Jutsu/Abilities for More Mundane Tasks

[Nick]

Heyyo, nerdwiches. Just a small thought for discussion, partially to do with the Saigen system itself, and partially with personal preference.

TL;DR What do you think of having jutsu that you paid for/started with that affect things other than combat?

Long version. Most RPG systems (forum RP's withstanding) have some kind of 'skill' system that represents what a character can/can't do. Suzy is blacksmith because she has craft (armor) , frank is a seamster because he has craft (cloth), josh is a butcher because he has a strange mixture of anatomy and knife skills that make us all scared of him, et-cetera. Here in Saigen (And in most any forum RP I've been to), we're surprisingly lucky to have even a STAT based system to give us some kind of basis for our characters.

Now, the main point here is figuring things like how well our characters do just... 'mundane' actions. You can make a character who you consider more of a talker, but if you personally aren't good with persuasion (or even if you are and the current GM wont hear none of it) then the whole point of the character is ruined, and that's just not in the spirit of 'role' playing. This also stretches to things like stealth. Certainly, we can describe how well frank the butcher hides in the shadows, studying your anatomy for its delicious sweetmeats, because he's a creep, but there's often no real basis behind if you get spotted, aside from maybe the wit stat. Theoretically, this could also apply to crafting and whatnot. The ability to make your own armor/weapon/puppets/powerdildos at possibly discounted rates, based on an investment of earlier skills.

[CDF]

oh ew no fuck that. i thought you were talking about something else.

Like don't get me wrong, theoretically it's nice, like how it's done on OPRP/OPEX/etc. We could theoretically do a much more minimal version of that,but it just feels like a whole lot of work when we can just do it through taijutsu.

[Nick]

I don't even remember what I posted in this thread and I'm too lazy to re-read it.

Basically all I want is people to stop metagaming like assholes, if I have to buy jutsu for it, whatever mang, I just wanna be told they're gonna be effective :l

[CDF]

oh then even while not being staff, i can assure you they would be. that's what some taijutsu are for, just making it so people can't lolmeta all over you. thats why i gave shadow a technique for stalking people without them just suddenly "feeling like somebody's watching them"

[Nick]

See, that's great and all, but then there's stuff like talking jutsu.

'Cause of how our taijutsu works, it doesn't really make sense that you need to be a master of karate in order to lie really well, or be a convincing speaker :l. I feel like that sort of stuff should be more based off of wit, rather than taijutsu, but I dunno.

[Checkmate]

A fourth jutsu type requiring wit?

[Nick]

That'd be my suggestion, yeah. Might be a little overtly complicated, but yanno.

Might just say that you can make them as E-ranked taijutsu, and just have really high wit requirements?

[Gothmer]

The wit stat was changed though, and with the wit stat change, there really is not a proper stat connected to speaking skills or general intelligence...

[Nick]

Taijutsu gives you better control over your tongue, I guess. ...Ladies.

Other than that though, I feel like this is kind of an honest problem. :l

[Mino]

Why not link wit to overall charisma? People with a hit wit score could roleplay that as more clearheaded in talking situations, as the stress of battle could make itself apparent in both combat and non-combat situations, anyone trying to talk there way out of something would be more articulate and less prone to blunders with a higher wit score. I don't see tai as being more suited for diplomacy or espionage.

[Zangy]

That's putting personality into stats, which is the entire reason why the wit stat was changed in the first place.

[Nick]

I wish this stuff could be left up to responsible RPing, but if we have a system at all complex like we do, it should probably include something like this. Saying you're more articulate in a pressured conversation isn't linking personality to stats, it's linking a stat to a real world skill which is something you learn and train, rather than are born with.

Albeit some people are natural speakers, but the point stands.

[Gothmer]

The intelligence aspect was taken out of wit because of exactly what Orius said... And, no matter how you look at it, connecting smooth talking/speaking skills to a stat is going backwards. Now, if someone with a high sit skill RPs planning a conversation and not cracking under pressure, obviously, the high wit can be a reason for it. Yet, someone without a high wit can RP having just as fluid conversations... The point is, at some point this site said that someone with a 1 in wit shouldnt be forced to RP a dumb character, and that's that. If we say that someone with high wit is good in conversation, that means that someone with low wit is not good in conversation. Thus, a movement backward from where the site has already taken it.

[Nick]

Can we take a step back? Steps back can be fun in front of angry wolves or something.

[Gothmer]

I dont know... Personally, I feel like, to a degree, stats should be linked to personality. Most RP games I have played have that in some way. In Shadowrun, a troll with 1 intellect is not going to be Einstein in any sense of the word. Round here, I mostly listen to the word of the almighty folk and just enjoy some RP.

[Nick]

I can't enjoy my RP unless I can know that even though I'm awful at talking, my character can be good at it q.q

[Gothmer]

Roll for diplomacy. A 1! He ignores your poor worded question and turns his back to you.

[Nick]

I'm okay with this. This is a good option.

[Mino]

I am more in favor of a system that allows someone root subjective actions (like talking, and other items in this suggestion) in stats, not that forces someone to do so.

So, if in my history i come from a long line of smelters and though I don't have a crazy high taijutsu stat my prep, history, or previous experience (cannon threads) allow me a level of mastery, fine, I can smelt. I think stats can be applied, not must be. that was my point here.

[Checkmate]

Flip the smooth talking around, though. Imagine someone who sucks at writing and grammar saying he's a smooth talking silver tongue. It would be painful to make my character hang on every word when inside all I want is to leave the thread due to poor writing.

It's extreme, but that's what this kind of thing could become.

[Nick]

...You RP with those types anyway?

[Checkmate]

I wouldn't RP with them if I knew that, but if someone comes like that and gets shunned because they think they can use stats to overcome their inability to write, they're going to leave. If it's just responsible RPing, we have a basis to explain those things to them.

Idk how serious of a concern this is since it's not happened yet that I know if, just a thought.

[Mino]

I can see where you are coming from, Check- it'll be more of a contest of wills like it is now. Not everyone is willing to give way to decent/logical writing, and I think in a free form rp (like this one) it will always be a problem. But bad writing is bad writing- if a diplomat doesn't say logical things, I think you have grounds to disagree, I don't want this to mean "just because I have ____ score you have to do what I say" just like we look down upon jutsu that are absolute like that. This just increases a likely hood, which is just basiclaly asking the player to entertain it based on a stat value, not forcing anything.

[Zangy]

I think in a free form rp (like this one)

Just as a note, but this is not a freeform RP. In order to be a freeform RP, we'd have to not use stats and have systems.

[Niro]

Flip the smooth talking around, though. Imagine someone who sucks at writing and grammar saying he's a smooth talking silver tongue. It would be painful to make my character hang on every word when inside all I want is to leave the thread due to poor writing.

It's extreme, but that's what this kind of thing could become.

yaksha