Friday, October 16, 2015

Goblins & Greatswords: Abilities

As this fantasy heartbreaker project continues to evolve, I find myself re-evaluating the traditional ability scores of D&D-like games and their functions.  In the process, I've mashed a few together and pared down the list to just four: Strength and Constitution combine to form Might.  (It always seemed a little weird to me that physical strength and fitness should be wholly independent of durability and endurance.)  Intelligence and Wisdom merge to become Wit.  Dexterity and Charisma remain more or less the same, but I renamed them, because the new names fit the feel of the whole mess better.

Might is a measure of a character's muscle power, fitness, and fortitude.  It modifies combat rolls with impact weapons such as axes, clubs, and pole arms, feats of strength such as opening stuck doors, and the amount of weight a character can carry.  It also adjusts rolls for hit points to a lesser degree.

Wit represents the faculties of the character's mind, including memory, intuition, will power, reason, and understanding. It modifies the number of spells a spell-caster can memorize at once, the maximum number of languages a character may learn, and saving throws vs magic.

Agility is the character's coordination, quickness, and ease of movement. It modifies combat rolls with precise weapons such as daggers, swords, and bows, and the character's Armor Class.

Presence is a character's personal bearing, charm, and magnetism. It affects the reactions of monsters and NPCs, the maximum number of retainers and henchmen a character may employ, and their morale.  For spell-casters, it also negatively modifies a target's saving throws vs. spells.

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    1. Right, I wouldn't call it a clone either, retro or otherwise. I don't know if there's another term, but I'm fine with heartbreaker, because I'm pretty sure it won't be a sensation or anything. It's just my little project, and putting it together in a finished form is enough success for me.

      I haven't done much drawing in the last 20 years, so I'd need to get back in practice before I'd have something worth posting. I might have a few old ones lying around somewhere, though. Full disclosure: I'm by no means a great artist, but kind of sort of OK-ish, maybe. If I find some old drawings I'll post a few, but keep your expectations low!

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