Paired Stats: Using Stats for Multiple Purposes.

 I'm gonna detail the process of how I've been dealing with ability scores for the past few years and put it all in one place I can point back to, because I've had a decent number of discussions about it at this point.

The core of the system, is to have a stat which can be beneficial on either end of the axis. A good visual example of this would be a Size stat.

• When your Size stat is big, so are you.
• When your Size stat is small, you are too.

You could make this function as a single attribute, one that you test in order to do big person things, which small people can't do as well (because they're not big).However, this can also test another aspect of your character: how good they are at doing small person things.

The easiest way to model this is with the following relationship:

• When trying to do a big person thing, roll under your Size score.
• When trying to do a small person thing, roll over your Size score.

These kinds of stats represent your character in very clear ways, for some examples that aren't Size:

• Barachus the Barbarian  has a very high Will score of 16, this means he is very independently minded and proud, but maybe finds it hard to connect with others.
• Lorena the warrior has a less than average Will score of 6, this means she is somewhat easily swept away by fads, and finds it somewhat easy to relate to others through shared experiences.

Handling Derivatives

Many systems operate under a basis of "derived stats" which are pulled from your base stats, which is something that would be difficult to model using stats in this way. So how do you deal with that?

https://anydice.com/program/2c198

An anydice comparison between standard stat distributions, and generic derived stat distributions.

The easiest way to do it, I think, is to declare the intent of any given derived stat to one aspect of each of your stats. That was a bad way to put it though, what I mean by that is this:

• Hitting people and making it hurt is something Big people are good at, so instead of an attack stat, you can simply roll under your Size score to make an attack.
• Avoiding people is something Small people are good at, so instead of a stealth stat, you can roll over your Size score to hide from someone.
• Assuredness in self is something Proud people are good at, so instead of a Save stat, you can roll under your Will score to subvert your fate by force of will.
• Understanding of people's motives is something Understanding people are good at, so instead of an initiative stat, you can roll over your Will stat to act first when a negotiation becomes a fight.

There might be a better way to do this, but it's generally easy to apply things to one aspect or another of a given axis.

The Glaring Issue That I hate but Deal With Anyways

Here's the chance a character with a perfectly average and normal Size stat of 10  has to do a big person thing:

• 50%

Now here's the chance they have to do a small person thing:

• 55%

Where the hell did that come from?

Well, I'll try and model this with a little diagram, please bear with me.

Because the number 10 is included regardless of whether you're rolling over or under, rolling over will add an extra 5% chance of success to the roll. This still plays nice overall, as the inverse is true for the number 11, both of which are the most likely results of a 3d6 distribution. It does, however, mean that no character will ever have a perfect 50-50 chance of success at a given task.

That's everything I have to say for now.

Practice of the Elusive Hound

    Casters who practice of the elusive hound come from a mono-theistic kingdom to the west of the archipelago, and act as the priestly sect of that kingdom. They journey out beyond their kingdom to proselytize to those they view as worshipping djinn, an "evil" long ago eradicated from their lands. Their efforts are, however earnest, fruitless as their river god's influence only reaches as far as the sea before it is swallowed.

    The spirits they control tend to take the form of dogs, they are called forth with a whistle or a wave of the hand before darting out from down low to their target. These spirits come from the souls of their dead across the sea, but are much easier to come by among the isles of the archipelago.

    Smokewater is considered sacred to them, it is a drug that is used to tame spirits, and they can quickly grow impudent if not sourced with it. In appearance, it looks like dark inky water, and holds most of the same properties as regular water, but does not wet that which it touches and leaves the throat dry and wanting.

Observances:

1. Cannot cast without carrying smokewater on your person.
2. Astral projection is performed by staring into water which obscures its bottom.
3. Wear foreign clothes of rich blue, supplemented by gold jewelry.
4. Must not eat of any creature of the water.

Starting Equipment: A gourd filled with smokewater, Incense, Censer.

Spells:

1. Weakness - Pick [Dice] of the following effects: Target cannot stand, Target cannot raise arms to strike, target can not heal through any means, target must test under their Build to briefly open their eyes. Lasts until the caster ends it or loses sight of the target.
2. Darkness -An area of a 5 meter radius centered on any target within sight of the caster is treated as [dice] steps darker than previously. Any fires in the radius are snuffed in a breath of air.
3. Fetch - Retrieves an item that can be held in hand  from up to [sum]x5 feet in front of you, anybody already holding the item gets a save to resist letting it go.
4. Animate Object: You imbue [dice] equipment slots worth of inanimate objects with a spirit of sentience, and can give them a command of up to [sum] words long. Lasts until the command is finished or the caster ends it. If you choose to, you can remove the spell from your character sheet and imbue the object with complete sentience.
5. Relay Scent - Your spirit can pick up on any scents within [dice] miles or dungeon rooms of you. If at least two dice are invested, you can pick a particular direction.
6. Forget Me, Not - Target will assume that all events from the last [dice] minutes, were simply part of a dream. As long as nothing shatters that belief, it stays that way.
7. Necrography - Target corpse answers [dice] questions you ask it. These answers come from the flesh and  relate to experiences such as food, pain, or adrenaline responses.
8. Black Hand - Pick [dice] of the following options, you can select an option twice: One arm becomes invisible, along with any small handheld object, one large handheld object becomes invisible.
   These invisible limbs and objects are replaced with a regular arm doing any action you choose for it to do.

