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Daggerfall:Attributes

< Daggerfall

Attributes define the fundamental properties of the player character and all enemies. As opposed to skills, which each determine proficiency at a specific action, attributes are more general. There are eight attributes: Strength, Intelligence, Willpower, Agility, Endurance, Personality, Speed, and Luck. Most attributes are said to "govern" certain skills, although this relationship does not actually have any in-game effect.

The player character's attributes are first set upon choosing a class. Every class, whether predefined or custom, has a starting attribute total of 400. When designing a custom class, you can set each attribute anywhere from 10 up to 75. During the final phase of character creation, you can roll for a random 0-10 extra points in each attribute, and manually allocate 6-14 additional points which can be freely assigned.

Upon leveling up, you will be awarded 4-6 points which can be added to any attributes, regardless of which skills have been raised. Once an attribute reaches 100, it cannot be increased further.

Attributes can be temporarily modified by the effects of spells, enchantments, disease, poison, lycanthropy, and vampirism. An attribute under such an effect is listed on the character sheet in blue rather than the usual yellow. Lowered attributes can be restored by a temple healer (if you are of sufficient rank) or with a spell. A character will die if any of their attributes are drained to 0.

Attribute Enumeration Description Governed Skills
Strength
STR
1 -9  = pathetic
10 -19  = frail
20 -29  = weak
30 -39  = below average
40 -49  = about average
50 -59  = fairly strong
60 -69  = athletic
70 -79  = very strong
80 -89  = powerful
89+  = superhuman
Strength governs encumbrance, weapon damage and the ease of increasing strength-related skills.
  • Strength modifies hand-to-hand and melee damage output (modifier = (Strength - 50) / 5).*
  • Maximum Encumbrance = Strength x 1.5
  • Maximum Fatigue = Strength + Endurance
Intelligence
INT
1 -9  = vegetable-like
10 -19  = idiotic
20 -29  = half-witted
30 -39  = dim
40 -49  = about average
50 -59  = cunning
60 -69  = fairly clever
70 -79  = very intelligent
80 -89  = brilliant
89+  = genius
Intelligence governs total magic potential and the ease of increasing intelligence-related skills.
  • Intelligence modifies maximum spell points.
Willpower
WIL
1 -9  = inane
10 -19  = submissive
20 -29  = passive
30 -39  = distracted
40 -49  = unassertive
50 -59  = stable
60 -69  = confident
70 -79  = strong-willed
80 -89  = very focused
89+  = enlightened
Willpower governs resistance to spell effects and the ease of increasing willpower-related skills.
  • Willpower modifies Spell Resistance at the rate of 1 bonus point for every 10 points of Willpower. "Spell Resistance" is distinct from the Magic Resistance or Magic Immunity special advantages available during character generation; for details, see Spell Maker.
Agility
AGI
1 -9  = oafish
10 -19  = bumbling
20 -29  = clumsy
30 -39  = awkward
40 -49  = about average
50 -59  = spry
60 -69  = nimble
70 -79  = dexterous
80 -89  = very agile
89+  = acrobatic
Agility governs ability to hit a target, to avoid getting hit, and the ease of increasing agility-related skills.
  • Agility, among other factors, modifies hit chance (modifier = (attacker's Agility - target's Agility) / 10)). (Therefore, from the player's perspective, higher AGI will lower the chance an enemy will hit you.)
Endurance
END
1 -9  = sickly
10 -19  = pitiable
20 -29  = unsteady
30 -39  = erratic
40 -49  = about average
50 -59  = above average
60 -69  = very healthy
70 -79  = hardy
80 -89  = titanic
89+  = immortal
Endurance governs hit points, healing rate, resistance to poisons and diseases, and fatigue.
  • Endurance modifies the rate of healing per hour of rest, with the modifier increasing with every 10 points of Endurance. This refers to the rate of recovering health, not spell points; spell points will always fully regenerate after 8 hours of resting irrespective of any character attribute or skill.
  • Endurance modifies the maximum health points gained per level (modifier = (Endurance - 50) / 10)).
  • Endurance modifies the amount of time your character can hold his/her breath underwater.
  • Maximum Fatigue = Strength + Endurance
Personality
PER
1 -9  = abhorrent
10 -19  = unpopular
20 -29  = anonymous
30 -39  = unassuming
40 -49  = unremarkable
50 -59  = interesting
60 -69  = charming
70 -79  = arresting
80 -89  = authoritative
89+  = charismatic
Personality governs the ease of increasing personality-related skills.
  • Personality modifies how NPCs react to your character.
Speed
SPD
1 -9  = inactive
10 -19  = sluggish
20 -29  = very slow
30 -39  = slow
40 -49  = about average
50 -59  = above average
60 -69  = fast
70 -79  = fleet-footed
80 -89  = lightning-fast
89+  = meteoric
Speed governs movement rate, missile reloading time, and all speed-related skills.
  • Speed modifies movement rate and weapon swing speed.
Luck
LUC
1 -9  = cursed
10 -19  = hopeless
20 -29  = ill-favored
30 -39  = unfortunate
40 -49  = about average
50 -59  = fairly lucky
60 -69  = lucky
70 -79  = fortunate
80 -89  = very auspicious
89+  = divinely favored
Luck is a powerful modifier to any action you take. There are no skills in which luck is the primary attribute, but your odds of succeeding in any skill trial is modified by your luck
  • Luck, among other factors, modifies hit chance (modifier = (attacker's Luck - target's Luck) / 10)). (Therefore, from the player's perspective, higher LUC will lower the chance an enemy will hit you.)
  • Luck does not affect loot.
   N/A

NotesEdit

  • The Oghma Infinium artifact grants an additional 30 attribute points to be allocated freely.
  • Given the average maximum player level of 30 and an average attribute roll of 4.5, the average number of attribute points a player can expect to be able to allocate over the course of the game is 130. A careful player who plans their build to reach level 32, uses exploits to attain higher skill maximums, and "rerolls" level-ups to gain 6 attribute points each level may be able to allocate up to 186 attribute points. The Oghma Infinium increases this total further to 216 points. Given an average starting value of around 56 points per attribute, this means that allocating points evenly can result in a maximum of 83 in every attribute.
  • A character with low physical attributes, particularly Strength and Endurance, may find it difficult to progress during the early stages of the game.
  • A character with low mental attributes, particularly Intelligence, may find it difficult to progress during the later stages of the game.
  • Personality has minimal effect on how people perceive you. You can engage in normal conversation with 10-15 Personality and suffer no repercussions.
    • This is changed in Daggerfall Unity, such that a character usually needs 40 or more Personality to obtain favorable responses from most townspeople.
  • Agility is far less useful in Daggerfall than it is in Arena. This is due to Arena operating mostly on a D20 system, with every 5 points of Agility increasing the player's to-hit chance by 1 point, which means a bonus of 5% chance to hit an enemy. In Daggerfall and later games, this system is carried over without accounting for a switch from D20 to D100. As a result, 5 points of Agility increases to-hit chance by only 1%, a miniscule bonus in comparison.
  • In Daggerfall Unity, Personality increases the chances of pacifying when using Language Skills (up to +10%), as well as when using Etiquette or Streetwise skills (up to +20%).

BugsEdit

* Daggerfall incorrectly displays the Strength hand-to-hand and melee damage modifier in the character sheet; the above is the correct formula actually used in game calculations. This display bug is fixed in Daggerfall Unity.

Agility doesn't actually appear to affect your chance to hit enemies. This bug is fixed in Daggerfall Unity.