Attributes An attribute describes to what extent a character possesses a natural, in-born
characteristic common to all characters in the game. Attributes are also called statistics, characteristics or abilities. Most role-playing games use attributes to describe the physical and mental characteristics of characters, for example their
strength or
wisdom. Many games also include social characteristics as well, for example a character's natural
charisma or
physical appearance. They often influence the chance to succeed in a
skill or other tests by addition to a die roll or by determining the number of dice to be thrown. As a consequence, usually a higher number is better, and ranges can be as small as 1–5 (for numbers of dice) or as great as 1–100 (when adding to results of
percentile dice). In some games, attributes represent linearly increasing ability (e.g. in
Tunnels and Trolls, where a character can lift 10 lbs per point of Strength) whereas in others a small increase can represent a major gain in ability (e.g. in the
DC Heroes/
Blood of Heroes system, where +1 to Strength doubles a character's lifting capacity). Some games work with only a few broad attributes (such as
Physical or
Mental), while others have a greater number of more specific ones. Most games have about 4–10 attributes. Most games try to give all attributes about the same usefulness to a character. Therefore, certain characteristics might be merged (such as merging a Charisma-type and a Willpower-type attribute into a single Personality attribute), or split into more attributes (such as splitting physical "Comeliness" from Charisma in the original
Unearthed Arcana), or even ignored altogether (for example, Intelligence and Charisma in a
hack and slash adventure). In many games, a small set of primary attributes control a larger number of
derived statistics such as
Armor Class or
magic points. During
character creation, attribute scores are usually determined either randomly (by rolling
dice) or by distributing character points. In some games, such as
World of Warcraft, the base attribute scores are determined by the character's race and class (however the vast majority of stat points will be obtained through end-game gear/equipment). Because they represent common, in-born characteristics and not learned capabilities (as skills do), in many games they are fixed for the duration of the game. However, in some games they can be increased by spending
experience points gained during the game, or as part of the process of "
levelling up".
Advantages and disadvantages An advantage is a physical, social, intellectual, or other enhancement to a character. In contrast, a disadvantage is an adverse effect. Advantages are also known as virtues, merits or edges and disadvantages as flaws or hindrances, or by the abbreviation "disads". Many games encourage or even force players to take disadvantages for their characters in order to
balance their advantages or other "positive" statistics. Disadvantages also add flavor to a character that can't be obtained solely by a list of positive traits. Advantages and disadvantages often have a thematic element to them. They often provide a direct relationship between how someone wants to role-play their character and a tangible "in-game" enhancement to skill or ability rolls. Systems of advantages and disadvantages are often criticized for allowing or even encouraging
min-maxing, where a player strives to take disadvantages which have little or no tangible effect on play while using the character points gained from those disadvantages to pay for powerful advantages.
Character points Character points are abstract units used in some
role-playing games during
character creation and development. Early role-playing games such as
Dungeons & Dragons assigned random values to a
player character's
attributes, while allowing each character a fixed number of skills. As a result, characters were at the same time wildly unbalanced in terms of attributes and heavily constrained in terms of skills.
Champions (1981) introduced a points-based system of purchasing attributes and skills as a means of improving game balance and flexibility. These points are known as character points, and it has become a feature of numerous later games, most notably
GURPS. Usually, a player is allotted a number of points for character creation. A character's attributes (such as high intelligence), skills (such as fixing a car or
mechanics), or powers (such as flying) can then be bought for a certain number of points. More powerful abilities or a greater degree of power will require more "spending" of character points. Later, character points can be earned and spent to improve attributes or skills, or to buy new skills or powers. In some games, such as
Champions, these points are
experience points; in others, such as
Ars Magica, there is a more complicated relationship between experience points and character points.
Powers A power represents a unique or special quality that a character can use. In many games, powers are binary
on-or-off qualities as opposed to
attributes and
skills which are usually numeric quantities. The main exception to this is
superhero RPGs, where
superpowers are often treated as a sort of skill. Superpowers may also use the same rating scale as the primary statistics.
Skills '' character sheet listing skills such as "move silently" and "speak with animals" A skill represents the
learned knowledge and
abilities of a character. Skills are known by various names, including proficiencies, abilities, powers, talents and knacks. During
character creation, a
player character's skills are generally chosen from a long list. A character may have a fixed number of starting skills, or they may be paid for using character points. In contrast to
attributes, very few games fix a player's skills at the start of the game, instead allowing players to increase them by spending
experience points or during "levelling up". Since some skills are likely to be more useful than others, different skills often have different costs. Skills usually influence a character's chance to succeed by adding to the relevant attribute. In some games (such as
GURPS), each skill has a specific base attribute to which it is always added; in others (such as
Ars Magica), a skill can be added to different attributes depending on how the skill is being used. Some games (such as
Feng Shui) add the base attribute to the skill at character creation time; after that, it is independent of the attribute and is used instead of the attribute rather than adding to it. Most games have a fixed penalty for attempting a task without a relevant skill; older editions of
Shadowrun gave a complex network of penalties for using similar skills (such as attempting to pick an electronic lock by using the Computer skill instead of the Electronics skill). The text-based roleplaying game
Avalon: The Legend Lives is noted for being the first text based multi user role-playing game to offer a developed profession and skills system . Choosing a profession then conveyed a bank of general skills and guild specific ones each containing a ladder of skills which could be invested in via lessons earned through on-line play. Initially there were around 30 such skills with approximately 17 abilities in each covering a wide range from Riding, Perception, Thievery or Demonology. As of 2015 Avalon possesses 66 Skills with 2194 distinct abilities developed over its 26-year tenure.
Traits A trait represents a broad area of expertise of a character. Traits are rarely drawn from a predetermined list; rather, the player chooses some description during character generation. For example, a squash-playing history professor with a knowledge of fine wines might have the
traits "
History", "
Squash" and "
Oenology". In terms of a more fine-grained system of statistics, a single
trait would often be represented by a group of
skills, one or more
advantages and
attributes, or a combination thereof. The first major role-playing game to use traits was
Over the Edge. Some systems, such as
Castle Falkenstein and
HeroQuest, use traits as the only type of statistic, although they may use some other term for them, such as abilities.
Derived statistics Many games make use of derived statistics: statistics whose values are determined only by the values of other, "basic" statistics. They often represent a single capability of the character such as the weight a character can lift, or the speed at which they can move. Some are unitless numbers, but often they use real-world
units of measurement (such as
kilograms or
metres per second). Derived statistics are often used during combat (e.g.
hit points,
Armor Class and
initiative). Basic and derived statistics are also called primary and secondary statistics, respectively. In games which use such concepts, derived statistics are often modified by the character's
race and
class. In addition, certain in-game methods such as
spells or magical items might raise or lower these statistics temporarily. == Interdependencies between statistics ==