Abilities

[Finch]

    Remnants uses a system of statistics in order to describe the proficiencies, strengths, and weaknesses of characters. This system is similar to those used in popular roleplaying games, such as Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder. This system is known as the abilities system, with each stat being known as an ability. While the abilities used in Remnants are slightly altered from those traditional to other roleplaying games, they essentially work the same.

    The abilities used in Remnants are Adjustment (ADJ), Agility (AGY), Awareness (AWR), Charm (CHM), Constitution (CON), Intelligence (INT), Speed (SPD), and Strength (STR).

Ability Descriptions

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     Adjustment refers to how well a character has adapted to the post-apocalyptic world. This indicates both how well a character is able to survive (finding food, finding shelter) as well as how their mental health has fared. This stat may be used in a survival situation, such as finding a place to shelter in the rain, or if a character is struggling to commit an action that they find disgusting or immoral, such as eating rotten food or killing another person.

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    Agility refers to a character’s ability to perform stamina-intensive activities. It also refers to precise physical movements (such as dance.) Agility is a very broad stat, and can be used for any continuous activity. A few examples of situations that would use agility would be dancing, climbing a tree, or riding a horse. 

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    Awareness refers to how present a character is to the world around them, and how perceptive they are. This includes all five senses. This stat may be used to see in the dark, smell if food is poisoned, or hear a far-off scream. It may also refer to a character’s understanding of their own mental or physical state, such as the severity of their own injuries, or whether or not they are experiencing a delusion.

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    Charm refers to a character’s social graces, leadership, and conversation ability. If an interaction involves another character (or animal), it most likely applies to Charm. Charm applies to both a character’s performance in conversations as well as their general force of personality. Charm can be used, and commonly is used, to change the opinions of other characters. For example, a character may use Charm to trade with another character, or to try to get them to join their group. Arguing falls under Charm.

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    Constitution refers to how hardy a character’s physical body is, and how healthy the character is. Constitution generally does not change significantly, as a large part of it is formed from the character’s genetics, vaccinations, or whether or not they were exposed to certain conditions as a child. For example, a child who grew up on a farm would have a significantly higher constitution than a child that grew up in the city, as a farm has many more foreign pathogens. Constitution is generally used for disease-related situations, such as if a character gets food poisoning or not, or if they get tetanus from getting pierced by a rusty nail. It is also used to calculate a character’s health, as a character with higher constitution could take more hits in combat.

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    Intelligence refers to a character’s knowledge, deductive reasoning, and logic. This is a very broad stat, and can be used in any situation in which a character must recall information, come to a logical conclusion, or solve a mystery. Anything that requires cognitive effort will, most of the time, fall under intelligence. Intelligence also refers to a character’s general knowledge and vocabulary, though well-spokenness would apply to Charm instead.

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    Speed refers to how fast a character is. This stat applies to a narrow subset of situations, and, generally, only applies when a character is walking or running. Other types of movement, such as swimming and horseback riding, would apply to agility instead. Speed can apply over both short-term and long-term movement activities. For example, speed would be used both for running a 100 meter race and for travelling across a state.

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    Strength refers to a character’s physical strength. It is used when a character exerts themself physically. Generally, strength only applies in situations in which character’s only make one, exhausting move (such as pushing a piece of furniture.) Generally, it does not apply to situations that involve more continuous exercises (such as climbing a tree.) These events would apply to agility, not strength.

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    Characters begin with a set amount of ability points, based upon their age. Ability scores are “capped,” meaning that they cannot go over a certain number. This cap is equal to half a character’s age. Thus, a 12 year old could not have any ability score over 6.

     The starting ability points, based upon age, are as follows.

Character Age	Starting Ability Points
0-5	8
6-10	10
11-13	14
14-15	17
16	20