Rules:Stats

Background Stats

• Name
  This is your character’s name.
• Race
  There are four available races: Dwarf, Human, Half-Elf and Elf, each with their own physical and mental traits. Depending on your race, people may react differently, and some items are race specific. Furthermore, each race has a unique set of special abilities from which they may choose.
• Gender
  This line describes your character’s gender. While this may be self-explanatory for you, the game engine uses this value to determine how other characters react to you. Your gender is also important to solve certain grammatical questions in the dialogues.
• Alignment
  The character’s alignment shows where he stands in the struggle between good and evil. It is a value ranging from -5 to +5. An alignment value of -5 means the character is a completely evil, shunned by most people and eyed suspiciously by the guards, while a character with an alignment value of +5 is a beloved hero, who is well regarded by most people but may find it difficult to gain information from the shady sailors in the docks district ... While all characters start with a more or less neutral alignment (a value close to 0), this changes throughout the game. Whenever an evil act, such as killing an innocent, is committed a character’s alignment value is lowered, while helping others raises it.
  In the game alignment is used in two ways. Certain items can only be used by characters with a specific alignment value. A holy sword will only accept a noble bearer, while a heroic knight will never use lethal poisons or unholy and demonic items. The character’s alignment is even more important when he tries to influence and impress other people. The smaller the difference between the character’s and an NPC’s alignment, the more favourable the NPC will react.
• Level
  The character’s level is an overall indicator of how powerful that certain character is.
• Experience Points
  A characters experience is measured in experience points. Her level is directly dependant on experience points, as described in the chapter about character advancement.

Attributes

The character’s attributes define his natural talents and possibilities, the capabilities of his body and mind. The four attributes are strength, hardness, agility and willpower. Each of the four races is particularly gifted in one of these attributes. While men are considered relatively strong, no one is as hard as dwarves. Half elves tend to spend their time in nature, often climbing trees, which makes them agile, while elves train in the art of magic which needs a lot of dedication and concentration and gives them an enormous willpower.

The four attributes value are measured in ranks, the maximum number being 10. The typical number of attribute ranks for a novice character is a value between 1 and 4 per attribute. Further rank points can be bought later on with advancement points.

• Strength
  This is the raw hitting power and brute force of your character.
• Hardness
  The more hardness a character has, the tougher he will be and the more damage he will be able to take. A character with high hardness will be less afflictable by illness and poison.
• Agility
  A very agile character is fast, quick to react and generally has very good control over his limbs.
• Willpower
  Measures how much mental power and control over himself the character has.

Properties

Properties are an abstract measures of how well the character performs in certain disciplines. Every property is associated with one of the four attributes, but is also largely modified by items, spells, feats, etc.. The player has no direct influence on the values, but can indirectly change them via raising attributes or modifying equipment. A character may not use advancement points to raise a property.

• Melee Attack
  determines how likely you are to hit someone in close combat, For example with a sword.
• Parry
  Your chance to avoid being hit in close combat.
• Melee Damage
  This value is added to the damage range of melee weapons wielded by the character.
• Ranged Attack
  Determines how likely you are to hit someone in ranged combat, for example with a bow.
• Dodge
  Your chance to avoid being hit by ranged attacks.
• Ranged Damage
  This value is added to the damage range of ranged weapons wielded by the character.
• Armour
  Your armour helps you withstand physical damage. The character’s armour value is subtracted from the physical damage any attack causes.
• Fire Resistance
  Helps you to survive a dragon’s fire breath or take less harm from a burning arrow. The character’s fire resistance is subtracted from the fire damage any attack causes.
• Poison Resistance
  Useful to withstand a snake bite and the likes. The character’s poison resistance is subtracted from the poison damage any attack causes.
• Mental resistance
  The mental barrier you can build up against attacks aimed at your mind grows with your mental resistance. The character’s mental resistance is subtracted from the magical damage any attack causes.
• Health
  Displays the characters ability to take damage as a number. The health value shows the maximum number of health points a character may have. With every damage she takes, health points will be subtracted. Health points may be restored (healed) back up to the characters health value.
• Power
  Represents the character’s ability to draw on her special powers. Depending on the race these can be totally different concepts. For elves it is the amount of pure magical energy they draw upon to cast their spells. A Half-Elf’s power value shows how much she is attuned to nature, and how likely nature’s spirits will listen to her songs. A human’s power reflects her inventiveness and technical understanding, while a dwarf’s power lets her draw upon the earth’s ores strength to craft great works of smithery. Special abilities (spells, songs, alchemy and runes) draw upon power. A players power value is the maximum number of power points she may have. When using her special powers, power points will be spent. They may then later be restored (Regenerated) up to the power value.
• Carrying Capacity
  Gives the amount a character can carry in kilograms.

