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[–] 36 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

One of the things I liked about the Chronicles of Darkness system is it cleared this up nicely. Stats were in a 3x3 grid.

One axis was physical, mental, social

The other was Power, Finesse, Resistance.

Want to shove something? Physical + Power. That's strength.

Want to figure out a riddle? Mental + Finesse. That's Dexterity Wits. (Edit: wrote dexterity originally, meant Wits)

Command attention? Social + Power. That's the Presence stat.

Lie and misdirect? Social + Finesse. Stat was called Manipulation.

Now you can have a character that's commanding without also being a natural liar and flirt. DND doesn't help let you do that because the concepts are bundled together into a single stat.

(You could invest separately into like Expression for making speeches and Deception for lying, of course)

Humans are rated 1 to 5, where a 5 is the peak of human capability. Presence 5 is like AAA movie stars and great leaders.

Of course, if you add supernaturals to your game a starting chump vampire could have seven presence if they take Majesty as their power, and become a nearly irresistible magnet of attention.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    Want to figure out a riddle? Mental + Finesse. That’s Dexterity.

    Wait, wouldn't it make sense to figure out a riddle with Intelligence? And for Dexterity to be Physical + Finesse?

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Riddles are often lateral thinking or other cleverness, so they seem more finesse than power. But yes, I wrote "dexterity" when I meant "Wits".

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