HOLISTIC STAT SYSTEM
by Doyce Testerman
The Problem:
There are only four stats in Amber, and as such, they have a tendency, in my mind, to be stretched too far. Warfare, surely a useful skill, governs everything from chess, fencing, tactics, grand stratagems, and even martial arts techniques by some people's definitions. And that's just one of the stats.
The rule I use (influenced by the interaction of the four stats in the diceless system <i>Everway</i>) is that no stat exists in a vacuum. Every activity has one major stat that influences the outcome, and one stat that influences it to a lesser degree. I'm going to try to give an example of all the possible (or at least likely) interactions:
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Swordplay
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Warfare + (Str/2)
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Makes Gerard (with, say, a warfare of 50 but a Str of 200) much more formidable, as he comes out a with a very respectable point total (50 + 200/2 = 150).
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Tactics
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Warfare + (Psyche/2)
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Makes Brand a serious threat to everyone, except maybe Benedict, and still gives old Benny a run for the money.
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Psyche Finesse
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Psyche + (Warfare/2)
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Used for determining success of psyche/power/spell attacks. -*OR*- Chess/etc -- As anyone who spars/duels/plays RPG's can attest, the Chess environment does take a different mindset than the battlefield.
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Brute Psyche
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Psyche + (Str/2) OR + (End/2) (GM's choice)
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Put that huge battery of endurance/body fitness to use! I use this as a basis for how much damage spells and other blasts of offensive energy will do to the target, as well as for tests of willpower once psychic contact is established.
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Hand-to-Hand
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Strength + (Warfare/2)
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Put some oomf into arguments that high Warfare gives good hand-to-hand techniques, but still lets Gerard remain the (very) Big-Dog at the top of the heap.
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Strength Finesse
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Strength + (Psyche/2)
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I've heard some good suggestions for this, most notably in tasks like rock climbing, hang-gliding, and other situations where a person's physical power needs to be applied with a little control.
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I put together an | Excel spreadsheet to track all my NPC's and PC's using this system.
Be the Ball, Danny
There are a few rules or statements outlined in the ADRPG book, as well as what I would call 'standard house rules' that a great number of people use that I wanted to provide easy 'conversion' for in the Holistic system. They follow below:
Combat Resolution:
First laid out by Randy Trimmer, this is a system to give the Amber GM a quick idea of the outcome of a battle between two opponents whose skill levels are not closely matched. (Applies to contests of Swordplay, Psyche Finesse, or Hand-to-Hand.)
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Character 1 (C1)
vs.
Character 2 (C2)
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Aggressiveness
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Result
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C1's skill is generally equal to C2's skill
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Normal
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Fight could go on for days.
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C1 is not twice as good as C2, but is still somewhat superior.
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Normal
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Fight turns in C1's favor in 20 minutes to several hours.
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C1 is at least twice good as C2.
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Normal
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Fight turns in C1's favor in 2 - 15 minutes.
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C1 is at least three times as good as C2.
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Normal
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Fight turns in C1's favor in 30 seconds to 2 minutes
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C1 is at least four times as good as C2.
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Normal
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Fight turns in C1's favor in 2-15 seconds -- get the body bag.
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Notes:
- The weaker opponent (Character 2, in this example) can draw out the fight (and their life) by going from 'normal' aggressiveness to 'defensive' -- this moves the 'Result' up one 'notch. They can move the result up two 'notches' by going 'full defensive'.
- The stronger opponent can go more aggressive to speed things up, but will probably get hurt in the process if the fight was originally within two notches of 'close'. A weaker oppenent can speed the contest up this way as well, but not in the way they were hoping for.
- With weapons, a mismatch between the defender's armor versus the attacker's weapon (you're attacking Julian's armor with a hoof-cleaning knife) can move the 'Result' towards a more survivable area, sometimes even into the weaker opponent's favor. It doesn't help with Hand-to-Hand.
The system does not, of course, take roleplay and general sneakiness into account, and as such is only really useful in 'automatic' fights, 'clean' sparring, and NPC to NPC fights.
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