Writing a ttRPG - Wyverns & Warrens (Pt 14 - An Attribute Specialization System) (Patreon)

(This article is not part of the content of this blog that is covered by the OGL 1.0a.)

I'm designing Wyverns & Warrens (WyvWar), an effort at a short, easy-to-learn, easy-to-play, fast-playing fantasy ttRPG that still has a depth of options. And I am doing that in weekly installments, exclusively for my paying Patrons!

You can check out the earlier articles at the links below.

First Look - Wyverns & Warrens Fantasy ttRPGPreview 01 - When Are Hit Points Not Hit Points?Preview 02 - Paths & EdgesPt. 1 Writing and RPG (How We Got Here)Pt 2. First Outline DraftPt. 3 - Core Mechanic, Attacks, and DamagePt. 4 - Target NumbersPt. 5 - Damage and BenchmarksPt. 6 - Time, Space, Scale, Distance, Movement, and RangePt. 7 - What Defines A Character, First Draft: AttributesPt. 8 - Hero McHeroFacePt. 9 - A Framework for MagicPt. 10 -Enough to Start WritingPt. 11 - What Is A Roleplaying Game... and How Do I Design For That?Pt 12. - An Assumed SettingPt 13. - A First Stab At Skill Descriptions

So, I'm building a system where every action is handled by a die roll of 2d10 + bonus. Those bonuses are primarily coming from our ten Attributes. Those are functional but, of necessity, broad. Since I want to encourage a wide range of builds, I want to be able to narrow the focus of those down as a voluntary action with modest game mechanical benefits. I don't want this to be something mandatory to have a viable character, but if a player WANTS to play a brownie street boxer, I want there to be something on their character sheet that rewards the character for punching things instead of using a spear.

(Not to say a brownie street boxer might not be more effective with a spear, even with our specialization rules in place. But "I hit more often with my fists" is still a benefit for a character who specializes in Attack/Melee/Fists... once we have those rules in place. Art © Dean Spencer, used under license)

So, to get into specialization rules, we should remind ourselves of what our ten Attributes are.

Attack - Your ability to make an effective attack against a foe or target. Determines both if your attack connects and (in combination with a weapon, spell, or similar damage-dealing option) your damage.Concealment - Your ability to keep others from noticing things you want to keep hidden. This includes moving stealthily, hiding yourself and other objects.Cunning - Your ability to retain and analyze information, memorize facts, solve puzzles, and understand complex systems including magic traditions, sciences, philosophical concepts, and so on.Demeanor - Your ability to influence other thinking, feeling creatures through interaction. This would include diplomacy, making friends, intimidation, social interactions, seduction. and not having any tells when you lie, bluff, or wish to keep your emotions from being obvious.Dodge - Your ability to avoid things in physical space.Health - Not only your ability to absorb damage without passing out of being killed, but also how resilient you are, including the ability to resist or withstand toxins, diseases, poisons, fatigue, allergies, sleeplessness, and other ailments.Might - Your physical power, and your ability to apply it effectively. A ton of real-world activities require a mix of strength, agility, and training to do well. If you are applying your body directly or through a tool, from powerlifting to fencing to acrobatics to archery, that's a Might check.Perception - Your ability to notice things, including the use of all 5 senses, and awareness of things like being deceived or tricked.Speed - All things fast-related. This covers reaction time (and thus initiative), running, swimming, and so on.Spirit - How well you can access, and resist, the metaphysical universe. This powers spells (even though you may have to use cunning to learn some kinds of magic, and attack for magic that launches a physical attack). The raw power of magic abilities, the ability to resist magic that does more than just deal damage.

I LIKE those, but we clearly need a way to specialize into sub-Attributes. I don't want that to be mandatory -- you should be able to make an interesting, viable, balanced character just assigning your Attribute points among the ten Attributes. But if you want a character to be better with a longsword than a longbow or vice versa (and lots of players will), a system for specialization is needed.

My first thought is to see if I can make two broad specializations for each Attribute, the way Attack neatly divided in Melee Attacks and Ranged Attacks. Let's see what that might look like.

Attribute (Specializations)Attack (Melee, Ranged)Concealment (Conceal Self, Conceal Objects)Cunning (Lore, Problem Solving)Demeanor (Convince, Deceive)Dodge (Melee, Ranged)Health (Ailments, Damage)Might (Athletics, Power)Perception (Environmental, Social)Speed (Movement, Reaction)Spirit (Defensive, Offensive)

Obviously that's going to need some definition, but I feel like the specialization names are self-explanatory enough for me to keep exploring this schema for now.

The simplest specialization rule that comes to mind with this breakdown is when you invest 1 Attribute point into an Attribute, rather than raise the entire Attribute by 1, you raise just the specialization subset by 2. If we restrict starting characters to 3 total Attribute points max in any one Attribute, this would mean you could have 3 in Attack, or 2 in Attack overall, but 4 in Attack (Melee).