The following table describes the connection between Attributes and Properties:

Attribute	Multiplier	Property
Strength	10 10 1	Carrying Capacity Melee Attack Melee Damage
Hardness	1 1 10 1	Armour Fire Resistance Health Poison Resistance
Agility	10 10 10 1	Dodge Parry Ranged Attack Ranged Damage
Willpower	1 10	Mental Resistance Power

Abilities

Abilities describe a characters inclination towards or proficiency in certain disciplines. Abilities are measured in ranks. A characters rank in an ability has direct influence on what items and/or talents he may utilize. Rank zero in an ability is the same as not having that ability. There are general abilities which are equally common among the different races and can be easily learned:

• Combat Feats
  Special skills or 'moves' in combat.
• Melee
  Proficiency in handling close combat weapons.
• Ranged
  Proficiency in handling ranged weapons.
• Armour
  Ability to use armour.
• Shield
  Ability to use shields.

Special abilities are the domain of a certain race and hardly found amongst members of other races. Most of them can be learned by either race, although not as easily and often not to the same extend:

• Dwarves
  Dwarves are renowned for their smithing talents. They use ancient lore handed down from generation to generation to create arms unparallelled by any other race. Dwarves have the special abilities of weapon improvement and armour improvement. They can permanently improve sharpness and durability of their equipment, and inscribe powerful runes to give their weapons unique force or to further enhance their superb armour. Depending on his rank in these abilities a dwarf will have access to better runes and enhancements.
• Humans
  Human’s recklessness and exibility allows them access to inventions that other races would not even consider. Human’s abilities alchemy and mechanics are a crude (nevertheless effective) copy of elven magic and dwarven craftsmanship. Depending on their rank in alchemy humans can create and use potions and chemicals to various (often unpredictable) effects, while their infamous mechanical devices range from simple slings to powerful powder weapons.
• Half-Elves
  Rural half-elves closeness to nature often shows in their profound understanding of the workings of the natural world. Some can even communicate with the spirits of living things by the means of songs. By channelling nature’s power in themselves they are even ableto take on virtues of birds, beasts and trees. The songs of the birds improve the characters sight and movement, while songs of the beasts improve the characters fighting powers and strength. Lastly the songs of the trees convey egenerative healing powers. The higher a rank in one of these three abilities, the better a character’s understanding of these spirits. With every new rank the character has a new range of more powerful songs to learn and use.
• Elves
  Elves are the only race who can tap the magical power of the four elements. This enables them to cast spells of great power. They have the choice between the four schools of magic: Earth magic is devoted to creation and protection, fire magic is the lore of short-lived energy and destruction and alteration. Water magic spells practice enchantment and healing while the art of air magic is used for control and summoning. Every spell requires a certain rank in one (or more) of these lores of elements. The more powerful a spell, the more ranks a character needs to cast it.

In order to either improve her abilities (raise an ability she has by one rank) or to learn a new ability (gain rank one in ability she does not yet have) the player needs to find a teacher (other possibilties for improving abilities may follow). Depending on a players race the availability of such a teacher for her (and other members of her race) will vary. We measure this availability on a scale of 0-5 per race:

• 5 - common
  The practise of this discipline is widely spread under your people, and you will find it easy to find a teacher or will more likely come by it under different circumstances.
• 4 - occasionally
  Fewer people practise this art, and the search for a teacher conveying the knowledge will take a little longer, but it is still normal for your people to practise it.
• 3 - uncommon
  It is not common for people of you race to have this ability, and you will either be regarded with awe or treated with distrust by your people. people with this ability will often be united in some kind of family or organisation (faction).
• 2 - rare
  It is quite rare for your people to have be trained in this discipline, and it is better kept hidden to other people as their reactions are unpredictable.
• 1 - very rare
  Only legends tell of individuals of your people having this trait, and most folk will claim that it has never happened. You are a very special (or cursed) member of your race.
• 0 - never
  It is not possible for members of your race to gain any knowledge of this ability due to its utter incompatability with the nature of your race.

