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General 10 Distinct Mental Attributes to flesh out NPCs (or even Player Characters)

Spinward Scout

Spinward Scout

SOC-14 5K
Baron
Mental Attributes for your game Redux
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These are distinct from INT (Intellect - Intelligence and Reasoning) and EDU (Education - Training & Memory).

Many Referees already use Perception and Determination.

Roll 2d6 for each one. Or pick which ones the Character is good or bad at.
_____

Perception (PER)
– The process of interpreting sensory input to form an understanding of the environment.

Emotion (EMO)
– The capacity to experience, express, and regulate affective states (e.g., joy, fear, anger).

Imagination (IMA)
– The ability to form mental images or concepts not present to the senses; includes creativity and simulation.

Willpower (WIL)
– The mental faculty of conscious choice and self-control in the face of impulses or adversity.
– (Volition) The faculty or power of using one's will.
– (Agency) The capacity of individuals to have the power and resources to fulfill their potential.

Integrity (ITG)
- Judgment to do the right thing, even if it isn't in your best interest

Optimism (OPT)
- Hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something

Intellectual curiosity (ITC)
- The inherent drive to seek knowledge and understanding of the world around us, exploring new ideas and perspectives

Determination (DET)
- Strength of purpose towards a specific end
- You could use the MegaTraveller statistic instead.

Empathy (EMP)
- The ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

Self-Awareness (SFA)
- The ability to understand your own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, as well as how they impact yourself and others.
– The capacity to reflect on one's own thoughts, feelings, actions, and existence.

Attention (ATT)
– The ability to selectively focus mental resources on specific stimuli or tasks.
 
I just let the players play those things - if I wanted to use all those additional stats I'd play a different game. But everyone plays their own game. And just guessing, but that may be the reason for a sad face - why add more stuff for more mechanical role playing vs just playing your character? but that is solely a personal guess.

And I will note that while I've not applied more stats to PCs, I do keep trying to come up with more stats to define starports (sort of like the High Guard USP). So, to each their own! And those are good ideas, just not ones I'd want to use in a Traveller context personally.
 
I like simple, so this is the opposite of my tastes. That said, I like tinkering with game mechanics to try to find improvements. If I were to use all those extra stats (say as fodder to flesh out a major NPC), I think I would start with the average of INT & EDU as a base score and then roll a “flux” (2d6-7) as an adjustment for each of those extra abilities. This would cluster most around INT & EDU with a chance for an outlier.
 
coliver988 said:
I just let the players play those things - if I wanted to use all those additional stats I'd play a different game. But everyone plays their own game
Click to expand...
I may be mis-reading him, but I think he's trying to enable procedurally-generated, fully-characterized NPCs for solo play (and in the extreme case, a solo game that basically can play itself without player input -- just dice rolls?)
 
Spinward Scout said:
casquilho, why the Sad?
Click to expand...
I will keep this simple so as not to side track your thread.

I find (read in my game and pure my opinion) the idea of all these extra specs unnecessary clutter and clunky additional play. One of the things I like about the CT is the simple and easy way the rules support play not become the play. :unsure:

So while I would never say don't do on your table what you wish to do, I find these to be a level or breakdown that is not desired in my own personal game play.

But again, I realize this is my own personal opinions and tastes and not something I think you or others have to agree with. 😁
 
Great responses!

I wouldn't use all of these either. It's more to help with a personality a bit when making NPCs.

Perception is something a lot of Referees use. And I think that might need an INT or EDU to modify it. Not sure about that. MegaTraveller had a Determination stat that was derived somehow (I can't remember how off hand).

But I don't think you need to have the score unless it's important. In other words, if you're in a scary or stressful situation, you might need an Emotion check to see if they break or go through it smoothly. What a lot of games call a Sanity check.

I think it's something to work on.
 
After years of calling for Int rolls to notice things I gave up and had every character have a perception characteristic.
Spoiler:

mike wightman

Rules Only: Thread 'Adding new characteristics.'

I have come to the conclusion that I have to add two new characteristics.

A characteristic should be something innate to a character, and something that is rolled against or influences saving throws.

So with that, the two new characteristics I find that I am fudging other characteristics and skills to cover are...

perception and determination.

Perception to notice things gets rolled all the time, and determination is a very useful stat for resisting stress, concentrating on a task or just general pigheadedness.

It also allows me to string the characteristics into

physical - Str, Dex...
  • Like


Determination based on End or End plus Int always felt clunky as well so eventually a separate determination characteristic was added too.

Int Per Det

Which leaves me Soc and Edu, so a third social characteristic is needed to keep the symmetry. I want ti to represent communication , charisma, influence, presence, authority, bearing, distinction... in the thread mentioned i settled on Influence but I think I prefer either presence, authority or distinction

Str Dex End
Int Per Det
Soc Edu Prs

Using CT character generation tables Det could be used as a substitute for End for some careers, Per may be a replacement for Int if appropriate, and Prs could substitute for Edu or Soc if it fits - referee and player can discuss it.
 
Last edited:
coliver988 said:
It is what we do,
Click to expand...
I mostly meant that I put about this ][ much thought into these.

INT and DEX. DEX as a mechanic to capture changes in the environment (eyes, head turns, reaction time), INT to process those changes beyond "RUN!", which is kind of built in.

EDU and END. EDU for having broad knowledge of what things take, expectations, "I've seen these tunnels before, they typically have lights..." etc. END for just the physical "I'm not too tired" part of the "stick to it"-tiveness.
 
whartung said:
I mostly meant that I put about this ][ much thought into these.

INT and DEX. DEX as a mechanic to capture changes in the environment (eyes, head turns, reaction time), INT to process those changes beyond "RUN!", which is kind of built in.

EDU and END. EDU for having broad knowledge of what things take, expectations, "I've seen these tunnels before, they typically have lights..." etc. END for just the physical "I'm not too tired" part of the "stick to it"-tiveness.
Click to expand...
well, even a smidge of making stuff up is still making stuff up. though I do like your off-the-cuff ideas (and honestly, all the ideas presented. while I probably won't use them in Traveller, they may have a way of sneaking into other games. And especially for NPCs. which I always have a difficult time running)
 
I’ve never been comfortable with an Intelligence stat. The term is so often used by educated people to express a feeling of superiority.
Reasoning, Problem-solving, Intuition, Memory, Determination, Imagination, Curiosity, … are all better at describing how someone navigates their way through the world.
However …
the term Intelligence is a very convenient short-hand for playing games. (No matter how often I make house rules for better characteristics.) But it is importantly to regularly remind players that there is more than one way to deal with a damaged Air/Raft.
 
For inspiration, I've thought about two dice (1=-1, 2-5=0 6=+1) for each of the "big five" (OCEAN) or "HEXACO" personality attributes for an NPC

  • H - humility & honesty (not one of the OCEAN scales)
  • E/N - emotionality ('neuroticism' in OCEAN)
  • X/E - extroversion
  • A - agreeableness
  • C - conscientiousness
  • O - openness

Even larger variance would come from using FATE dice (-1,-1,0,0,+1,+1)
 
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