Role-playing Attributes

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The following is a guideline, not a rule, for role-playing character attributes. Please use this to help you in the game world.

Probability Boundaries (PR)

Upon character creation, the PR is a guideline table to help you characterize how your character's statistics could be represented into your character's personality. This grading scheme can be applied to any of the six primary attributes. I believed this might be helpful to avoid the pitfall of having overly exaggerated scores which are not represented properly on your character's development (or not well integrated with your character).

  • 6-7 Abysmal
  • 8 Very Poor
  • 9 Poor
  • 10-11 Unremarkable
  • 12-13 Good
  • 14-15 Very Good
  • 16-17 Excellent
  • 18-19 Outstanding
  • 20-21 Exceptional
  • 22-23 Unique

Strength (STR)

Strength measures your character's muscle and physical power. It is represented in the majority but not solely, by the amount of muscle mass on your character.

You apply your character's Strength modifier to:

• Melee attack rolls. • Damage rolls when using a melee weapon or a thrown weapon. (Exceptions: Off-hand attacks receive only one-half the character's Strength bonus, while two-handed attacks receive one and a half times the Strength bonus. A Strength penalty, but not a bonus, applies to attacks made with a bow that is not a composite bow.) • Climb, Jump, and Swim checks. These are the skills that have Strength as their key ability. • Strength checks (for breaking or prying doors open, pushing boulders, lifting heavy loads, ).

Example Reasoning for low scores: Frail, small frame, Broken arm, war injury, diplomatic/scholarly focus (son of a noble, merchant, scholar, etc.), elderly age or very young, etc.

DEXTERITY (DEX)

Dexterity measures hand-eye coordination, agility, reflexes, and balance.

You apply your character's Dexterity modifier to:

• Ranged attack rolls, including those for attacks made with bows, crossbows, throwing axes, and other ranged weapons. • Initiative: The speed at which the character reacts. • Armor Class (AC), provided that the character can react to the attack. • Reflex saving throws, for avoiding fireballs and other attacks that you can escape by moving quickly. • Balance, Escape Artist, Hide, Move Silently, Open Lock, Ride, Sleight of Hand, Tumble, and Use Rope checks. These are the skills that have Dexterity as their key ability.

Example Reasoning for low scores: Clumsy, slow to react, injury to a leg, broken tibia or femur, corpulent, etc.

CONSTITUTION (CON)

Constitution represents your character's health and stamina.

You apply your character's Constitution modifier to:

• Each roll of a Hit Die (though a penalty can never drop a result below 1—that is, a character always gains at least 1 hit point each time he or she advances in level). • Fortitude saving throws, for resisting poison and similar threats. • Concentration checks. Concentration is a skill, important to spell casters, that has Constitution as its key ability. • Stamina. (Although not enforced, it is very nice to see a character with low constitution get tired after running a short distance).

Example Reasoning for low scores: Diseased, frail, slavery-induced, lack of survival training, lack of hardship in youth, etc.

INTELLIGENCE (INT)

Intelligence determines how well your character learns and reasons.

You apply your character's Intelligence modifier to:

• The number of languages your character knows at the start of the game. • The number of skill points gained each level. • Appraise, Craft, Decipher Script, Disable Device, Forgery, Knowledge, Search, and Spellcraft checks. These are the skills that have Intelligence as their key ability.

Example Reasoning for low scores: A difficulty to learn. Brain injury. Slow to reason. Takes a lot of time to take into account each argument. Speech impediment could be a way to appear as such, but hardly represents intelligence as a whole. Lack of knowledge (lore) about diverse situations. Not being able to read/write, etc.

WISDOM (WIS)

Wisdom describes a character's willpower, common sense, perception, and intuition. While Intelligence represents one's ability to analyze information, Wisdom represents being in tune with and aware of one's surroundings. If you want your character to have acute senses, put a high score in Wisdom. Every creature has a Wisdom score.

You apply your character's Wisdom modifier to:

• Will saving throws (for negating the effect of charm person and other spells). • Heal, Listen, Profession, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks. These are the skills that have Wisdom as their key ability.

Example Reasoning for low scores: Lack of motivation. Unreliable. Poor Judgment. Also encompasses sensory perception, therefore poor eye-sight (role-played), poor hearing (role-played), etc are also valid ways of portraying your character's weaknesses. Playing a character that will easily be tricked is also one way of role-playing this score (i.e. walking into ambushes IC'ly knowing full well OOC'ly that you are about to be assassinated). Do mistakes of judgment that can risk your character or put your character in hot-water is another way of portraying a low attribute.

CHARISMA (CHA)

Charisma measures a character's force of personality, persuasiveness, personal magnetism, ability to lead, and physical attractiveness. This ability represents the actual strength of personality, not merely how one is perceived by others in a social setting.

You apply your character's Charisma modifier to:

• Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, Gather Information, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Perform, and Use Magic Device checks. These are the skills that have Charisma as their key ability. • Checks that represent attempts to influence others. • Turning checks for clerics and paladins attempting to turn zombies, vampires, and other undead.

Example Reasoning for low scores: Lack of charm, bad manners, bad social habits, unable to integrate himself or herself to groups, reject, acting in an awkward manner, shyness, voicing your comments in a whisper by fear of being rejected by others. Gross mutation/appearance and smell are a really a bare minimum in a role-playing a low score. It's best if it is reflected within your role-play. Of course, being a jerk is one way to get others against you, but remember that this is a game and some people may take your comments personally so I would suggest taking another way in portraying your score.


Additional Notes

Just remember when doing your attributes at creation the history beyond your character's attributes and their probability. It's normal to want to play a 20 or 18 primary attribute at the start, but try to give a good reason in your creation for doing so. Maxing an attribute is not a requirement for success on EFU (I think all of my past successful characters on EFU had no stats above 16 at creation).

Similarly, with feats, It's always nice to give feats that make sense for your character at the cost of mechanical strength.

A few examples:

- The Thayan Wizard with Courteous Magocracy;
- The Banite Soldier with Iron Will to symbolize close-mindedness.
- The Talona Worshiper with Resist Disease to symbolize her/his link to Talona.

These are just suggestions and not requirements, but I think you'll find great pleasure in devising concepts which make sense both from a story perspective and a mechanical-one. Merging the two to make a creative concept is truly rewarding by itself. You'll be happier about your own characters and find them more appealing in this way as they will feel more unique and less like a mechanical powerhouse that anyone can replicate.


Special thanks to DM Mort for the information found here.