Include Some Ability Stats in In-Game Description

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verðandi

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Apr 5, 2024
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Hi all,


I've always liked being able to see people's physical stats + charisma roughly represented in their in-game description. You could argue that it's somewhat metagamey, but with a counter system that allows for some obfuscation that issue would be resolved. I think it adds a lot when I can get a rough idea of what angle someone's character has just from looking at them, and vice versa.

You could even make it an examine feature based on spot that takes time to use, and perhaps flesh it out with that some things are easier to see than others (strength) and others for which you need higher spot (constitution). I'm sure people used to game design can make something better from it than me.



Suggestion:
  • Show an approximation of physical attributes + charisma either in description or in another way
  • Adding a counter-mechanic that allow (some of?) them to be obfuscated

I'd personally do something along these lines, that small investments should show but high+ left more vague:

6-7, -2 mod, Poor
8-9, -1 mod, Below Average
10-11, +0 mod, Average
12-13, +1 mod, Above Average
14-17, +2 to +3 mod, High
18+, >+4 mod, Very High



I'm well aware of the current state of things with staff being overworked, so if anything just see this post as a suggestion for a future where things clear up.


Thanks for reading.
 
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Not entirely sure how I feel about such a system.
On one hand it makes sense to be able to look at somebody and tell at a glance that they look like they can both take and dish out hits, like high STR and CON.

But on the other hand you can't really judge how dexterous somebody is, nor can you really tell somebody's INT, WIS or CHA (so basically all of the mental stats) by just having a look at them.

This would really just end up being a STR and CON measure all in all, if we want to stick with something somewhat believable. And at that point why even have this system?
 
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haha yeah I like the idea of the physical ability scores (Con, Str, Dex) being examined by another character, but I always found it strange when the custom examine feature on another server gave you hints for a character's charisma, intelligence and wisdom. Like what is everyone supposed to be psychic?
 
Never seen this used for anything but quickly deducing someone's class/build based on their stat spread. It doesn't actually add any roleplay that reading someone's description and actions can't.
 
While I can understand finding appeal in this kind of system, my personal experience here is that they don't really add anything to RP, and are rarely acted on IC (and typically are abused OOC, as mentioned, to metagame weaknesses in builds or otherwise to suss out details). If anything I tend to see people ignore them entirely IC even when they do use an examine function or something similar to inspect other players and their stats. This is a very difficult mechanic to properly and healthily incentivise, I find.

The only time I've seen a system like this commonly used was when it came with mechanical incentive to do so, in this case breaking disguises and certain backgrounds allowing identification of lycanthrope PCs, but even then players tended to only react IC when the result would result in conflict. Whether that's a boon or not to a server is debatable - personally, I don't think so, when PvP is already prone enough to happen in many PWs. The fire doesn't need further stoking.

I don't know if it's helpful or healthy either way to suggest a specific view and stereotype of a stat that you have no way of 100% knowing how the other player roleplays - I could see this chiefly encouraging players to make assumptions about others. For example, a player sees very low DEX on someone, and assumes their RP being traditionally clumsy, while that character might actually just roleplay it very differently (but reasonably) in that they're crippled in one leg (this exact scenario happened once at least with a friend of mine). It's better, I think, to let RP inform others of character flaws and such, to get accurate descriptions from players themselves, rather than a system that can't ever offer the same kind of nuance and accuracy.

We have no plans for a system like these at this time, and most likely won't ever add anything akin to it, unfortunately.
 
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