Characteristics, Explanation of:
All characteristic are used frequently throughout the life of your character.
Guardians of Utaemia leans heavily toward individualization of a player's character based on his or her characteristics, which is the essence of a character's physical, mental and spiritual make-up.
Notes:
See: "Avoidance-Rolls, Explanation of:" to find examples of how characteristics are used.
Also, look at the formulas within the Avoidance-Rolls found in the character sheet.
The following are the explanations of all 9 characteristics:
Awareness:
This represents the five senses (hearing, sense of smell, sight, touch and taste). The higher your Awareness, the more perceptive your five senses will be.
Charisma:
Appearance - : Determines how pleasing you are in the sight of another.
Speech ------- : Determines how well you socially converse with another.
See: "Bartering"
Constitution:
This is how durable you are physically. The higher your Constitution, the easier it will be to resist fatigue and sleep. A high Constitution will also give you more "Damage-Points", enabling a character to take more physical damage without death occurring and increasing healing.
Coordination:
This is how agile you are on your feet. The higher your Coordination is, the easier it will be to dodge attacks, balance, avoid a weapon strike and move further each turn.
Dexterity:
This is how adept you are at using your hands. The higher your Dexterity, the easier it will be to parry attacks and block with a shield. Dexterity also increases the chance to strike an opponent, preform certain trade-skills and succeed at certain abilities, such as thieving skills. A higher Dexterity can also decrease the time it takes to cast certain spells.
Intelligence:
This is how smart you are. A higher Intelligence will enable you to initially know more languages at the creation of your character, increase the spell-points gained per level for certain spell-casters (which are listed in the Intelligence information on all character sheets). For spell-casters who use mind magic, a high intelligence can also decrease the time it takes to cast spells. A higher Intelligence, added with wisdom, will enable one to resist the effects of fear more easily.
Mental-Strength:
This is how mentally durable you are. You do not have to be intelligent or wise to have a solid mind. Mental-Strength is willpower. The higher your Mental-Strength is, the easier it will be to resist the deadly abilities and spells of another, repel an attack-upon your mind and resist the sometimes debilitating effects of pain. Mutants with a very high Mental-Strength can start out with extra powers.
Strength:
This is how strong the physical body of your character is. The higher the Strength, the more weight you can carry, the more damage you can cause with a weapon and the easier it will be to succeed at avoiding paralysis.
Wisdom:
Wisdom is how wise with decisions you are. A higher Wisdom can increase the spell-points gained per level for certain spell-casters (which are listed in the Wisdom information on all character sheets). A higher Wisdom, added with intelligence, will enable one to resist the effects of fear more easily. Many say that Wisdom is the proper use of intelligence. This holds a ring of truth, for if ones wisdom is 20 or more points lower than his or her intelligence, the added align of "Chaotic" will be enforced upon that character. See: "Align, Explanation of:" in the A Section of the Basic Rules Book for details on this.