Revision as of 03:30, 18 June 2012

Some people are simply better at some things than other people. Many of them have clear leanings towards a certain areas above all else. At the same time, some people are worse at some things than other people, with particular fields giving them more trouble. As is the case in many games, Persona MUSH rates a character's combat prowess across several different statistics that one should consider.

There are five stats on Persona MUSH, each reflecting a different area of ability and with different effects, though they all interlock to form one's derived values. The scale is one that is relative; in the end, what matters most is the result in this system, rather than how it is achieved. Each stat tends to mean certain things, though, and a character's personality and nature will naturally inform the values that they choose.

Stats are an abstraction for combat purposes. They reflect personal tendencies at a given time and can change along with a change in habits.

Stats Overview

You can see your stats at any time with +stats. The following is a sample statblock:



For discussion of the Elemental section and Skills section of the statblock, see Elements and Abilities respectively.

Statistics

The five stats are as follows:

Strength (STR): Strength is a measure of a character's ability to effectively use physical force. It can but doesn't have to correlate with actual lifting power and muscle; high strength can certainly be appropriate for a character who lifts a lot of weights and works on physical strength, but it can also reflect a character with a knack or skill for putting a lesser amount of brawn into the right place at the right time. Low strength, meanwhile, can reflect someone being noodly-armed or weak, but it can also simply reflect a person either not comfortable with or not very good at hurting people with their own might. The Str stat's effects are: primary Physical attack, a bonus to Physical defense, and primary Weapon attack.

Magic (MAG): Magic is a measure of a character's ability to effectively use mystical force. It often but doesn't need to correlate with the use of one's mental faculties over one's physical--highly intelligent or focused characters often have high magic, but a smart bruiser is possible. This is because a high magic can mean a high level of discipline, a significant force of personality, or a lot of experience with the occult. Low magic, meanwhile, can indicate a character who is not in tune with the world around them, who eschews subtlety in favor of the direct approach, or simply someone with all the mystical talent of a rock. The Mag stat's effects are: primary Magical attack and a bonus to Magical defense.

Agility (AGI): Agility is about the ability to move one's body swiftly and deftly when it counts. High agility could indicate a level of athleticism and great hand-eye coordination, or it could reflect a high level of perception and the patience to act (or move) when the time is right. Low agility can mean that the character is clumsy, or it can mean that they aren't very aware of their environment. The effects of the Agi stat are: primary Magical defense, a bonus to Magical attack, and a bonus to attempt to evade incoming attacks entirely.

Vitality (VIT): Vitality is about toughness, either because of physical hardiness or a sheer refusal to quit. High vitality could indicate a general level of good health and an imperviousness to harm, or it could just reflect someone too stubborn to stop whatever they're doing despite injury or fatigue. Low vitality can simply indicate being frail, or it can just mean that pain and trouble tend to dissuade the character more quickly than most. The effects of the Vit stat are: primary Physical defense, a bonus to Physical attack, and a bonus to incoming healing abilities.

Luck (LUK): Luck is a hard-to-define quality that just tends to indicate how situations go for a person; you can't coast forever on luck alone (unless perhaps you're truly lucky), but it can get a person far when applied just right. High luck could be literal good fortune, or it could be a knack for seeing opportunities and acting on them. Low luck, meanwhile, can reflect a character who tends to focus to the point of tunnel vision, or it could represent a legitimate curse. The effects of the Luk stat are: a minor boost to all attacks and defenses, and an increased chance of scoring critical hits.

Stat Ranges

For Self stats, the scale runs between 10 and 20, with 10 being 'very bad' at a given stat and 20 being 'very good'. The average runs at about 15, assuming an able-bodied young adult. The entire range is acceptable for PCs; nearly all PCs have roughly the same potential of capability in their basic statistics, and an attempt to model a person who's just legitimately better or worse than others around them in a holistic fashion is outside the scope of the system.

Persona stats, meanwhile, operate on a different level, as reflects their ultimately spectral nature. Their numbers pass between 30 and 60, modelling the significant differences and higher power levels of supernatural entities in general. Rather than an 'average' scale, these operate at a baseline level and move up. A 30 reflects little additional capability in the area, a baseline competence. A 60, meanwhile, denotes a prodigious amount of talent and aptitude for a given quality. It's entirely normal for a Persona to have any values within this; the Persona's stat pool represents how its overall talents are allocated, with highs and lows indicating a very focused Persona and fairly 'average' stats indicating a balanced Persona. Either is valid for PCs.

Total stats are what happens when Self and Persona stats are combined. Since it's impossible to stand in combat against the supernatural without /some/ kind of power of one's own, the Persona stat counts for more in this weighting. A weak person using a strong Persona will still be rather effective. These numbers run from 20 to 40, and it's no coincidence that they begin at the top range of Self stats: even a completely ordinary high school student, with a Persona, can take a weapon and strike with the force of someone trained and practiced in its use for much longer than their actual experience would indicate. Aside from that, however, the scale is fairly simple: a 20 reflects a merely baseline level of capability in facing the supernatural, while a 40 represents a significant advantage in that field. A 30 is a fairly normal range for a Persona-user, comfortably above a normal person's capability of dealing with the bizarre things that result in Persona MUSH combat.

Derived Values

Each of the stats combines in various ways to get one's Derived Values. Just as a task in combat often is aided by multiple capabilities, so too are most of the derived values influenced by multiple stats. Higher is better! They are as follows:

Physical Attack (PATK): This represent's a character's overall damage capacity with attacks that rely upon direct force.

Magical Attack (MATK): This represents a character's overall damage capacity with attacks reliant upon mystical force. It includes Magical, Ailment, and Recovery abilities.

Weapon Attack (WATK): This represents a character's overall damage capacity with their chosen personal attack forms.

Physical Defense (PDEF): This represents a character's overall protection against Physical attacks.

Magical Defense (MDEF): This represents a character's overall protection against Magical and Ailment (Support) attacks.

Recovery Bonus (REC+): This is a value applied positively to healing abilities used on the character, increasing the effect of those skills.

Evasion (EVA): This represents a character's overall ability to simply avoid incoming attacks, negating their damage and effects. It is applied after an attack's basic accuracy. Recovery and Ailment (Support) attacks bypass this value.

Critical Hit Rate (CRIT): This is the chance per attack that a given hit will be a critical hit. It is modified further by various status effects and conditions, and refers to all attack types capable of scoring critical hits.

In general, these abilities will range from about 25 to 60, for especially min-maxed statsets on either end.