🧮 Calculated statistics

Numbers your hero gets for free from the base stats — and that you can lift further by spending points, like a skill.

The five calculated stats

Each one starts from the average of its source base stats. Some apply a divisor to fit the scale.

Perception
From Intelligence. Used to spot things, read situations, and feed Initiative.
Initiative
From the average of Intelligence and Agility. Decides who acts first when things get hot.
Body
From the average of Strength and Constitution. How much physical punishment you can take before you go down.
Stamina
From the average of Constitution and Willpower, then scaled up (≈ ×4). Your reserve for actions, exertion, and absorbing blows.
Speed
From Agility, halved. How quickly you move and recover between rounds.

Buying extra levels

On top of the calculated base, you can spend points to push a calculated stat higher — like buying skill levels. The cost follows the same curve as a skill: cheap at the bottom, steep near the top (level 1 costs 1 pt, level 2 costs 2 more, level 3 costs 3 more, and so on).

See the Skills page for the full cost table.

Base stat vs calculated level — which to buy?

Lifting a base stat lifts every calculated stat that uses it and every skill rolled against it. That makes a base-stat boost a great deal — while it stays cheap.

Above 10, base stats get expensive fast: 10→11 is 1 pt, 11→12 is 2, 12→13 is 3, 13→14 is 4, and so on. A calculated level always costs the same as the next skill step, and that curve only ratchets up once you have already bought several levels.

So the choice is: cheap and broad now, or expensive and targeted later.

When buying a calculated level is the right call

The classic case is Perception. Suppose you want to be the one who spots the trap, sees the ambush, and notices the wrong door — but the rest of an Intelligent character (sharper Initiative, better Medic and Tactics, more cunning) is not part of your concept.

  • Raising Intelligence from 10 to 13 costs 6 points and gives you Perception 13. It also raises Initiative, every INT-based skill target, and the entire INT-flavoured side of the sheet.
  • Raising Perception by 3 levels (on top of INT 10) costs 6 points too, gives you Perception 13, and leaves Intelligence at the human average.
  • Now suppose your INT is already 13 and you want Perception 16. Raising INT another 3 steps costs 4+5+6 = 15 points. Buying 3 Perception levels costs 1+2+3 = 6 points. Same Perception 16, less than half the price — and your INT stays where the rest of your concept wants it.

The same logic applies to Speed (you want to move first or run far without being generally agile), Stamina (you want to soak more without being a tank), or Body (similar). Targeted levels keep character points away from places your character does not need to spend them.

Rule of thumb

  • Both your concept and a derived stat want lifting? Raise the base stat first — it pays for both.
  • Only the derived stat matters? Buy calculated levels and leave the base stat alone.
  • Already pushed the base stat? Calculated levels are almost always the cheaper extra reach.

See also