Originally Posted By: Rancid
This sure went in to implementation awfully fast.
Yes! I thought it would be difficult, but other than being extensive it wasn't.
 Originally Posted By: Rancid
On top of this the idea of adding the significance of stats that were never significant before begs the question of why are more stat points not being added to creation since more stats are going to be added in to the skills?
Back when stats over the original 6 were added to the game a significant number of stat points were added to character creation. This is as it should be, since those stats presumably should've had significance immediately. My personal memory is that the number of stat points went from somewhere between 225 and 315 to 450, but I can not confirm that. I don't find that by adding more significance to stats that should already have had enough significance to be on par with previously existing stats but weren't has any effect, direct or otherwise, on the number of stat points that should be available in character creation. The reasons for this seem obvious to me, but I will do my best to explain my views on the topic further.

If the additional stat points granted at the inception of the new stats system back in the late 90's have thus far been funneled into higher "core" stats rather than being broadly applied by what a character will likely do in their lifetime, that's by player preference. If the increase in visibility of previously "periphreal" stats has caused those stats to become more necessary, those stat points that have already been granted can be used more judiciously as they were intended, or continue to be applied to more "core" stats as desired. The alteration of the skill system has not in any way impacted the availibility of stat points, only the availibility of bonuses to skills granted through stats. By increasing the overall pool of points assignable to stats in character generation, stats in general would rise. The ramifications of an overall rise are far and above the system of bonuses to skills from stats in question, therefore it does not follow that increasing the pool of points available to be assigned during character creation to stats would be an appropriate measure for mitigating a perceived loss in viability of character stats whether real or imagined.
 Originally Posted By: Rancid
This isn't an outrageous request. People have played under guidelines they were given before and are now having the rugs pulled out from underneath them and told to accept it and there is nothing wrong with it.
My personal view is that any request for any reincarnation is outrageous by default. For me, there can be no request made for reincarnation outside of In-Character events that is reasonable because characters are generated according to individual preference.

That being said, I am not currently of the opinion that this change could possibly be of a large enough scale to warrant reincarnations. If the previous bonus from attack when dexterity alone was keyed to it was +12 (as far as I'm aware, the maximum possible for any character not counting luck) and that character had minimized all FOUR other stats now keyed to attack (which is extremely unlikely, as strength and endurance were already extremely important for combat) the loss would be 10 points to the attack skill. While that amount is large enough to be questionable as far as low-impact changes go, it is well below anything that I have so far been convinced is "a significant change to the system". In making this change, this was the most extreme case I could find, and I have so far considered even this large change within the parameters for a low-impact change because of its rarity.

I am more than willing to hear and discuss evidence to the contrary, or any cases that turn up that I have missed. With regard to changing the guidelines to the game you have my sympathies. It is difficult and at times unfair when what we believe are well-founded decisions turn out to be less effective than we planned based on new information. As stated earlier, I consider this to be a low-impact change, but I have been wrong in the past and will be wrong again in the future.

Seeing as only two skills of well over a hundred skills have been changed, I would be open to hear suggestions on how to make this go more slowly and with more dialogue. I put great stock in the community we have here, and want nothing more than to engage everyone fairly in an effort to improve the game.
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