A test for determining Scores in Sorcerer

[sirogit]

While I understand that this could be overly complicated to solve a simple problem, I personally had a spot of difficulty in selecting a way to distribuite scores definitively, so I devised a set of simple questions to get a good, definitive answer.

#1. Out of the three scores, What is the primary? This is a large part of what your character has influence with.

#2. What is the secondary? It is advisable that for a Sorcerer character to have a their Will score atleast the secondary score.

#3. What is the tetriary?

#4. Is the Tetriary score above 1? If the tetriary score is Will or Stamina, than having it set at 1 indicates a severe disability in normal living. as well as for a sorcerer, a Will of 1 means they lack crucial survival scores, a Stamina of 1 means that they would easily be killed, and a Lore of 1 would mean a severe handicap in any sorcerous dealings.

#5a. If yes to #4, Are the scores even, with less than 3 points of difference between the worst and best score? An even-scored character means that they would be able to do anything fairly well, but they wouldn't be exceptionial(5+) in anything.  

#6aa If Yes to #5a, which balance, 4-3-3 or 4-4-2? 4-3-3 Is the most even character possible while 4-4-2 has a moderate spot and two strengths, good if the characters primary and secondary scores are evenly matched.

#6ab If No to #5a, which balance, 6-2-2 or 5-3-2? 6-2-2 would give an exceptionial score at the cost of having two only okay ones, but no real disabilities. It would be advisable not to have this with a primary Score of Lore as it would give you only 2 humanity, easily becoming 1 when you get into play. 5-3-2 is a good mix of even and focused, following a triangular pattern.  

#5b If no to #4, Is the secondary score above 2? Having a secondary score 2 or below is a risky option, and it entails only having one area of strength, but it affords the character a truly powerful primary Score, if not without a cost. If their primary socre is Lore, this means the character would have a dismally low Humanity at the offset.  
   
#6ba If yes to #5b, which balance, 6-3-1 or 5-4-1? 5-4-1 has two impressive even scores with one disadvantage, while 6-3-1 follows the patterns of having one exceptionol score, one merely strong score and a weak one.

#6bb If no to #5b, which balance, 8-1-1 or 7-2-1? 8-1-1 means the most laser-focused and highest-rated score imaginable, quite useful in Binding for example, but dismal in it's other scores*. 7-2-1 alleievates a little bit of the problem, with a decent secondary score, and 7 is no big fall from 8.

--------
The main question is:
Is this determination system useful to anybody?

Does a much more elegant system exist?
Would no one in his right mind have problems picking scores?

Are there any major things to consider that I have not inculded as a note?


* If Humanity is set to 1 in the beggining, and you lose that point during your first humanity roll, would this mean you lose the character during chargen?

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

I guess I don't really see the problem you're solving.

Here's what I can answer: a character who begins with a Humanity of 1 necessarily has Stamina 1, Will 1, and Lore 8. That is, to say the least, an unusual option for a character's scores.  And yes, whatever consequences of Humanity apply (for that game), they would be considered to occur when the Binding roll results in a failed Humanity roll.

That doesn't necessarily mean you can't play that character at all, though. It's a matter of how Humanity 0 is defined in that game. In Schism, for instance, the character would be destined to die in the first session, and that actually fits some genre conventions for that setting. In the Azk'Arn game (rules outlined in Sex & Sorcery), the character would either die during the first session as in Schism, or he or she would begin with a memory lapse and some rewritten descriptors.

Best,
Ron

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

I was thinking about this some more, trying to see the perspective from which such an approach is necessary.

Here's my point: setting aside extremely risky options (Will of 1-2), all Sorcerer score combinations are functional for play. There's really no optimizing possible. Specializing, yes; optimizing, no.

Given only 10 points to work with, the difference between "my guy is pretty even" (any score combination containing a 3), "my guy is more-or-less specialized" (any score combination in which the lowest number is 2), and "my guy is really skewed" (any score combination in which the lowest number is 1) seems extremely easy to me.

Best,
Ron

[sirogit]

Optimization wasn't really the end goal, more like accuracy to concept. I just found that working with such a system after a while, it became very easy to stat up with several strong-sorcerer-NPCs in seconds, with great accuracy to concept upon inspection. Acknowledging that it's a probably a pretty trivial part of the game, and that it has the limitation of only creating PC-class characters.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi,

For that purpose, that's a good point. You've certainly provided a thread I'll direct newcomers to, especially those who are used to games in which only a few (from a seemingly-broad array) of point-spending options are viable.

Best,
Ron