Skill System
From ElanVital
While not the point of Elan Vital, our skill system is an integral part of the game, which gives us a fair method of determining what happens, especially in battle scenes, and sets up the odds our players have to overcome a challenge presented before them. Also, some skills may help flesh out a character, or be the sort of thing you roll when you don't know enough about a subject, but feel your character should. For example, you may be playing a geologist but not be able to tell igneous from sedimentary in real life. You could call a staffer, roll your geology skill, and have them help you with a bit of the knowledge needed. But more on that later. First, we have...
Contents |
Commands
Player
- +sheet - Shows your skill sheet.
- +sinfo <article> - Shows information on any skill, attribute, GFQs etc.. in the system. Also contains helpfiles, these may be out of date. You may also list gifts, quirks, faults, GFQs, attributes and skills by use of list <x>, such as +sinfo list GFQs.
- +skills <section> - Shows a skill listing by category, tier or tied attribute. If no section provided, will give a listing of categories.
- +raise <skill/attribute> to <level> - Raises skill or attribute to level, provided you have the XP or AP.
- +lower <skill> to <level> - Lowers a skill, refunding half XP.
- +taskroll <skill/attribute> at <modifier> - Rolls the skill or attribute with modifier if provided, announcing the results to the room.
- +staskroll <skill/attribute> at <modifier> - Secretly rolls the skill or attribute with modifier if provided, does not announce results.
- +roll <level> at <modifier> - Rolls a generic level at modifier if provided, announcing results to room.
- +sroll <level> at <modifier> - Secretly rolls as above, does not announce results.
- +luckroll - Rolls a Fair, modified by Unlucky and Lucky GFQs.
- +cricketfactor - Rolls your logic, generally requested by staff if you're about to do something stupid, to give you a chance not to do it. An IC way of measuring if you'd realise at the last moment that you might be about to get into a lot of trouble.
Staff
- +sheet <player> - Displays a player's skill sheet.
- +ataskroll <player>/<skill/attribute> at modifier - Rolls a player's skill or attribute with modifier if provided, announcing results to the room.
- +addgift <player>=<GFQ> - Adds a GFQ to that player's sheet.
- +delgift <player>=<GFQ> - Removes a GFQ from a player's sheet.
- +setskill <player>/<skill>=<level> - Sets a skill to that level on a player's sheet, including XP calculation. Only to be used when fixing problems, not to be used to give PCs skills that they shouldn't have.
- +setattr <player>/<attribute>=<level> - Sets an attribute to that level on a player's sheet, including AP calculation. Only to be used when fixing problems, or lowering a player's attributes (as they can't do this by themselves)
- +givexp <player>=<amount> - Gives a player a certain amount of XP. As above, only for when fixing problems, or rewarding with XP (for things like logs etc..)
- +giveap <player>=<amount> - Gives a player a certain amount of AP. Not to be used unless player has less than 70 AP!
- +chargen <player> - Sets up player for the skill system. Is used in the chargen rooms, but can also fix problems.
- +npcreate <name>=<password> - Creates an NPC with that name and password, as well as sets them up for play.
The Basics
Skill Levels
As always, on Elan Vital we have levels to denote your skill level, which are as follows:
- 0 - Non-existent
- 1 - Terrible
- 2 - Poor
- 3 - Mediocre
- 4 - Fair
- 5 - Good
- 6 - Great
- 7 - Superb
- 8 - Legendary
Non-existent: An individual with no real training or experience in this field at all. Skills tend to default to this level, except for a few skills that are so prevalent we can assume all PCs have some basic knowledge of them. (Observation, Dodging and Athletics currently default to Poor instead).
Terrible: An individual with a smattering of training or experience. A hobbyist who's just begun toying with a concept, perhaps a few lessons in.
Poor: A dedicated amateur who's been practicing a concept for a while. For a skill taught in school, think someone roughly at the 14-18 secondary school level.
Mediocre: An individual who is approaching professional competency, has probably been studying/practicing for some time. Think a student halfway through their undergraduate college course in a subject, perhaps. This person will succeed more often than not at your basic, average task.
Fair: A beginning professional. Think someone who's just graduated with a bachelor's and is beginning work in the field. Fair is what's required to get most basic professional certifications in EV; a doctor's license, a lawyer's license, etc.
Good: A talented professional. The rank for someone who's good enough to use their skill for a *career* as opposed to just a job, and could compete equally with someone who *has* been doing so for several years. Not a star, but someone respected and solidly capable in their field.
Great: A master professional. Someone who stands out as among the brightest of their trade; may not be forging brand new paths, but this is someone who's mentioned when you talk about the best doctors, the best scientists, the best etc.
Superb: A rare genius of the field. Someone who will likely be remembered by history for some accomplishment or discovery; one of the best in a century, not just at a current time.
Legendary: Someone whose capability at a skill will certainly enshrine them in history; someone who is likely to discover, invent or accomplish something hugely noteworthy. PCs are limited to having at maximum *one* Legendary skill, with more information below.
