market.
- Allow the DM or NPCs to bid on the task as well (which denies the players success if they are unwilling to match the bid). This however gets us back to the issues of requiring the DM to arbitrarily come up with the "costs" for items.
- Use a Dutch Auction. Dutch Auctions are less vulnerable to collusion. However, I think you'd still have to include one of the former methods too; just using a dutch auction alone will not be enough to solve the issues.
- Use a silent auction. This reduces the information available to the players and thus they will need to wager more to ensure winning, especially if one of the first two methods is in play.

So, in short, I think a Silent Dutch auction combined with either NPC/DM bidding (easiest to implement, theoretically) and intra-party competition would be the ticket.

Here's an example of play using some 4E terminology in italics (but feel free to substitute resources from your favorite game:

DM: "Ok, you come across a chasm with boiling lava running through it. The first one across will win an Action Point for their daring and pluck. Bids will be in increments of Healing Surges, with a maximum bid of six surges and a minimum of zero.

Additionally, I'll roll 1d6-3; anyone who bids less than this secret reserve will lose their nerve and fail to make the crossing, and be stuck on the former side for a turn while they hem and haw and get their nerve back up. And of course, every turn in this dungeon requires a wandering monster check..."

All the players then think about what is at stake and how much they value winning that Action Point. They all notate how many surges they are willing to spend, perhaps by secretly setting up a six-sided die in front of them. When all the "bids" are uncovered the one who is willing to bid the most will be the "winner" who gets across the chasm first. The party may well be split if some players fail to meet the secret reserve price; to guarantee getting everyone across, all will have to bid at least 3 surges.

Great Success: The winner of the auction who bids the most. They pay their bid, cross the chasm, and win the action point.
Success: Anyone who bids more than the reserve but does not bid the most. They cross the chasm.
Failure: Anyone who fails to meet the reserve. They fail to cross the chasm and waste a turn to boot.

As a twist, you could work skills into it in several ways. Perhaps skilled characters automatically get a +1 or +2 bonus added to their bid if they can explain how their skill is relevant.