Until now I've been focusing on how characters within Talespace gain powers and skills, but it might be a good idea to introduce more specific numbers. What do you think? Here's what I have in mind.
Already established for players:
-You can have 5 "top 5" skills that always appear on your character sheet. Once there are 5, you start getting offered talents, which are specialized powers linked to those skills. If you have a talent in (say) Gun and then Gun drops out of your top 5, you keep the talent but it becomes inactive.
-You can renounce a talent permanently. You'd do this because your rate of getting new ones declines with how many you have so far.
-You can scan other players, but the Inspect skill is needed to get much information and some is kept secret unless unlocked.
-Wounds can be Minor or Major. Minors go away at the end of a "scene", and can roll over at about 3 to become a Major. You can be killed if you take about 3 Major wounds, but can potentially take many wounds before dying. (Picture a "Super Smash Bros" character at 300% damage.)
New:
-Skills have a rating of 1-9. Reaching and maintaining high skill levels gets progressively harder; you can hit level 1 just by trying something once or twice.
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-Characters can have up to 20 skills at level 1 or higher. The oldest level 1s drop off first. Anyone with <20 is new or specialized.
-You can't have more than one level 9 skill, one level 8, one level 7, one level 6. So potentially 9/8/7/6/lots of 5s. A maxed-out character can beat almost anyone in a few things but is never ultimate at even three different skills -- and must practice those ultimate skills to keep them maxed out.
-There are stats as well. These have a smaller effect and only range from 0-5, with no more than one 5, one 4, and one 3. Stats are affected by species, typically with no more than a total +2 to stats. These are affected by the cap and don't necessarily take effect immediately. So while becoming a dragon is potentially a quick way to get more strength, you can't become stronger as a dragon than you could as a human. Playing as a human is a viable build with a bit more flexibility than most races. A maxed-out stat build would be 5/4/3/all 2s.
-As a result, the fact that someone is a burly orc probably means they're strong, but strength might not be their best stat and they might not be as strong as the nearby elf princess.
-The actual stats are: Power, Speed, Wit, Knowledge, Charisma, Spirit.
-Endurance is a factor of Power and Spirit: Power to avoid taking wounds and Spirit to survive having many wounds. Magic is typically based on Wit or Knowledge, plus Spirit. Typically the Shaman and Wizard magic systems favor Wit versus Knowlege.
-Skill usage typically includes an uncapped bonus based on one stat or the better of two stats, or sometimes (higher of Stat A and Stat B -1). Eg. Repair benefits from Wit or from Knowledge -1.
-A careful player will develop stats that match their main skills. Stat gain is normally automatic.