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| ESV: Manual | |
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Contents |
Characteristics
STR (Strength)
Strength measures the muscle power of investigators. Use it to judge how much they can lift, or push or pull. or how tightly they can cling to something. This characteristic is important in determining the damage investigators do in hand-to-hand combat.
Reduced to Strength 0, an investigator is an invalid unable to leave his or her bed.
CON (Constitution)
This compares health, vigor, and vitality. Constitution also helps calculate how well investigators resist drowning or suffocation. Poisons and diseases may directly challenge investigator constitution. High-CON investigators often have higher hit points, the better to resist injury and attack. Serious physical injury or magical attack might lower CON.
If Constitution reaches 0, the investigator dies.
SIZ (Size)
The characteristic SIZ averages height and weight into one number. To see over something, to squeeze through a small opening, or even to judge whose head might be sticking up out of the grass, use Size. Size helps determine hit points and the damage bonus. One might decrease SIZ to indicate loss of several limbs, though lowering DEX is more often the solution.
Presumably if investigators lose all SIZ, they disappear. Goodness knows to where.
INT (Intelligence)
Intelligence represents how well investigators learn, remember, and analyze, and of how aware they are of that which is around them. To help describe different circumstances keepers multiply INT times various numerals and then call for d100 rolls equal to or less than the products. INT x times the Idea roll is used quite often.
Difficult concepts, plans, or inspired guesses have lower chances to be derived, and hence get lower multipliers, down to INT x2 or INT xl. Such rolls can establish whether or not an investigator makes a deduction or links information. avoiding the question of the player deducing (for instance) that the presence of a volcano argues that a world has a molten core.
An investigator without INT is a babbling, drooling idiot.
Intelligence determines the number of personal interest (hobby) skill points allotted to a new investigator, and also how quickly an investigator can learn a Cthulhu Mythos spell. If the amount of Intelligence seems to contradict a characteristic rolled later, that's another chance for roleplaying: an investigator with high EDU and low INT, for instance, might be a pedantic teacher or a sideshow performer, someone who knows facts but not their meanings. Conversely, high INT and low EDU might mean ignorance, a farm boy or poor immigrant new to the Big City, but this person would not be dull-witted.
POW (Power)
Power indicates force of will. The higher the POW, the higher the aptitude for magic. Power does not quantify leadership, which is a matter for roleplaying. The amount of Power or the number of magic points (they derive from Power) measure resistance to magical or hypnotic attack.
An investigator without POW is Zombie-like and unable to use magic. Unless stated otherwise, lost POW is lost permanently.
POW x5 is the Luck roll. That amount also equals a character's initial SAN characteristic. Magic points, unlike Power, are spent and regenerated. The POW of ordinary characters rarely changes. One who is adroit in the magic of the Cthulhu Mythos may be able to increase personal POW.
DEX (Dexterity)
Intestigators with higher Dexterity scores are quicker, nimbler, and more physically flexible. A keeper might call for a DEX roll in order to grab a support to keep from falling to stay upright in high winds Or on ice, to accomplish some delicate task, or to take something without being noticed. As with the other characteristics, the difficulty of the roll depends on the multiplier which the keeper selects for the characteristic.
An investigator without DEX is uncoordinated, unable to perform physical tasks without also receiving a successful Luck roll.
In combat, the character with the higher DEX hits or fires first, and thus may be able to disarm or disable an opponent before the foe can attack.
DEX x2 determines the starting percentage of an investigator's Dodge skills.
APP (Appearance)
Appearance shows attractiveness and friendliness. Some usage of APP might be useful in social encounters, or when trying to make an initial impression on a member of the opposite sex. perhaps in conjunction with a Fast Talk or Bargain roll. Appearance is a surface characteristic, however: initial impressions are not necessarily lasting. APP measures what one sees in the mirror, not ongoing personal leadership or charisma.
An investigator without APP is appallingly ugly, provoking comment and shock everywhere.
EDU (Education)
Education measures the formal and factual knowledge possessed by the investigator, as well as the number of years it took him or her to learn that material. EDU measures information, not intelligent use of information. EDU partly determines how many skill points an investigator has and EDU x5 is the knowledge roll which is generally used when determining general knowledge about a topic.
An investigator without EDU would be like a newborn baby. or an amnesiac without knowledge of the world, probably curious and credulous. An EDU score of 11 suggests a high school graduate. More than that indicates a person with some college years. EDU greater than 16 indicates some graduate-level work or degree. An investigator with a high education may not be schooled, but still might be studious and observant.
