Thursday, February 13, 2014

My Explanation of the Six Ability Scores

In a related vein to my previous post, I'll detail of what a PC's ability scores are comprised:

Strength:  Comprised of a PC's physical power and stamina.  A PC's power is how much weight he/she can lift and carry.  Stamina is how long a PC is able to endure arduous physical effort or toil.

Dexterity:  Comprised of a PC's speed of foot and physical coordination.  Speed is self explanatory.  Coordination is how gracefully and adeptly a PC is able to control movements of his/her limbs and fingers in accomplishing a task.

Constitution:  Comprised of a PC's health and durability.  Health is a PC's resistance to disease and related maladies.  Durability is a PC's resistance to physical trauma, or how well he/she can absorb blows to the body.

Intelligence:  A PC's IQ -- his/her ability to learn, reason, understand abstract concepts, and globalize his/her knowledge (apply concepts learned from one set of circumstances to different ones); along with his/her powers of observation, and how difficult he/she is to fool.

Wisdom:  Comprised of a PC's willpower and intuition.  Willpower is how well a PC resists temptation, along with resistance to emotional manipulation.  Intuition is how well a PC is able to determine, with a certain degree of accuracy, the truth in a given situation with no or very little information.

Charisma:  Comprised of a PC's self worth, self image, self confidence, and comeliness.  Self worth is how much a PC values him/herself.  Self image is how a PC pictures, or conceives the way he/she looks to others.  Self confidence is a PC's belief in his/her abilities to get things done.  Comeliness is a PC's physical attractiveness.  A PC's belief system will also affect his/her charisma as others view the person.  If there is a moral or ethical conflict, the other person will not respect the PC as well as one who does not conflict with the viewing person.

In regards to the Willpower save, a PC's belief system plays no part in its determination.

I hope these explanations clarify adjudicating my revised saving throw system.