Let's take a quick look at Melee Mike from Part 8, and see what he might look like if built with these specialization rules. I built this Attribute spread with the same concept of what the character might be like I mentioned in Part 8, but you don't need to read that to see how the character develops

Here's the original Melee Mike spread.

Attack: 3Concealment: 1Cunning: 1Demeanor: 1Dodge: 3Health: 3Might: 1Perception: 3Speed: 2Spirit: 2

And here is a revised spread using my current specialization rules.

Attack: 2 (Melee 4)Concealment: 0 (Conceal Self 2)Cunning: 0 (Problem Solving 2)Demeanor: 0 (Convince 2)Dodge: 3Health: 3Might: 1Perception: 2 (Environmental 4)Speed: 1 (Reaction 3)Spirit: 1 (Defensive 3)

Already, I'm liking this a lot. With specialization we learn more about what matters to the player building Mike. The Concealment, Cunning, and Perception specializations tell us Mike is a pretty direct person. He's trained in stealth, but not in smuggling. He doesn't have a lot of book learning, but can work a problem logically. He notices things physically going on around him like an expert, but is less skilled picking up social cues. He's fairly convincing, but only when he sticks to the truth.

If there's a drawback to this system, it's that I just effectively went from 10 attributes to 20, and that's a LOT. Worse, to some people this will feel like 30 attributes, as they see Attack, Attack (melee), and Attack (ranged) as three different things. And no matter how much you justify that by saying there's no practical difference between an attack value that works for ranged and melee attacks, and calling out Attack (mlee) and Attack (ranged), it is a cognitive load for some players.

And of course if we allow further specialization, this factor just gets worse. For example, can I gain additional specialization for Attack/Melee/Swords, then Attack/Melee/Swords/Rapiers, and then Attack/Melee/Swords/Rapiers/Drop-Thrust Maneuver? And if I can, is a character with Attack 2/Melee 4/Swords 6/Rapiers 8/Drop-Thrust Maneuver 10 unbalanced in a game where that would mean rolling 2d10+10 and a Target Number of 20 is supposed to be "nearly impossible?"

I don't like either the idea of specializing down to 4 sub-Attributes, or of a character investing 6 Attribute Points to get a +10 with what is obviously going to be their main attack at that point. That also makes me think I'll likely limit how many Attribute points you can invest in a single Attribute based on character level. I already limited character to 3 points as beginning (1st level) characters. If I let that increase by 1 every other character level, you'd have the limits listed below.

Character Level Attribute Pt Max

1 32 33 44 45 56 57 68 69 710 7

That would give a character who kept his Attack maxed out and used our one tier of specialization (Attack 6/Melee 8) able to hit a DC of 20 45% of the time. Am I okay with 9th level specialized characters doing the nearly impossible almost half the time? In a game with only 10 levels of play planned? Yeah, I think I am. And if I allowed ONE more tier of specialization (for example Attack 5/Melee 7/Longsword 9) is still only hitting Target Number 20 55% of the time. (And they cannot fail tasks of Typical difficulty or less, and will almost never fail even Demanding tasks).

And... I'm pretty okay with that.

I can list SOME examples of that second tier of specialization.

Attribute, Second Tier SpecializationAttack, A specific type of weapon. (Not "swords," but "longswords." All longswords, rather than being as specific as "The longsword Sunbringer which my Grandfather forged for me. and I have carried ever since."Concealment, A specific condition or a specific type of object. Concealing yourself in a forest, or concealing daggers.Cunning, Lore on a specific topic, Solving a specif9c kind of problem (such as riddles, mazes, or card games)Demeanor, Convince or deceive a specific type of creature (Convince dogs, or deceive city guards), or convince of or deceive of a specific thing (Speak the truth convincingly, play dead)Dodge, Avoid specific kinds of attacks (avoid grab attempts, duck under volley fire)Health, Resist a specific kind of ailment or damage (resist disease, or take less damage from bludgeoning attacks)Might, One specific athletic action (jumping), a specific application of strength (power lifting) Perception, Noticing environmental details with one sense (sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste), picking up on one specific social cue (anger, attraction, fear)Speed, Increase to one form of movement (climbing, swimming), increased reaction with one action (quickdraw)Spirit, Resistance to one class of magic (charms, illusions) or Improvement with one specific spell (Defensive, Offensive)

Is that list perfect? No. For one thing, is climbing an athletic action under Might, or a movement type under Speed? (Or... does Might determine if you CAN climb a surface, and Speed decides how fast? Anyway.) But it is plenty good enough for a working draft.

Next Entry: Pinning Down Some Details!