Role-Playing Games - Fundamentals of Game Design - page 467

■ Physical attributes such as height, weight, strength, dexterity, endurance, max-
imum speed, maximum health, and so on determine how a character performs while
moving, carrying weight, and during combat. Armor class is a commonly used physical
attribute that contributes to the formula that determines whether a character will be
hit by an enemy attack; it is roughly equivalent to defensive dodging in war games.
■ Mental attributes such as intelligence and sanity affect the character's ability to
learn or reason and to withstand disturbing or horrifying situations. Because a
player may be more (or less) intelligent than his character is, it's difficult to enforce
intelligence except by fiat. Some game systems use intelligence levels to place limits
on the ability to cast certain kinds of magic spells.
■ Moral attributes determine the character's attitudes toward justice and exploit-
ing others; in simple terms, the extent to which he is good or evil. It might be
worthwhile to design a more subtle system of morality, however. Some people who
think nothing of stealing wouldn't dream of abusing an animal—and vice versa.
■ Social attributes determine a character's social attitudes and ability to get along
with others. Examples might be charismatic, nurturing, or leadership abilities. You
might also use social attributes to describe such things as a character's degree of
xenophobia or his conversational skill. When a character engages in conversations,
you can design the dialog engine so that it does not give an inarticulate character
as many things to say as a more articulate character.
Some games—for example, in the case of the Fallout series—allow the player to
establish the values of a primary set of characterization attributes, then calculate
the values of a second set based on those in the primary set. In Fallout 3 (and its
predecessors) , the primary set of attributes includes strength, perception, endur-
ance, charisma, agility, intelligence, and luck. The secondary set of attributes
includes hit points (that is, maximum possible health, calculated from strength
and endurance), armor class (based on agility), and so on. The Fallout series has
particularly well-designed core mechanics.
STATUS ATTRIBUTES, EXPERIENCE, AND CHARACTER LEVELS
In CRPGs, a character's status attributes typically identify the character's location,
health, state of needs (like a need for food or rest), relationships with other charac-
ters, inventory of items owned or carried, and any other value that may change
from moment to moment.
Among the most commonly implemented status attributes are two related ones
that effectively measure the character's growth: experience points , often abbreviated
XP, and character level . Experience points are earned by successfully defeating ene-
mies in combat and by other activities that the designer feels represent important
achievements in the context of the game's story. Usually these consist of complet-
ing quests or conducting successful negotiations with NPCs via dialog. In a tabletop
RPG, XP are awarded by the game master; in a CRPG, they are awarded by the com-
puter when it detects a particular event.