Original Sin - Primary Stat Discussion

I'm a little surprised this hasn't been long settled but Lar posted a new thread on the Larian forums a few days back for feedback on the primary stats in Original Sin:

Hello all,

Every single RPG we make we have these huge discussions about what primary stats we should expose to players for putting points in. Routinely, these discussions happen multiple times during development and we change our minds all the time, and for DOS it's not been no different. Given how long some of you have been active here and the amount of ideas you gave us already, I think it's only sensible to have you also part of the debate so please let me know your thoughts on the following set of stats, taking intou account that this is a turn-based game. Let us know what you think each stat does, which stat you'd really like to add and which one you think really sucks.

Strength
Dexterity
Intelligence
Speed
Perception
Constitution

I on purpose don't list what they're intended to mean in DOS, because I'm curious about your initial response to them. For the same reason I'll leave it up to your imaginations which primary stat affects what secondary stat.The secondary stats btw (i.e. the ones impacted by the above, but also by items/equipment & spells/skills) are

Charisma
Plenty of resistances
Initiative
Action points
Cost of movement
Mana/Energy
Hitpoints
Chance to hit (melee/ranged)
Chance to be hit(melee/ranged)
Damage (melee/ranged/magic)
Damage absorption (melee/ranged/magic)
Willpower
Critical hit chance/damage
Evade

and then also a whole bunch of things you'd probably call perks or abilities (Lockpicking, trading, convincing, luck etc…)

I might have forgotten a few but it's the primary ones I'm really curious about. As further info, we're thinking of only giving ONE stat point per level, and capping the primary stats at 15 or 20, giving you X points to start with (e.g. 30)

Let us know your thoughts and thx in advance for the feedback!

More information.

I think they are more interested on how much informative the names of the stats are versus what they implemented and see what people's think overall of their selection.

Some interesting comments from devs in the thread. Like "We thought about more social stats, but they're a productional suicide". I guess we won't have that many of those.

These days devs sometimes take this type of investigation to far and end up with 3 stats (melee, ranged and magic aka strength, dex and intelligence). Doesn't seem to be the case here though.

It looks like a good mix; I'm glad they didn't include a 'Luck' stat.

Those stats are very "satisfying". I like the primary stats and I like that there is a large amount of secondary stats as well. Looks good.

Hopefully this game comes out on consoles.

Originally Posted by rjshae
It looks like a good mix; I'm glad they didn't include a 'Luck' stat.

They did, itīs likely one of the derived stats.
Some other dev provided a correction to Larīs OP:

Willpower is not in, we'd use charisma or INT for that.
Evasion is not in, because it's part of "chance to be hit".
Damage absorption comes from armor & items only atm.
Crit hit is based on items only atm.
Cost of movement is more actually something like "how far can you walk with one action point".

Not in OP but in current system:

Weight, luck, sight and hearing, blocking.

The system seems generally fine to me, Iīm particularly glad thereīs a good number of primary stats, hopefully Larian will manage to make them all useful and without much overlaps.

The apparent exclusion of willpower seems off to me though and I donīt think it would work quite well as a secondary stat either - 6 primary stats is nice, but adding willpower as a seventh would be even nicer and it seems like it would fit the system well (derived stats could be resistances, mana/energy and maybe charisma).

I wish this game was available now !

Originally Posted by Fluent
Hopefully this game comes out on consoles.

Ugh, since I am a PC gamer exclusively now days, that made me cringe a little. That being said, if it finds enough success on the PC, I don't see why Larian wouldn't look into porting it to consoles. As long as it is designed for PC first and foremost (which it is), I would welcome that. I am sure Larian won't let down with this one. It's one of my most anticipated titles.

@ rossrjensen

Fluent is a console gamer. He wants all rpgs (especially good ones) to reach his console. Nothing wrong with that.

The overreliance on physical stats is a bit disappointing. Makes it seem like what makes a person is about what you see.

Don't get me wrong, still totally psyched for it.

character building goodness right there. Now if they get the skills right, this might be the first divinity game with really good options