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View Full Version : Questions/opinions for a Tri-stat homebrew



ninja_penguin
2008-04-10, 12:24 PM
Hello all, over time I've been plinking away at making a series of adventures for a cyberpunk setting using the Tri-stat Ex Machina book. I've been developing some templates and such fro the players to use, and I got to one of them that I've got a minor conundrum on, and figured it might be more interesting to ask opinions on it, rather then flipping a coin.

Some background info: The tri-stat system uses three main stats, being Body (equivalent to STR and DEX), Mind (equivalent to INT, CHA, and the perception part of WIS), and Soul (equivalent to CON, and the willpower part of WIS).

The particular template/race bit that I'm working on are bio-engineered humans (working name 'Boosts') that are capable of super strength/speed, etc. due to the work that they've had done on them. However, the drawback to this is that over-use of the abilities granted while boosting eventually causes a backfire, damaging one of their stats, depending on what kind of enhancement they were using at the time.

I originally just had Soul checks for keeping enhancements in line, but it resulted in the test players being able to raise their soul stat high enough that they were able to maintain their abilities much longer then intended, and outshine other players (bonus points to the player who picked up a combat robot larger them himself and pitched it off a building.). My initial solution (put a cap on how high Boost players can raise their soul stat) didn't work so well, because it dropped their health points low enough so that Boost players were getting annihilated.

My new retooling has worked out as such:
1. Each Boost player has two stat lists. one representing their normal unboosted state, and one representing their abilities. On their turn, they can activate some of their abilities up to the limit recorded on their abilities list.
2. After activating X levels of their abilities, Boosts start making a stat check to maintain and activate their abilities, with negative modifiers depending on the number of current abilities activated/maintained.
3. The stat checks are in a rock-paper-scissors format, and this is where I'm slightly hung up on. More on this after the example.

Example for above system: Let's say that we've got two Boost characters, Lance and Roy. They get engaged in a gun battle, and both have had retooling done on their nervous system for faster combat reflexes and gun skill (overall, I determine that this enhancement is Body related). Lance had gun skills on his base stats, representing his normal training and innate skill with guns, he's just using his Boost abilities to crank it up to superhuman levels. Roy had almost nil gun skills out of his Boost state, so he's using a lot for of his Boost ability to match Lance's level of skill and stay alive.

After X amount of rounds, I determine that they're now pushing the limits on how far they can keep this up, and they both start having to make a stat check to keep their enhanced skill levels. When it comes to this, Roy will end up with a larger penalty to his check than Lance, as he's using significantly more of his power to match Lance's skill level.


So, the part that I get slightly hung up on is which stat effects which other ones, and consequences for failing a stat check. I'm thinking that if they fail the check by only a small margin, I may just let them return to normal state with little consequence. Drastic failures, or failures when they were red-lining their abilities will probably result in more serious consequences.

I'm currently feeling pretty set that enhancements of the Body type will require a Mind Check. Crunch-wise, a Body enhancement->Soul check synergies too much with combat heavy types. Fluff wise, I'm writing it up that failing the mind check is basically your brain falling out of sync with your bodies enhanced reflexes/speed/coordination etc.

So, for mind and soul, what are people's opinions? To keep from one stat becoming more important for Boosts, the setup will end up looking like this. That seem to make sense to people, or does anybody think I should swap it around?

Body enhancement -> Mind check
Mind enchancement -> Soul check
Soul enchancement -> Body check

DracoDei
2008-04-10, 01:00 PM
Personally I would say that each stat UNBOOSTED should be what is checked against to maintain boosts related to that stat...
So trying to push your brain to speed-read the Encyclopedia Britannica with full comprehension and retention is going cause brain damage, but the smarter you are to begin with the better you are able to handle it.

Some shrimp wants to toss compact cars around as thrown weapons he is going to have to contend with his spine collapsing like a house of cards, and all the willpower or brains in the world won't help.