Character Points in Five by Five

I have been playing Five by Five every week with my play group. The updated combat rules work well and the mechanics for Weapons and Armor achieve what I wanted with regards to damage out-comes, but using the rules is cumbersome. They are clunky. They fit the combat flow specific to Five by Five, but they just aren't smooth to implement.

Zimzerveran asked in a comment to the previous post if these combat rules would become part of the core rules for the Five by Five system. For now, I am going to have to say, "Absolutely, not." Not until I figure out how to fix the cumbersome nature of weapons and armor usage. For now consider all of this stuff experimental and optional.

In the meantime, consider this optional method for character creation using character points. Future additions of Five by Five will use "Character Points" instead of "Session Points" ... but they are basically the same thing.

Character Points

Character Points are the "currency" that you use to create and improve your character.

It costs 1 character point to add a Trait to your character record with a product of 2, or to improve an existing Trait with a product of 2 to a product of 3.

It costs 2 character points to improve a Trait with a product of 3 to a product of 4, or to improve a Trait with a product of 4 to a product of 5.

It costs 3 character points to improve a Trait with a product of 5 to a product of 6, or to improve a Trait with a product of 6 to a product of 8.

It costs 4 character points to improve a Trait with a product of 8 to a product of 10, or to improve a Trait with a product of 10 to a product of 12.

It costs 5 character points to improve a Trait with a product of 12 to a product of 15, or to improve a Trait with a product of 15 to a product of 20.

No Trait will ever have a product greater than 20.

Character Creation

Players have 22 Character Points to create their character. The cost to obtain a Trait with a specific product is shown below. Every beginning character must start with at least 3 Traits.

2    =  1 ... for a total of 1 character point.
3    =  1 + 1 ... for a total of 2 character points.
4    =  1 + 1 + 2 ... for a total of 4 character points.
5    =  1 + 1 + 2 + 2 ... for a total of 6 character points.
6    =  1 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 ... for a total of 9 character points.
8    =  1 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 3 ... for a total of 12 character points.
10  =  1 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 4 ... for a total of 16 character points.
12  =  1 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 4 + 4 ... for a total of 20 character points.
15  =  1 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 4 + 4 + 5 ... for a total of 25 character points.
20  =  1 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 4 + 4 + 5 + 5 ... for a total of 30 character points.

Notice that products of 15 or 20 are not possible during character creation.

Easy Character Creation method: Define 5 Traits for your character. Assign each Trait a product from the array of 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. This creates a character that costs 22 character points.

Any feedback is welcome as always. If you have an idea that can "fix" the clunky nature of comparing Weapons and Armor, I'd love to hear from you.

Regards,


Jeff