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rpg stats

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Sun, 03/24/2019 - 10:57
wob
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a-hoy-hoy folks.
i am revisiting an old school design. its a sort of solo-card driven-deck builer-dungeon crawl thing.
it is basically "kill stuff. collect stuff. upgrade. repeat"
the kill/collect are mostly worked out. it is the up grade i need input on, as i dont play a lot of rpgs.

stat names: your hero can upgrade its Hp (health), pretty easy to name that one. it can also upgrade the number of cards it can draw/play (speed?), the number of card slots it has (for ongoing effects. stamina? intelligence?) and the level of item it can pick up/use (strength? skill?).
i know what they do but what should each one be called?

cheers in advance

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Sun, 03/24/2019 - 13:56
#1
Taavet
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They don't have to be stats....

Number of cards it can draw/play = ability or experience
Number of card slots it has = potential or capability
Level of item it can pick up/use = resourcefulness or utilization

Just some quick thoughts. I don't think you have to limit yourself to the normal RPG stats that go into a hero. If you do want to for thematic reasons then what you came up with could work just as well. Good luck!

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Sun, 03/24/2019 - 15:45
#2
X3M
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What if you design the card

What if you design the card game itself first. And the hero stats are then added to compliment the game?

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Sun, 03/24/2019 - 18:17
#3
questccg
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Decide what you want as Actions

Personally I would figure out what you want players to be able to do. Once you decide, you can then ADD the appropriate stats to your game. I think this is what Ramon is saying (@X3M).

Cheers!

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Mon, 03/25/2019 - 09:28
#4
wob
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hello. i have worked out the

hello.
i have worked out the basic mechanics of the game, and i know what those stats do. really i need to name them for thematic reasons and to have somthing to write on my prototypes.
i like taavets ideas and and you are right they dont have to be "stats". i could make them "hero quality"

as a side question to anyone who has played a lot of rpg style games... how important is the initial choice of hero? i know its going to matter for starting stats (warriors are stronger than wizards etc) but could i start with a wizard and build it into a warrior, or will it never be able to do fighty stuff? in other words should i make items limited to hero classes (only a mage can use a spell, only a warrior can use a sword) or say you can use it if you are at that item level?
i know this varies between games and systems i am just curious how its normally done.

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Mon, 03/25/2019 - 10:55
#5
Tim Edwards
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wob wrote:hello. i have

wob wrote:
hello.
i have worked out the basic mechanics of the game, and i know what those stats do. really i need to name them for thematic reasons and to have somthing to write on my prototypes.
i like taavets ideas and and you are right they dont have to be "stats". i could make them "hero quality"

as a side question to anyone who has played a lot of rpg style games... how important is the initial choice of hero? i know its going to matter for starting stats (warriors are stronger than wizards etc) but could i start with a wizard and build it into a warrior, or will it never be able to do fighty stuff? in other words should i make items limited to hero classes (only a mage can use a spell, only a warrior can use a sword) or say you can use it if you are at that item level?
i know this varies between games and systems i am just curious how its normally done.

It might be an idea to keep the rubrics quite literal. What I mean is:

the number of cards there hero can draw/play (speed?) = Just call that Action Capacity, or something

It's not thematic in itself but it gives you a lot of freedom in your hero design. For example, my ninja has a high Action Capacity (because of his amazing speed). Your weird monster also has a high Action Capacity because it's got 6 arms...So, the stat can encompass a lot of different flavour detail.

About the importance of initial choice of hero - I think it's more interesting when it's really important, otherwise all hero, over time, will blend into a sort of generic adventurer. It might be better if hero START fairly similar but diverge as they develop.

In D&D starting adventurers were PRETTY similar really. The magic user only had one spell. The fighter had about 4 hit points more than the magic user. The difference in weapon choice was dagger vs sword - about 4 hits worth of damage. So, not too different. Jump forward to 9th level and they are highly specialised and interesting.

On the other hand, some character classes had the chance to sort of cross the road a bit. A high level fighter could merge will cleric-class by becoming a paladin, etc.

But on the whole, the story was one of pursuing your special path and developing INTO your class, rather than starting out specialised and becoming less so.

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Mon, 03/25/2019 - 11:08
#6
questccg
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Another perspective

Another way of Specializing Heroes is something like this:

+ A Fighter is the starting class but he can GAIN combinations from other classes later on. Like Ninja is combined with a Thief class.

+ A Mage starts off as such but combine him with a Fighter and he becomes a Warlock...

+ A Cleric starts off as a healing class but later on when combined with a Fighter class becomes a Paladin.

So the idea is to start of generic and keep your class or choose to combine stats from another class to get a variation of for your Hero.

Cheers!

