Opend20: Attributes and Skill Families

Attributes and Skill Families

Almost every system uses Characteristics to help define/create a character (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma are the standard D20 characteristics). At the current time, OD20 is to be a characteristic-less system.

The main reasons for this are:

a) Characteristics are so broad as to be a hinderance in some character designs (a character might have legendary balancing skills, but extremely poor hand-eye coordination. You have to go out of your way to design a character who has 'high' and 'low' dexterity)

b) Characteristics are so vague as to be confusing for some players (the 'mental' characteristics often overlap, particularly Cha and Wis. The name 'wisdom' often leads to disputes about intelligence checks).

Instead, OD20 uses a system of attributes derived from ranks in skills.

Skills are divided into the following groups:

Athletics	Manipulation	Combat
Strength	<Device>	Defense
	Forgery
Balance	Heal (+Know)	Charge
Climb	Open Locks	Dodge (+Athl)
Dodge (+Comb)	<Play Instrument>	Escape (+Athl)
Escape (+Comb)	Sleight (+Stealth)	Fast Draw
Ride	Use Rope	Heavy Weapons
Swim		Grapple
Tumble	Perception	Manoeuvre (Trip/Throw)
		Multidexterity
Communication	Appraise (+Know)	Sunder
	<Detect>	<Weapon>
Animall	Lip Reading
Bluff	Listen
Bureaucratics	Search	Perks
Diplomacy	Sense Motive
Gather Information	Spot	<Access>
Intimidate	Track (+Stealth)	<Contacts>
<Language>	Trail (+Stealth)	<Membership>
Orate		<Reputation>
Patter(Fast Talk)		<Wealth>
<Perform>	Stealth
Streetwise (+Know)
	Disguise (+Know)	Powers
Knowledge	Obfuscate
	Sleight (+Mani)	Dampen/Dispel
Alchemy	Sneak	Enchant
Decipher	Track (+Perc)	Resist
Disguise (Stealth)	Trail (+Perc)	Ritual/Ceremony
Heal (+Mani)		Spellcraft
<Knowledge>		Use Magic Device
<Language>
<Profession>
Streetwise (+Comm)
______________________	______________________	_________________

Skill implies a derived Attribute or other 'special' skill (the only ones so far are defense and strength). Read the individual descriptions for a more details.

<Skill> implies that the skill can be taken multiple times, with each instance of the skill applying to a new set, e.g. knowledge<arcana>.

The maximum number of ranks in any skill is equal to a character's level. Whenever a character has 5 ranks in a skill, they receive a +1 synergy bonus to the attribute associated with that skill. So, for example, taking five ranks in knowledge:arcana by 5th level will give a character a knowledge score of 1, +6 to knowledge:arcana roles and +1 to all other knowledge checks.

This is functionally very similar to a character with an Intelligence of 12 and 5 ranks in knowledge:arcana. Why change this from the current D20 system? Well, for one thing, 'knowledge' is much more well defined than 'intelligence'. Academics are still arguing over exactly what 'intelligence' is, so it's not a very useful term to use in a game.

Futhermore, many players have wizards running around with an Intelligence score of 18 or higher. But most of them can't accurately roleplay a genius - and most of them aren't trying. They just want their wizard to be able to cast spells as effectively as possible.

The solution to this problem is: instead of skills being dependent on characteristics, make attributes dependent on skills. This way, the game maintains elegant simplicity and becomes more focussed on the individual needs of the character.

Description of Attributes

• Athletics - in some ways replaces all three 'physical' stats. Base Athletics checks might be required for any sports or coordinated physical exertion (as opposed to Fort, which is for extreme physical exertion. Sometimes both checks would have to be made)

• • Strength - is a Derived Attribute. It gains 1 point for each synergy point in Athletics and Fortitude, and a further point for each size category above medium (or -1 for each size smaller). Strength does not directly affect combat - Strength is used to determine overall lifting capacity rather than explosive power.

• Combat - see the Combat page for this information.

• Communication - in many ways replaces Charisma. Base Communication checks might be required in situations such as trying to convey a message to a complete foreigner, or if characters lack any of the appropriate communication skills for a given task.

• Knowledge - in many ways replaces Intelligence. Base Knowledge checks might be required for 'common knowledge', things that the characters could all be expected to know from living within the campaign world, that might not be immediately apparent to the Players.

• Manipulation - in some ways replaces Dexterity. Base Manipulation checks might be required for anything involving manual dexterity and fine motor skills (e.g. making sure not to break the fragile time-piece)

• Perception - in some ways replaces Wisdom. Base Perception checks are rare because skills such as <detect>, spot, search and sense motive cover most things

• Perks - represent social advantages the character might have. See individual Descriptions for details. It would be rare to make a base 'Perks' check, although it might be used to simulate a warm (or cold, if the check was failed) reception in a home town, etc.

• Powers - are skills relating to Powers, particularly magical/mystical ones. Base Powers Score represents 'innate magic/mystic potential', so could be very important in some games

• Stealth - in some ways replaces Dexterity. Base Stealth checks are rare because skills such as hide, sneak, etc are designed to cover all the different angles.