Quality Example Pricings

The hardest part of the quality system is the pricing. Here are a few examples worked out so you can get a feel for it.

Joe Plumber

As a simple example, lets consider Joe Plumber, a very capable handyman man who doesn't get or like people or book learning. He has:


Memory 9, Analysis 9, social 9, tactical 9, handy 13, entertaining 9

his average score is 9.7, which we round to 10. we don't pay any points for the base IQ. first we walk 'up'. we have one quality at 11 or higher for [10]. we have one quality at 12 or higher for [10]. And we have one quality at 13 or higher for [10]. Then we walk down: He has five qualities at 9, one below our base of ten, so he gets [-10] for that. All told, that gives us [20] points for Joe Plumber (10+10+10-10).

Lets suppose we ignored the advice on what base IQ is. If we go to the next closest number, 9, we get the same total number, but different intermediaries. Our base IQ is 9, for [-20]. We have nothing at 8 or less. We have 1 quality above 10 [10], 1 quality above 11 [10], 1 quality above 12 [10], and one quality at 13 [10]. Our total is once again is [20] (-20+10+10+10+10).

But if we stray too far from the average, the numbers start to go up. Lets choose Joe Plumber's base IQ to be 11, for [20]. he has one quality above 12 [10] and one quality at 13 [10]. he has five qualities at 10 or less, which is one below 11. 5/1 = 5 which gives us [-10]. he has five qualities at 9 or less, which is two below 11. 5/2 = 2.5, which rounds to 3 for [-8]. Now the cost is [22] (20+10+10 - 10 -8). Why does it cost more? because consecutive levels below base IQ do not give as big a discount. This is intentional. taking IQ down the first two points is a lot more significant than taking it down the next two.

Lord Cunningham

Lets look at the opposite example, at one lord Cunningham, who is a very bright and socially adept fellow who has never done anything at all with his hands.

Memory 12, Analysis 12, social 12, tactical 12, handy 8, entertaining 12

This averages to 11.3, or rounded up, 12 [40]. We have nothing higher than the average (weird, I know, but we rounded up). we have one quality lower than 11, for [-5]. At 10, we have 1 quality lower, and we divide it by two (12-10=2): .5 gives us [-3]. at 9 we still have that one quality, but we divide it by three (.33), round up (.5) and have another [-3]. At 8 we are dividing that single quality by 4 (.25), rounding to .3 and only getting [-2]. our total is [27].

It should be noted that dropping the handy quality lower won't really give us much more at this point. dropping handy to 4 only gives us four more points to [23]. GM's should probably not allow this level of stats without very good reason: this represents animal level incompetence at something that makes humans human. It may be appropriate for some of the skills for an autistic savant or a bumbling idiot in a comedy campaign.

Mrs. Thresham

For a more complicated example, lets consider Mrs. Thresham, a local gossip with

Memory 11, Analysis 9, social 13, tactical 12, handy 8, and entertaining 10.

Her average IQ is 10.5. we round up for a base IQ of 11 [20]. We have two qualities at 12 or higher for [13], and one at 12 for [10]. Three qualities are at or below 10, divided by one for [-8]. two are at or below 9, which we divide by two, giving us 1 for [-5]. and one quality is at 8, three below 11 for (1/3 = .33) for [-3]. Our total is [27] (20+13+10-8-5-3).

Myself!

for our final example, I will perform the supremely humble task of statting myself (or perhaps a person that's a wee touch better than myself):

Memory 12, Analysis 13, social 11, tactical 9, handy 8, entertaining 11

Average is 10.7, rounded up to 11 [20]. I have two qualities at 12+ [13] and one at 13 [10]. At 10 we have two qualities for [-7], two qualities at 9 (2/2=1) for [-5], and one quality at 8 (1/3=.333) for [-3]. The total is [28] (20+13+10-7-5-3). 

Relative Pricing Change Example

Figuring changes from a pre-calculated setup: It should be noted that everything can be moved up at the same time for 20 points (or down). You can also rearrange values and keep the same number: if you change joe plumber to joe artist (all 9's except 13 on entertain) he costs the exact same amount. It is also possible to calculate minor adjustments. The things that make adjustments difficult to calculate are changing the average of the qualities, and moving a score through all of the already calculated levels. If the base IQ is the same, recalculate each value between the old and new number.

For example, my personal scores are very close to Mrs. Thresham, our socialite (in that she has 13,12,11,10,9,8 and he has 13,12,11,11,9,8). The only difference is that the 10 has been moved up to an 11. Both have a base IQ of 11. we simply re-calculate the 10 level and the 11 level. As 11 is base IQ, there is no difference on that level. on the 10 level we have 2 instead of 3 qualities at 10 or lower, both divided by one, so we go from [-8] to [-7], adding a single point. so Mrs. Thresham pays [27], but my build costs [28].