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Mon, 03/25/2019 - 11:35
#7
wob
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hmmm... ok i will have to

hmmm... ok i will have to think about hero specialisation. I'm not sure i want to have a lot of items that cant be used so i might make the item levels layered ie a warrior must be lv 1 to use this sword, a mage has to be lv 3. but that is for after my basic generic hero has ironed things out.

i think tim has summed up my problem (that i haven't been able to put across) that if a warrior is using strength and a mage is using intelligence to fight it seems odd they both have the same stat, yet they need the same stat for everything to work regardless of the hero and items being used.
i do like action capacity. it seems versatile enough to fit everyone

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Mon, 03/25/2019 - 12:01
#8
questccg
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Other considerations

This is from other RPGs... Strength is used to weild weapons, Intelligence is used to cast spells, Dexterity is used for thievery, etc.

But classes have minimums. Like the Fighter can have a Intelligence of 5 otherwise he's a Dunce and gets some kind of penalty. Or if the minimum Dexterity is 4 otherwise he's a Klutz and gets another type of penalty...

Just some other ideas! Best!!

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Mon, 03/25/2019 - 12:33
#9
questccg
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Scrolls vs. Spells

If your Hero has moderate Intelligence, he may be eligible to use SCROLLS that unlock magical attacks or boons. SPELLS usually require higher levels of Intelligence and can be memorized. SCROLLS are one-time items which get used and are then lost.

But if you have an exceptional Intelligence, you could embed empty scrolls with certain spells and other party members may use them...

Just offering more ideas/concepts!

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Mon, 03/25/2019 - 13:49
#10
wob
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at the moment i only have the

at the moment i only have the 4 stats. each item has a ? level (what ever i call this stat). if your character has that level of stat you can use the item. if, for example you play a one shot that deals 1 damage it doesnt matter if your using a fire bolt, arrow, or throwing dagger (except for the type of damage it does) so any character can use any item. this is mainly because its a solo game and you only get one hero but also to keep it as light as possible as far as the rpg stuff goes.
the heroes only vary at the moment by their starting stats so one may be able to draw/play more but has a low card slot number (more focused on one shots). if another has the opposite set up it would be more focused on ongoing cards.
i could include a second item level stat to make more variation- say strength and intelligence or offence and defense. this would also make the heros and items more distinct. on the down side it means there will be items that appear that you just cant use (at the moment its just a matter of time), so you need to build them up evenly to get everything.

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Mon, 03/25/2019 - 13:50
#11
wob
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at the moment i only have the

at the moment i only have the 4 stats. each item has a ? level (what ever i call this stat). if your character has that level of stat you can use the item. if, for example you play a one shot that deals 1 damage it doesnt matter if your using a fire bolt, arrow, or throwing dagger (except for the type of damage it does) so any character can use any item. this is mainly because its a solo game and you only get one hero but also to keep it as light as possible as far as the rpg stuff goes.
the heroes only vary at the moment by their starting stats so one may be able to draw/play more but has a low card slot number (more focused on one shots). if another has the opposite set up it would be more focused on ongoing cards.
i could include a second item level stat to make more variation- say strength and intelligence or offence and defense. this would also make the heros and items more distinct. on the down side it means there will be items that appear that you just cant use (at the moment its just a matter of time), so you need to build them up evenly to get everything.

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Mon, 03/25/2019 - 14:06
#12
X3M
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Warcraft 3

Items could be stored up to 6.
Each item added either more health/armor, damage or magic to the wielder.

Some abundant magic users (not all) benefit from magic items.
Others from the other items.

What you could do is having a class prepared in what they can do.

A magic user could get twice as much magic aspects to start with. But also end with twice as much magic aspects.

What I mean is that a magic user has more slots lets say 4 for magic stuff than for example health, which is 2.
It can end with 12 and 6. But till that time, the player could choose to increase health first. A situation of 6 health and 4 magic could be possible.

Something along those lines. I hope it sparks idea's now.

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Mon, 03/25/2019 - 14:45
#13
Tim Edwards
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How about items have 2 tiers

How about items have 2 tiers of effect - one for the specialist, one for the non-specialist?

For example,

The Legendary Sword gives +5 to fighters, and +1 to everyone else

Fireball scroll creates a level 5 fireball for magic users, a level 1 fireball for the rest

Everyone can use everything, but there are big advantages in specialising and playing to your role.

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Tue, 03/26/2019 - 11:08
#14
wob
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from your replies generic

from your replies generic heroes may not cut it. having different classes benefit from different item types is a good one, but might take up a little too much card real estate.
as each item, at least the"weapons", deal a type of damage (5 types at the moment) i was thinking...
items have a strength level that relates to weather the item can be picked up and added to the hero deck.
items also have a skill level that relates to a damage type and the level a hero must have to use the item.
so a hero might not be able to use an item but can pick it up. at the end of each adventure items can be "sold" back to the dungeon deck to gain xp and resold each time that item is found.
i am thinking this will a) make the items and heros more distinct and thematic and b) add replay by letting players restock the dungeon and upgrading there hero.

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