Date: Mon, 24 May 1999 14:45:21 -0700
From: Russ Taylor
Reply-To: The GREYtalk Discussion List
All of your examples _can_ be improved through training:
Schooling may not improve innate intelligence, but it certainly improved functional intelligence. Weight lifting and regular exercise can increase your strength (and bulk) substantially. And any martial arts student can tell you that emphasis on flexibility and control _do_ improve your balance and agility. A PC's stats shouldn't start "maxed" out, if only because that doesn't fit will with the genre OR with real life.
My own personal system: at each level, a player may roll 3d6 to try and beat an existing stat. If he does, the stat improves by one. If not, the stat that was trained is recorded, and the player gets an extra die (i.e. best 3 out of 4d6) the next time they try that particular stat. Process continues until the stat is improved.
The player must also spend time (one month) in an appropriate form of training to get the role -- but this can be dispersed over several adventures, and the opportunities can be stored up if the player levels several times. Also, the player must keep up "maintenance" training or the stat will reduce again -- i.e. a sedentary life will cost bonus strength points. They may be regained through the same process, without
spending advancement opportunties.
(this has become relevant when PCs were jailed)
Forms of training:
Strength: basic body building and exercise
Dexterity: work on balance, fencing, bodily motion, etc.
Constitution: endurance training (running, etc) and diet
Intelligence: study
Wisdom: meditation, seeking out philsophers, prayer
Charisma: hasn't come up, but schooling in etiquiette would qualify
On 5/24/99 3:10 PM, Nathanael D. Wentz (ndwentz@TELEBOT.NET) wrote
>To my mind, this is akin to gaining 2" in height due to your recent
>promotion. A fighter shouldn't bulk up from adventuring, he should fight
>smarter, not harder. This is not to say that he would gain intelligence,
>merely that he would apply what he knows to wield his weapons better.
>(Experience) Why would a mage get smarter? Does fighting a dragon
>stimulate nerve growth? Why should a thief get more nimble? Does stealing
>make one move more quickly? (If this were true, John Dillenger would have
>moved at superhuman speed.) A person's stats are considered to be the
>highest they could be within his or her own personal being. I.E., I can
>improve my strength with exercise, but there will come a time when I can
>not get any stronger. My bone structure simply won't support infinite
>strength. Thus, the average person's stats could be displayed as low, or
>could be shown as high, but are temporarily lower than spec. Similarly,
>the learning experiences a child goes through use its innate intelligence
>to enhance its knowledge. The number of brain cells does not increase.
>When starting play at 1st level, a PC's stats are as high as they will go,
>by natural means.
--
Russ Taylor (rtaylor@cmc.net, http://www.cmc.net/~rtaylor/)
Chambers Multimedia Connection Help Desk
"I like the hat" -- Korben Dallas, The Fifth Element
No comments:
Post a Comment