The higher the value, the easier it is to find a teacher, e.g the easier an advancement is possible. The following table shows the availablity of abilities for each race:

Ability	Human	Dwarf	Half-Elf	Elf
Melee	5	5	5	5
Ranged	5	5	5	5
Armour	5	5	3	4
Shield	5	5	3	4
Combat Feats	5	5	5	5
Songs of the Birds	1	0	5	3
Songs of the Beasts	1	1	5	3
Songs of the Trees	1	0	5	3
Earth Magic	1	2	3	5
Fire Magic	3	1	0	5
Water Magic	1	0	3	5
Air Magic	1	0	3	5
Alchemy	4	2	2	0
Mechanics	4	4	0	0
Weapon Improvement	3	5	2	2
Armour Improvement	3	5	0	2
Runecraft	1	3	0	2

 Example: It was just a rumour Gorek had heard that Thomik The Wise, village elder, had
 skills in the rare art of runecrafting. And now that he has finally found him, he will 
 have to make a really good impression in order to get out any of that old man's wisdom.

Skills

Skills are used for roleplaying purposes, and since Adonthell is a roleplaying game skills are an important part of the system. They describe the character’s strengths and weaknesses away from the battlefield. Just like the (primary) attributes and abilities a character’s proficiency in a skill is measured in ranks. In contrast to the abilities though a character can directly benefit from a rank improvement in a skill (he does not need to find any items/feats/spells etc.). A character can have 0 to 5 ranks in any given skill. Every rank stands for one of the following proficiencies: 0=Unskilled; 1=Novice; 2=Trained; 3=Professional; 4=Master; 5=Extraordinary.

• Body Control
  How well the character can control his body. A high body control rank can reduce the damage a character takes when falling, representing him rolling off.
• Charm
  Use your charm to influence, impress, threaten or manipulate others. The more ranks a character has in this skill, the less likely it will be that NPCs see through the ploy.
• Climb
  This represents how well a character can climb or how high she can jump.
• Diplomacy
  A character with enough ranks in diplomacy will have a better understanding of his opposites expectations and needs. More ranks in diplomacy can open more favorable dialogue choices and/or hide choices that would surely annoy the dialogue partner.
• Disarm Traps
  Some treasure chests or areas are trapped, use this skill to render these traps useless.
• Drinking
  The more ranks a character has in drinking the better she can consume alcohol. Use this skill to win drinking contests, a very popular sport amongst young dwarves.
• Entertain
  Earn money with juggling, instruments or by telling tales. It is also possible to contest against other entertainers.
• Haggle
  This skill allows a character to pay less in shops. The more ranks a character has in haggle, the lower the prices she has to pay.
• Herb Lore
  Allows the character to find and use healing herbs or poisonous berries.
• Identify Items
  The more ranks a character has in identify items the more likely it is that she can determine the properties of magic items.
• Luck
  This skill represents how lucky a character is and whether she gets out of tricky situations unharmed or not.
• Open Locks
  Use this skill to open locked doors and treasure chests.
• Pick Pockets
  This skill represents how well a character can steal from others without them noticing. It is also used to determine how dexterous a character is with his hands.
• Spot
  A character who has ranks in spot may notice traps or enemies hidden in ambush.
• Trekking
  This skill governs how well a character is adapted to traversing difficult terrain. More ranks generally allow faster travelling and mitigate the impact terrain has on movement speed.

Whenever it is necessary to see whether a character succeeds in using one of his skills, a skill check is made. There are two types of skill checks and depending on the situation a fixed skill check or a variable skill check is used.

• A fixed skill check is made whenever the outcome of a skill check is plot dependant, or an important one time decision is made. An example: The character wants to enter the Guild of Arts. In this situation a certain rank in entertain is required, so a character with 3 or more ranks is admitted, while one with fewer ranks always fails the skill check. A character may also need a certain rank in a skill to use an item. This is also a fixed skill check.
• A variable skill check is made whenever a character tries to accomplish a task, such as earning a free meal by dancing in the inn. Again, this requires a skill check, but the result can differ from time to time. The character might excel in his task or just have a bad day and utterly fail. To represent this a random value is generated as follows: Per skill level a character adds up a random value from 1 to 6. So with rank x in a certain skill x random values from 1 to 6 are individually generated and then added up. The result is then compared with a score which is specified before the test is taken. This score can vary from situation to situation and it represents the difficulty of the test.
  If the generated random value beats the score (is greater or equal to), the test was successful. If it is lower than the score the test has failed. The score table gives an impression of the probabilities for passing a variable skill check based on score and rank. For exmaple, to earn a free meal through dancing, a character with 3 ranks in entertain has a value of 3(1to6), and she has to beat a score of 10 to impress her audience (or 15, or 20, depending on the audience). If the character fails a variable skill check she has to wait a certain time until she may try again. The amount of time a character needs to wait depends on the skill and/or the situation.