WINDOW WEDNESDAY: Quickly Doing Up Traits

The Window, as I discussed previously, is a role-playing system where the idea of story-trumps-rules is the base of the entire thing.  As such, one creates a character that is based more on description than numbers.  However, this is a system made for RPGs.  Role.  Playing.  Games.  As a role-playing game, there has to be some basis of rules, of control.  It needs to be discussed on what keeps a player from making a super human character where all his traits are d4's?  While its true such a person shouldn't play this more rules-light system, it can also be easy for a veteran to fall into this, or to fudge it a bit.  Or, maybe you are afraid of making an unfairly balanced character.

So I made this list:

FIVE TRAIT SYSTEM
1 Below Average
1 Average
1 Above Average
1 High
1 Very High

SIX TRAIT SYSTEM
1 Below Average
2 Average
1 Above Average
1 High
1 Very High

SEVEN TRAIT SYSTEM
1 Below Average
2 Average
1 Above Average
2 High
1 Very High

EIGHT TRAIT SYSTEM
1 Below Average
2 Average
2 Above Average
2 High
1 Very High

The eight traits I limit this to are: Strength, Agility, Health, Knowledge, Perception, Luck, Magic, and Sanity.  Wealth and Armor feel like equipment based things, but that might also be a departure from how I view role-playing systems and how the creator of The Window views role-playing systems.  The system presented here I feel is fairly balanced trait-wise.  Once could associate skills with these scores.  An effective fencer, for example, who has very good Agility and Perception, but itsn't very smart, would not know how to do differential equations very well.  Maybe he can't tell you the differences between a foil and an epee either?

Another way to balance the traits is to establish a point-buy system.  Under the rules for Experience on the site, rules are given on how many points it takes to increase a skill or trait from.  For example, all their traits start as Poor (d30), and they can spend the points to raise their traits.  It take 27 points to raise a trait from Poor to Incredible.  So, let's give the number of spendable points as 60.  In theory, you can have a character that is pretty damn incredible, if you also want to play a character that is like a savant.  Two Incredible traits costs 54 points, do spend your remaining six wisely.  Also, one can take my preset lists, and downgrade a skill to get experience for the others.

A third way one can do the traits balanced is to have a class and race system.  For example, Human-sized (Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, etc.) races start with all Average traits, all Hobbit-sized (Gnomes, Halflings, Goblins, etc.) start with Below Average Strength and Health, but Above Average Perception and Agility, and Giant-Sized (Trolls, Ogres, Giants) start with Below Average Perception and Agility but Above Average Strength and Health (everyone has Average Knowledge, unless you introduce different epochs of cultures into you setting, like a Medieval Knight encountering a Neolithic tribesman).  From there different character classes say increase different traits, or even change up the trait set  (Thieves and Mages probably wouldn't have much use of Strength, but might have more use of Luck or Magic respective).  Also,

Finally, One can combine all three.  Much like I mentioned with the point buy, maybe the PCs are like the characters on the list, but the regular joe-schmoes are like the Race/Class paragraph.  Or maybe your character starts out with the class/race stats, and have points that they can spend from there (thats how I have it set up)?