Limits
We also have limits on our upper level skills - you can't take every skill at Superb. Instead of prescribing a specific number of skills that can be taken at each level, EV has gone for a flexible system that allows you to spend a certain amount of XP however you please.
For all of your skills from Good to Legendary, XP spent can not be any higher than 850. What does this mean?
Well, consider the Swords skill for example. The cost of each level, and the cost of raising a skill to a level from non-existent, are each shown below.
Terrible/Mediocre/Poor/Fair/Good/Great/Superb/Legendary 6/12/18/24/30/36/42/48 -/6/18/36/60/90/126/168/216
Suppose we took Swords at Superb. This would cost us, overall, 168 points. However, the points which count toward the 850 xp limit are only those over Fair, the cost to get to is 60. Subtract this from the overall cost to find that only 108 points are stacked against the 850 limit for upper level skills.
More on Legendary skills: A Legendary skill can not be taken immediately. It requires staffer approval, and to get this approval you will be required to submit logs (or be able to point to logs on this wiki) demonstrating your use of the skill in past RP, preferably uses that show a progression of ability and leave the staff confident that you will be able to sufficiently roleplay a Legendary in that skill.
There are also quirks which limit some skills, which will be discussed in greater detail later.
FUDGE
Elan Vital uses a system of FUDGE dice to roll skills, specifically three fudge dice. Each dice can roll a -1, 0, or 1. Essentially what this means is, when you taskroll a skill, these three dice or rolled, bringing you anywhere within three above or three below your skill level. As an example, from Shiva's sheet and a superb Underworld Connections skill.
[Skill System] You roll your Underworld Connections with a modifier of 0. The result is Superb (7).
Shiva managed to roll 0, so the returned value was the default skill level. This should be the case most of the time.
+taskroll command and modifiers
To roll a skill, we use the +taskroll command. To roll the skill you see above, shiva used the following command:
+taskroll underworld connections
This rolls dice around the default level.
In some cases, however, modifiers are needed. For example, the suppression skill takes modifiers based off of a Celestian's magic index. In Shiva's case, his magic index is mediocre, so he rolls with a bonus of 1, using the following syntax.
+taskroll suppression at 1
This bonus adds 1 to the result of his roll. Modifiers to rolls can be positive or negative, as the situation calls for it.
Information About Skills
+sheet command
The first thing we'll want to know is this: how do we know about our own skills? For this, we turn to the +sheet command. When you enter this command, you see your character sheet.
===========================================================< Shiva (Shiv) - Human Male >============================================================
Experience Points: 1690 Wizard Character Attribute Points: 360
--< Attributes >-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------< Value: 200 AP >--
Agility: Superb Dexterity: Superb Empathy: Superb Logic: Superb Perception: Superb
Brawn: Superb Creativity: Superb Focus: Superb Calculation: Superb Luck: Superb
--< Skills >-------------------------------------------< Magic Index: 8 (Mediocre) >--------------------------------------------< Value: 1296 XP >--
Fair Animal Handling Poor Computer Operation Great Suppression
Fair Archaic Weaponsmith Fair History Superb Underworld Connections
Legendary Avatar Fair Modern Weaponsmith Superb Underworld Lore
Fair Blacksmithing Great Observation Fair Urban Survival
--< Gifts, Faults & Quirks >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------< Value: 0 XP >--
Amera Citizen House Petakova Noble
Celestian Combat Trained House Stocklin Technical Expert
===============================================================================================================================< Skill System 4 >===
Since this is a wizard character's sheet, yours won't quite look like this (it will have lower attributes and fewer Gifts, Faults and Quirks, for one), but it is still useful for describing a few things.
At the top, you see experience points and attribute points. Experience points are used to buy skills, while attribute points, or AP, are used for raising our attributes. You can gain XP through votes on the game (explained below), but you only have 70 AP points to spend, which will be given to you at the start.
Attributes are your basic, immutable qualities a character has. They're smart, they're good with numbers, they're strong, they have quick reflexes, etc. These help determine how effective your skills, or practical, practiced applications are. Skills are what will be used with the +taskroll command.
Gifts are things about your character that cannot be well-represented with skills or attributes, but nonetheless make up a part of them. For example, the House Petakova trait indicates a member of House Petakova, naturally.
+skills
The next thing to learn about is the +skills command. When we enter +skills, we see the following.
===< Skill Groups >================================================================================================================================== Arts (14) Education (7) Mental (1) Social (5) Transportation (4) Combat (12) Magic (9) Physical (4) Technology (7) Underworld (10) Cultivation (5) Medical (5) Science (12) Trades (11) Wilderness (3) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Agility (13) Calculation (8) Dexterity (14) Focus (13) Luck (2) Brawn (5) Creativity (15) Empathy (15) Logic (14) Perception (10) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cheapest (18) Cheaper (38) Average (35) Expensive (9) Most Expensive (9) ===< 109 Skills Listed >========================================================================================================< Skill System 4 >===
These are the categories within which all the skills Elan Vital has are listed. There are three grouping types: by the type of skill, by the attribute tied to that skill, or by the cost, in experience points of that skill. We are going to consider Combat skills. +skills combat will bring up that list.