Derived Characteristics
HP (Hit Points, (CON + SIZ) / 2)
Hit Points represent the current physical healt of the investigator. Barely Injured represent scratches, bruises or a light limp. Injured means one or more non-fatal, but a bleeding and painful wound. Badly wounded can include the impairment of a limb, such as a leg or an arm and will put the character in much discomfort. Near death is exactly that. A character falls unconscious when only 2 hit points remain. They are dead or dying at 0 hit points. When reaching -2, they are beyond saving by normal means.
MP (Magic Points, equals POW)
Magic points represent the fluctuating expression of the characteristic power. They are used in casting and resisting spells. Magic points are inherent to humans and other intelligences. Reaching 0 magic points, a character falls unconsious, and remains unconscious until one magic point regenerates. In real time, this takes (24 divided by POW) hours. Magic points regenerate entirely in 24 hours.
SAN (Sanity, POW x5)
Sanity is not rolled, instead it is calculated by multiplying POW x5. Sanity is derived, but it is curcial to investigators and central to the idea of this game. An entire chapter is devoted to Sanity: it distinguishes between the SAN characteristic, Sanity points, and maximum Sanity. Sanity points fluctuate. Characteristic SAN does not change.
An investigator's maximum of Sanity points is never more than 99. Sanity points of 99 represent the strongest possible mind, one capable of deflecting or lessening even extreme emotional shocks. On the other hand, 30 Sanity points would indicate a more fragile mind, one which might be driven into temporary or permanent madness. Most Mythos monsters and some natural events cost Sanity points to encounter, and Mythos spells cost Sanity points to learn and to cast.
An investigator's Sanity points are never more than 99 minus current Cthulhu Mythos percentiles. up to that maximum, it is possible to regain Sanity points lost, or even to increase Sanity points above the original total, but that process is slow.
IDEA (Idea, INT x5)
The Idea roll represents hunches and the ability to interpret the obvious. When no skill roll seems appropriate, this roll might show understanding of a concept or the ability to solve a pressing intellectual problem. The Idea roll is specially handy to show awareness: did the investigator observe and understanJ what he or she saw? Would a normal person have become aware of a particular feeling about a gathering or a plan? Is anything out of place on that hill?
Save the Spot Hidden skill for specific clues or items not immediately noticeable. Employ the Psychology skill when dealing with individuals.
LUCK (Luck, POW x5)
Did the investigator bring along some particular piece of gear? Is he or she the one the dimensional shambler decides to attack? Did the investigator step on the floorboard which breaks, or the one that squeaks? The luck roll is a quick way to get an answer.
Luck is the ability to be in the right place at the right time: this roll is often called for in emergency situations, especially when the keeper desires higher percentage chances for the investigators, more than might result from, say, calling for jump or Dodge rolls.
Luck is mostly used during DM events and dialogue options, though is used with some spells as well.
KNOW (Knowledge, EDU x5)
All people know bits of information about different topics. The Know roll represents what's stored in the brain's intellectual attic, calculated as the percentage chance that the investigator's education supplied the information.
The investigator might know if one puts sulfuric acid into water or water into sulfuric acid (whether or not ever studying Chemistry), or be able to remember the geography of Borvoria (without a Navigate roll), or know how many legs arachnids have (and possess only a point of Biology). The Know roll can help a character identify a language when spoken or being read, though it will not help translating it.
Since no one knows everything, the Know roll never exceeds 99 even though an investigator might have EDU 21.
Damage Bonus (STR + SIZ)
| Damage Bonus Table | |
|---|---|
| STR + SIZ | Bonus |
| 2 to 12 | -1d6 |
| 13 to 16 | -1d4 |
| 17 to 24 | +0 |
| 25 to 32 | +1d4 |
| 33 to 40 | +1d6 |
| 41 to 56 | +2d6 |
| 57 to 72 | +3d6 |
| Each +16 or fraction thereof, +1d6 more | |
All physical beings have a damage bonus. The term is confusing, because the 'bonus' may actually turn out to be a reduction, but the idea is simple: larger, stronger creatures on average do more physical damage than lesser, weaker brethren.
To determine a damage bonus, add STR to SIZ, and find the total in the Damage Bonus Table. Each range of results correlates with a stated die or dice roll. In hand-to-hand combat, add the indicated roll to all the character's blows, whether using a natural weapon such as a fist or a man-made weapon such as a club or knife, and whether striking a foe or some object (such as a door).
- For thrown objects, half of the thrower's damage bonus is added to the injury or damage it does.
- Damage bonuses are not added to firearms attacks, or to other attacks which are independent of Strength and Size.