Characteristic Question

[Kirowan]

Hi,

I'm very new to Hero. I've only made my way through the characteristic chapter so far. It's pretty daunting stuff. I have a quick question and I was wondering if someone could help me.

A characteristic roll is based on (9+characteristic/5). Now, is there anyway to be good as basic characteristic tasks without increasing your characteristics to really high levels? The problem I see is that characteristic checks use the same difficulty modifiers as skills even though they will be consistently lower.

What I'm trying to say is this. The strongest human should be just as good at being strong as the best human doctor is at being a doctor. Do you see what I'm saying? I don't think I'm being clear.

Thanks,

Nick

[JmOz]

When you get to skills you will find something called "Skill Levels". At certain levels they can be used for all skills of a single characteristic. THis will do what you want normaly (A few things are strait characteristics, but very few things are not skills)

[Edsel]

If I understand correctly you are wanting to know if there is a way to increase your characteristic roll without increasing the characteristic.

You can buy skill levels with essentially anything, including specific characteristic rolls. As a matter of fact a skill level with a single characteristic rolls costs only 2 points per level. You can purchase more expansive skill levels for higher costs.

So if you have a Dexterity of 10 and your characteristic roll is therefore (10/5)+9 = 11 or less. You could spend 6 points to buy a skill level that grants a +3 to that roll, making it a 14 or less. Such a cheap skill level would not help Dexterity-based skills. They would only be usable specifically for Dex rolls. When you get to the skills section you'll find a much better explanation on how skill levels work.

[Kirowan]

I know it's kind of weird Edsel, but that is what I'm trying to get at. My concern was that a character with 20 a DEX only succeeds at basic DEX tasks (like catching himself when falling or whatever) on a 14 or less. I just felt that it should be higher. I'm glad there is a mechanic to address this.

Thanks,

Nick

[CrosshairCollie]

Keep in mind, that 14 or less is a 90 percent chance ... that's not too shabby. ;)