Statistic (role-playing games)

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A statistic or stat, in role-playing games, is a piece of data which represents a particular aspect of a fictional character. That piece of data is usually a (unitless) integer or, in some cases, a set of dice.

For some types of statistics, this value may be accompanied with a descriptive adjective, sometimes called a specialisation or aspect, that either describes how the character developed that particular score or an affinity for a particular use of that statistic (like Specialisations in Ars Magica or Attribute Aspects in Aria).

Most games divide their statistics into several categories. The set of categories actually used in a game system, as well as the precise statistics within each category, vary greatly. The most often used types of statistic include:

Attributes describe to what extent a character possesses natural, in-born characteristics common to all characters.
Advantages and disadvantages are useful or problematic characteristics that are not common to all characters.
Powers represent unique or special qualities of the character. In game terms, these often grant the character the potential to gain or develop certain advantages or to learn and use certain skills.
Skills represent a character's learned abilities in predefined areas.
Traits are broad areas of expertise, similar to skills, but with a broader and usually more loosely defined scope, in areas freely chosen by the player.

There is no standard nomenclature for statistics; for example, GURPS refers to its statistics as traits, even though they are treated as attributes and skills.

Many games make use of derived statistics whose values depend on other statistics, which are known as primary or basic statistics. Game-specific concepts such as experience levels, alignment, character class and race can also be considered statistics.

1 Types
2 Interdependencies between statistics
3 External links

[edit] Types

[edit] 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 RPGs use attributes to describe characters’ physical and mental characteristics, for example their strength or wisdom. They often influence the chance to succeed in 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).

Some games work with only a few attributes (such as Physical or Mental), while others would go into more detail. Having too many attributes is considered to be a sign of undue complexity in a game^{[citation needed]}; most games have about 4–10 of them^{[citation needed]}. 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 out 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, attribute scores are determined by the character’s race and class. 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.

[edit] Advantages and disadvantages

An advantage is a physical, social, intellectual, or other enhancement to a character. In contrast, a disadvantage is an adverse affect. Advantages and disadvantages are also known as virtues and flaws. Disadvantages are often abbreviated as "disads."

Many games encourage or even force players to take disadvantages for their characters in order to balance their advantages. Advantages and disadvantages often have a thematic element to them and they often provide a direct relationship between how someone wants to role-play their character, while providing 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 disads which have little or no tangible effect on play while using the points gained from those disads to pay for powerful advantages.

[edit] Powers

A power represents a unique or special quality of a character.

In many games, powers are 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.

[edit] Skills

A skill represents a learned ability of a character. Skills are also known as proficiencies.

During character creation, A player character's skills are generally chosen from a long list of such skills. 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 what's most relevant at the time. 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 Computer skill instead of Electronics skill).

[edit] 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. The Castle Falkenstein RPG uses traits as the only type of statistic, although they are called abilities in the game.

[edit] 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 characters can lift or the pace they move at. Some are unitless numbers, but more often they use real-world units of measurement (such as kilogram or metre 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.

In games which use such concepts, they are also 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.

[edit] Interdependencies between statistics

Some games define various interdependencies beteween statistics of different categories, as well as within categories. The most common are:

Prerequisite: Only if statistic A has a value of at least x, statistic B may exceed value y. (Where y is often 0 or none.)

For example, a character class may require certain minimum attribute scores, or a spell may require a minimal level of magical talent. Learning some esoteric skill often requires knowledge of another one at an “expert” level or possession of a certain advantage: In GURPS Martial Arts, for example, “cinematic” or “mystical” martial arts abilities require a special advantage, Trained by a Master.

Limitation: If statistic A has a value of at least x, then statistic B cannot exceed value y.

This is the opposite of prerequisite. (Only if statistic A has a value of at most x, statistic B may exceed value y.) For example, a character class may be disallowed for certain races, or one of the game effects of a disadvantage (say, Unfit), could be to limit a certain attribute (Constitution or Health in the example) to a certain maximum value (no more than average).

Bonus or base value: If statistic A has a value of x, then the value of statistic B is increased by (or starts at) y. The term base value is preferred if y = x or if y is large compared to B's value.