Pinnacles:

Started thinking about how I want to do pinnacles and decided I'd rather have them be a list shared by the entire casting class.
Before this class gets posted, there'll be an updated version of the Soulcaster that includes them.

GLoG Class: Struggler

The following is an adaptation of the Avenger class made by Hasturtimesthree over in the GLoG server on discord. Check it out if you haven't and maybe say hi if you do.

Starting Equipment: 

[A]: Target, Background, Collateral

[B]: Grit, Commit

[C]: Spirit of Vengeance

[D]: Mastery of Determination

Target

Choose someone who unjustly wronged you; they should be powerful enough that it may take years to achieve revenge. You may choose multiple targets, if you so desire.

Background

Choose or roll to see how you were wronged, and gain the selected skill:

Imprisonment: Stealth - You can vanish from the scene at any time, only to appear as if 

from nowhere at an opportune moment.

Murder: Scrutiny - You can always tell when someone harbors ill-will towards you.

Slander: Rumor-sniffing - while gathering rumours, either through corroboration

 and communication, you can remove 1d3 false rumours at random.

Marooning: Navigation - No matter where you are, you always know your bearing to 

one specific location.

Exploitation: Scrounging - If you dig around for 10 minutes, you can always find a

substitute, makeshift, or jury-rigged basic tool that’ll last one use.

Abuse: Deception - As long as you speak around the truth, nobody will ever

suspect you may have misled them.

Collateral

Record the names of those you unjustly harm in the course of your vengeance, and how.

Once your vengeance is complete, lose all your Struggler templates (except your [D] template), as you no longer need them, and roll 1d20. If the result is greater than the number of collateral casualties you have recorded, nothing happens. Otherwise, the corresponding Collateral casualty is now a Struggler, targeting you, with half your XP. If this is implausible, choose another such. If they are dead, then they in fact miraculously survived.

Grit

You  can go without sleep or food for a number of days equal to your Build score before collapsing from exhaustion.

Commit

Before making an attack roll, you can call a result on the Hit Location Table, if you roll the called result, you can make a second attack for free against the same target.

Spirit of Vengeance

You attract the attention of a random Angel, they may occasionally help you achieve your vengeance free of charge, but more often they’ll ask a price. They will be inherently manipulative and deceptive with their goals. If you wish, you may add them to your Targets, and they will be none the wiser.

Mastery of Determination

Over the course of a downtime, you achieve a breakthrough in some field. Perhaps you achieved mastery as a duelist, or learned powerful magic. Choose any template from another available class or come up with one of your own, and gain its benefits.

Single Template Classes

As I've toyed around with the idea of classes with less than four templates, I've had the idea in the back of my mind about using classes that are only a single template. There are a few ways that can be done, such as the Animal People made by Deus ex Parabola. The way I've been thinking about using them however, is as a little surprise. Maybe you touched something you shouldn't have, or played around in a place where once was cast fell magics. Maybe something touched you while you were there, and now it's waiting inside until it's time for it to say hello.

Infected

Maybe it was that weird eyeless fish you ate last week, but you've started feeling a little funny. It's a bit harder to keep food down, your muscles always seem to be sore, and that's besides the chronic ticks you've started to develop. It almost feels like something's crawling under your skin at night, maybe you've started to realize something's infected you.

[A]: Parasitism, Flight Instinct

Parasitism

You are a body made host by a colony of parasitic worms, manipulating your muscles and actions. 

At any time, as long as theirs's an unconscious body nearby, you can choose to move the colony to a new body. This is a horrific display, and will no doubt kill the current host if they're not already dead, but you get to reroll your Build score.

Flight Instinct

You can give a few helpful parasites to a friend in order to "Help a friend out". If the individual ever loses control of their body, the parasites can move them out of harm's way, usually by fleeing the location. For every week somebody spends with a parasite in them, roll an x-in-6 where x is the number of weeks they've had the parasites, if the result is less, make a note that they are Infected. Upon their next level up, they gain the Infected template. Parasites can usually be removed by selectively applying poisons to the body, assuming one knows they're present.

Charged

Maybe you got pricked by a weird needled tube in the bottom floor of the dungeon, or swallowed a mouthful of the salty green liquid in the big old vat. Whatever caused it, it's set your blood boiling, and you feel more charged up than ever.

[A]: Life-blood, Sulfur's Animus

Life-blood

Your blood runs green and much hotter than it used to. If let out of the body it'll give off a temperature about equal to a campfire for up to an hour. Your body gives off an ambient warmth about equivalent to a candle in distance and intensity.

Sulfur's Animus

Your new blood wasn't meant to be blood, it was an energy source for a star-killing super-weapon, until you stole it. You can focus the energy into a devastating blast which vaporizes most objects and structures immediately surrounding you. Each time you use this ability, you lose 1d3 inventory slots as your internals seize up and your body fails.