THE AVATAR

Overview The Player has control over the Avatar, a character who is really a shell for whatever the player wishes to create. The abilities, skills, gender, appearance, and even his “insertion” role can all be modified by the player.

Appearance The modifications to the player’s Body and Face. Model this after City of Heroes, but with more limits on the extent of the anatomy; the player can be tall and lithe or short and stout, but must still look human. They can adjust height, weight, musculature, proportions, shoulder/hip width. Skin tone, texture, scars or tattoos They can modify the face much as they can in The Sims; Hair style and color, eye color, face proportions, width, height, jawline, brow, cheekbones, etc. There is the addition of scars or tattoos (instead of glasses, hats, makeup).

Abilities Abilities define who the player is, what he is good at, and even what he looks like.

FORMAT

• Base Group (Mind/Body)
  • Ability
    • Description
    • Visual affect on character
    • Gameplay affect
    • Recommendation

Definitions: Strength=might=power, Vitality=health=constitution, Agility=dexterity=speed, acumen=intelligence

• Body
  • Might
    • Pure brute force. This is the most basic human ability and has been used to crush the enemies of mankind for ages. This is the avatar’s muscle mass and strength
    • Visually this bulks the character up with muscles, definition
    • This is the dominant stat for weapon skills, and increases weapon damage, with a contribution to stamina, and some resistance to damage and temperature.
    • Good for anyone who will rely on hitting hard
  • Vitality
    • The sister ability to Might, Vitality is the Avatar’s fortitude and resistance to the harshness of nature.
    • The skin becomes tough and rough, males become hairier.
    • This is how healthy the character is. Vitality is the dominant stat to determine your total stamina, resistance to damage, poison, ailments, extremes of weather and temperature. Vitality also slows the reduction of all your needs.
    • Good for rugged survivalists who expect dire conditions, and fighters.
  • Speed
    • The speed and reflexes of the whole body. From dashing from cover to cover, the writhing out of the path of blows, to the fine detail work of crafting.
    • Visually this “leans” the character, thinning and heightening the avatar.
    • Speed’s primary function is to determine the avatar’s amount of Agility. In addition, Speed is the primary skill for stealth, and aids with a few combat skills.
    • Good for anyone, as this is the main “armor” of a character, and also helps with stealth.

• Mind
  • Acumen
    • This skill is about human perception, pattern recognition, and the ability to process thought.
    • All mind abilities have visual affects. The character stands more upright, his jaw shifts from hanging open to sternly clenched (think “evolution of man” poster).
    • This is the root for many skills, and greatly increases player’s ability to develop and improve existing techniques and items. This skill also slightly increases reputation when you trade, and with higher promotions.
    • Recommended for survivalists who want to be the best at some skills.
  • Creativity
    • This skill is about human creativity and inspiration. This is the spark that has led humanity to invention, and gave him the power to alter nature to fit his needs.
    • All mind abilities have visual affects. The character stands more upright, his jaw shifts from hanging open to sternly clenched (think “evolution of man” poster).
    • This is the root for many skills, greatly increases player’s ability to discover new techniques and items. This skill also slightly increases overall reputation, and reputation as shaman.
    • Recommended for survivalists who want to be good at many skills.
  • Perception
    • This is a combination of the player’s sense of sight, smell, and sound, and his ability determine the difference between different elements.
    • All mind abilities have visual affects. The character stands more upright, his jaw shifts from hanging open to sternly clenched (think “evolution of man” poster).
    • Perception’s primary role is increasing weapon accuracy and some skills (notably the tracking skill). Higher perception is also the secondary ability for stealth.
    • Recommended for survivalists who want to be good at many skills.

Skills The player relies on skills to survive in the world, these are learned methods for fighting, crafting, and many other vital techniques.

1. Combat a. Knives, Daggers and Swords b. Clubs, Axes and Hammers c. Spears d. Bows and slings e. Thrown f. Shield 2. Crafting a. Shelters (large craft) b. Traps (large craft) c. Weapons (medium craft) d. Hideworking (medium craft) e. Tools (medium-small craft) f. Fire (small craft) g. Metalworking h. Woodworking/hidestyling (decorative) i. Painting/Tattooing 3. Travel a. Weather Knowledge i. Forecast the weather, slight aid to pathfinding, agriculture b. Climbing i. Used to scale higher peaks, trees, etc. c. Swimming i. Swim faster and longer with less stamina reduction, hold breath longer d. Pathfinding i. This skill reduces chances of encounters when quick traveling, and increases speed in bad weather e. Tracking i. Increases spot range for tracks, find older tracks, more information from tracks 4. Food and Health a. Medical i. Treat wounds, bandage bleeding wounds, set bones, treat diseases/infections/poisons b. Foraging and Plant knowledge i. Find edible plants and medicinal herbs c. Agriculture i. Plant seeds and properly care for the plants d. Fishing i. More results from fishing e. Cooking i. More meal options, more filling, less waste 5. Social a. Commander i. Improves abilities of hunting partners and parties b. Charisma i. Better results from interactions c. Spiritual i. Know more rituals, perform better.

Avatar Feats Each player can be further specialized or enhanced with feats. A few examples:

Winter Wolf – You are much stronger to cold climes and snowy weather. Stealth is enhanced, especially in snow conditions. Perception is increased. However, you can’t stand heat very well and humans like you slightly less.

Eureka! – increases creativity, increases new item discovery craft, more tattoo options. However, you find it harder to improve on your initial ideas.

Man’s Best Friend – you instantly have a more positive reaction to canines. Dogs go from cautious to neutral, wolves go from hostile to aggressive, winter wolves go from vicious to hostile. Felines have a much more negative reaction to you.

Go for the Jugular – Your attacks take much more agility to target, but are more precise.

Scum and Villainy – Your attacks on humans deal more damage, you find more supplies from tribes if you are attacking them. However, your reputation is lowered everywhere to Enemy, and you can never rank higher that Clan-Friend.

Role Sliders Role Sliders are a setting of adjustments the player can make at the beginning of the game. As there is no preset story, this give the player an opportunity to make their own story, and adjust the “first scene” to their taste. In gameplay terms, this gives the player an edge towards the style of gameplay they want (combative, tribal life, hunter, survivalist), but doesn’t have any dramatic consequence. In addition, there will be a small set of “preloaded” settings, with a title and descriptive text. These will offer players an easy choice when picking a role, or a guideline as to what the settings are for. Default options are underlined.