Editing Samsara:Abilities (section)

=Which Abilities?=
The particular abilities available must be determined by the setting and style of the game, so it doesn’t make sense to provide a master-list. A game that focuses on highly skilled agents operating around the unskilled masses, will probably feature lots and lots of abilities and differentiate between “Security Systems” and “Lock-Picking”.  It might have separate “Drive” abilities for cars, trucks, semis, and motorcycles.  The many abilities are a part of the feel of the game.

On the other hand, a superhero game that is more focused on personalities might have one, lump ability called “Sneaking” and another called “Drive”.  These abilities are not a focus of the game: probably everybody is assumed to drive and who cares?  Superheroes scarcely ever drive a car anyway.  On the other hand, it would have a lot of abilities like “Flight”, “Shoots laser beams out of his eyes”, “Survive in a vacuum”, and a whole bunch of things that wouldn’t show up in the spy-game.

===Variation: Specialized Actions===
The style of play will determine if characters can perform actions for which they have no relevant ability.  This is another fine line.  Most folks will allow someone to throw a punch whether he has martial arts training or not.  But can a character try and create a nuclear reactor using just INT + PER without any ability in nuclear engineering?  It depends on how much realism you want, which is to say how much you want to complicate things.

You might make a distinction between common actions and specialized actions and allow anyone to try the first, but only those with relevant abilities to try the second.  Alternately, let those without the specialized skill try, but give them a penalty to their roll.  This distinction must be tailored to the game setting: literacy might be considered a specialized action in certain settings and common in others.

This sort of problem will likely come up in any game using technical abilities.  Can every super-spy reprogram computers?  It might also crop up in games using magic.  There is a huge difference between one world where only those with the Sorcery ability can perform magic and another world where anyone can try.


Contents

[[Samsara:Main Page|Main Page]]

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Examples of play|Examples of Play]]

12.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

13.[[Samsara:Settings|Appendix B – Settings]]