Nonexistent Stats

tbeard1999 · 07-13-2018, 04:39 PM

TFT's 3 attributes provide tremendous simplicity. This is a Good Thing most of the time. And each attribute can cover several traditional RPG traits adequately - ST includes strength and health, DX includes agility and manual dexterity, IQ includes intelligence and education.

However, other rolls (some quite common) are required that don't really line up well with any of the the three attributes. Some of them are handled by talents (i.e., Sex Appeal, Charisma and Bard for attractiveness, charisma/leadership and singing voice respectively). I have no problem with that.

Others are based on attributes with questionable relevance to the abilities being tested. An example of this is rolling on IQ to notice things. I'm very dubious that intelligence (surely the primary ability baked into IQ) correlates very well with visual (or audio or olfactory) perception. For that matter, even some talents (Sex Appeal for instance) are based on attributes that are questionable fits.

I propose that all of these rolls - perception, roll to seduce, ability to sing - anything that seems to have no clear analogue attribute - be based on a phantom attribute of 10. As always, the base 3 die roll to succeed. Add dice for difficulty, reduce by 1 die if you have an applicable talent or for VERY favorable conditions.

So you'd roll 3d6 and need a 10- to see a normal hidden door. A really well hidden door would require 4 dice. I would suggest a 1 point talent to allow a 1 die favorable modifier – Perception.

So assume you have Sex Appeal and you're trying to seduce someone who lacks Sex Appeal. The GM rules there are no unfavorable modifiers. So you need a 10- on 2d6 to succeed. If the target also has Sex Appeal, you'd roll an additional die, or 3d6.

Rolls to avoid being terrified by eldrich horrors like Cthulhu would be another example.

You could even have a generic talent - "Good at X". X can be anything that isn't already covered by other talents. It reduces the phantom roll to 2D.

07-13-2018, 04:39 PM	#1
tbeard1999 Join Date: May 2013 Location: Tyler, Texas	Nonexistent Stats TFT's 3 attributes provide tremendous simplicity. This is a Good Thing most of the time. And each attribute can cover several traditional RPG traits adequately - ST includes strength and health, DX includes agility and manual dexterity, IQ includes intelligence and education. However, other rolls (some quite common) are required that don't really line up well with any of the the three attributes. Some of them are handled by talents (i.e., Sex Appeal, Charisma and Bard for attractiveness, charisma/leadership and singing voice respectively). I have no problem with that. Others are based on attributes with questionable relevance to the abilities being tested. An example of this is rolling on IQ to notice things. I'm very dubious that intelligence (surely the primary ability baked into IQ) correlates very well with visual (or audio or olfactory) perception. For that matter, even some talents (Sex Appeal for instance) are based on attributes that are questionable fits. I propose that all of these rolls - perception, roll to seduce, ability to sing - anything that seems to have no clear analogue attribute - be based on a phantom attribute of 10. As always, the base 3 die roll to succeed. Add dice for difficulty, reduce by 1 die if you have an applicable talent or for VERY favorable conditions. So you'd roll 3d6 and need a 10- to see a normal hidden door. A really well hidden door would require 4 dice. I would suggest a 1 point talent to allow a 1 die favorable modifier – Perception. So assume you have Sex Appeal and you're trying to seduce someone who lacks Sex Appeal. The GM rules there are no unfavorable modifiers. So you need a 10- on 2d6 to succeed. If the target also has Sex Appeal, you'd roll an additional die, or 3d6. Rolls to avoid being terrified by eldrich horrors like Cthulhu would be another example. You could even have a generic talent - "Good at X". X can be anything that isn't already covered by other talents. It reduces the phantom roll to 2D. Last edited by tbeard1999; 07-13-2018 at 05:09 PM.