The Fourth Attribute...

David Bofinger · 02-11-2018, 02:10 AM

Can someone explain to me why HT would be so useful? What are you trying to achieve with it?

It's useful in combat to keep a character up but it's most important attribute is preventing a character's sudden death. That means you're asking the player to trade off what they can get done as a member of the party, against their character's safety. If the GM dislikes killing PCs then the players will be tempted to keep the HT low and dare the GM to kill them. I don't think these are decisions that make for good adventures.

I'm guessing you're trying to make experienced characters harder to kill than inexperienced ones. You could achieve that by saying that characters only die when their ST gets to negative some function of their other attributes.

You could also have talents that make you reluctant to die.

If I were changing TFT attributes I would:

Detach (small movements) dexterity from (large movements) agility: the DX attribute, under whatever name, describes large movements and is good for combat, dodging rockfalls, etc. Meanwhile the small movements, which are basically only used for thievery anyway, aren't worth an attribute and we tell the good thieves from the bad thieves by what talents they have.
Separate perception and willpower, on the one hand, from intelligence and education on the other. Maybe both of these are attributes, I'm not sure.

02-11-2018, 02:10 AM	#16
David Bofinger Join Date: Jan 2018 Location: Sydney, Australia	Re: The Fourth Attribute... Can someone explain to me why HT would be so useful? What are you trying to achieve with it? It's useful in combat to keep a character up but it's most important attribute is preventing a character's sudden death. That means you're asking the player to trade off what they can get done as a member of the party, against their character's safety. If the GM dislikes killing PCs then the players will be tempted to keep the HT low and dare the GM to kill them. I don't think these are decisions that make for good adventures. I'm guessing you're trying to make experienced characters harder to kill than inexperienced ones. You could achieve that by saying that characters only die when their ST gets to negative some function of their other attributes. You could also have talents that make you reluctant to die. If I were changing TFT attributes I would: Detach (small movements) dexterity from (large movements) agility: the DX attribute, under whatever name, describes large movements and is good for combat, dodging rockfalls, etc. Meanwhile the small movements, which are basically only used for thievery anyway, aren't worth an attribute and we tell the good thieves from the bad thieves by what talents they have. Separate perception and willpower, on the one hand, from intelligence and education on the other. Maybe both of these are attributes, I'm not sure.