===< Skill Group: Combat >=========================================================================================================================== Archery Dodging Handguns Small Blades Axes Dual Wield Polearms Swords Blunt Weapons Explosives Rifles Unarmed Combat ===< 12 Skills Listed >=========================================================================================================< Skill System 4 >===
And here is our list of combat skills. Relatively straightforward, this method will let you learn what is out there.
+sinfo command
To get information about a skill, type +sinfo <skillname>. For our purposes, lets consider archaeology.
==< Skill: Archaeology >============================================================================================================================= Skill Name: Archaeology (Science) Tied Attribute: Focus Level Costs: 2/4/6/8/10/12/14/16 (Cheapest) Your Costs: -/2/6/12/20/30/42/56/72
Archaeology is the discipline of study of ancient artifacts. It does not, admittedly, get much work on Voltumnus, but there are some who have managed to learn tidbits about life on the planet before Titania, and others who merely study the lives of their ancestors within the city itself.
Areas of interest for archaeologists include the ruins once found in the caves beneath the city, and Starfall Island, the colony ship. =================================================================================================================================< Skill System 4 >==
The large block of text you see in the center will describe how the skill works. For many, it's self-explanatory, but we have that anyways. Probably of greater interest is higher up.
Level costs are how much xp you have to spend to reach a level from the one below it. Your costs, however, give you the exact amount of xp you'll have to spend to reach a level from where you are now - it does the math for you, and lets you know what your returns will be if you lower a skill.
Tied Attributes
This system reduces the cost of skills depending on the level of your attribute being considered. Take the attribute level (max: Superb) and subtract three. Up to that level, your skills are bought at half-cost. So for a superb agility, one can take acrobatics up to fair for 20 xp instead of 40.
Continued +sinfo Information
The +sinfo command can be used for attributes and GFQs as well. To get a list of GFQs, type +sinfo list quirks.
Gaining Skills
+raise command
The +raise command is used to raise either attributes or skills. The syntax is simple: +raise <skillname> to <level>. Provided you have the experience or attribute points, and aren't breaking any limits, it should work easy. As shown with Shiva again:
+raise dancing to fair [Skill System] Shiva raises a stat or skill. [Skill System] You raise your Dancing to Fair at a cost of 20 XP. You now have 1670 XP
Gaining XP
As Elan Vital is an RP MUSH, all experience gain on this game comes from, you guessed it, roleplay. Here is how it works.
Whenever you roleplay with someone for long enough, they are marked down as someone you have roleplayed with. You can see these people by typing +rp/list. Every two weeks, these lists are cycled, and players are awarded xp based off of this.
There is a bit more to it, however. You can modify these lists to a certain degree. For example, if you believe someone deserves more xp for especially good roleplaying, just type +rp/comment person=<comment> to leave a constructive comment behind, and once you have done this, you can commend them with +rp/commend <person>.
Similarly, if you think someone does not deserve xp, you can use the command +rp/coach <name>. As a note, we'll expect this to not be used callously. Times when this is applicable include such times as you know the only time you spent around this person he was idling (as in, sitting on the grid without actually roleplaying) or times when a roleplayer consistently uses bad form, such as ignoring theme critically, rampant metagaming or other such things. Use your judgment, and leave a comment so we know why. We do monitor comments, so if we see continual coaching without them, we will wonder why.
Protip: It is actually possible to combine the commend and comment commands. +rp/commend <person>=<comment> will merge the two together.
Notice: Coaches and commends given out for RP should relate to your RP and your RP only--that is, scenes that you were directly involved in by having a character present. Coaches should also be stated as constructive criticism--please keep it as polite and objective as possible.
If you feel that the coach system has been abused, report the coach in question to staff via +str after the system cycles. Except in cases of blatant abuse (insults, non-constructive criticism, etc. count as blatant abuse) we will not otherwise investigate your coaches.
For more information see Character Progression System.
Background Quirks
Background quirks are a second way we have of limiting skills. They have different effects on skills, though they mostly increase costs. Each is explained below.
Celestian
The magic users of Elan Vital. This quirk is required to take any magic skill, and negates the use of any tech-intensive skill, such as computer use, entirely. One can take Celestian alongside Medically Trained or Combat Training, but it is mutually exclusive with Technical Training.
Medical Training
Doctors, trained in a medical school. If one does not have this quirk, taking any medical skill beyond fair comes at double cost. It is mutually exclusive with Combat Training and Technical Training.
Combat Training
People who have been trained on combat scenarios. Without this quirk, any combat skill taken beyond fair comes at double cost. Mutually exclusive with Medical Training and Technical Training.
Technical Training
People with significant experience with technology, beyond just usage. Without this quirk, any technical skill taken beyond fair comes at double cost. Mutually exclusive with Celestian, Technical Training and Combat Training.
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