Several fundamental problems have arisen with my system with regard to skills and statistics. It has come to my attention that some skills are, as we say in gamer terms "broken", meaning they do not function as they should. In this particular case, the broken skills are my martial art skills. They allow players the opportunity to start their characters at much higher levels of physical power and adroitness than would otherwise be recommended (it is generally ill-advised to allow players to start the game overly with overly powerful characters.)
The problem here lies in whether or not to a) make martial art skills less effective, or b) simply make a generic "martial arts" skill that gives flat bonuses instead of a multitude of different martial arts that can provide a wide range of benefits. Considering that these different skills are part of what separates my game from others, I think I will simply reduce the stat bonuses. That will also make less work.
Another problem has arisen in the combat system. As it stands, players receive a certain number of actions based on their physical dexterity. The faster you are, the more you can do in a tight spot. The problem is that many players stack dexterity to such a high degree that fights end in mere seconds simply because the uber player that stacks dexterity can kill all the opposition before the end of a single combat round. Most other games either allow a single "action" to be performed during a combat round, or allow for 1-3 actions, depending on their complexity.
Given the trouble I've had in making enemies that are actually a challenge for the players without making them ridiculously overpowered...I think I'm going to opt for the single-action option.
The final problem is again with skills. Most systems link skills to a particular statistic and allowing players to receive a bonus both from a high level of skill and a natural aptitude for certain tasks. At present, there are 2 problems with my system. The first is that my stats and skills are not linked, and the second is that if they were, there is almost no way a player can fail a skill check. The simplest solution seems to be to re categorize skills along stat lines, but increase the base target number necessary to pass a skill check. The thought occurs that this presents something of a problem for players with very low statistics. It would mean that not only would they constantly be failing stat checks, they would also receive a hit to skill checks.
What about a set bonus or penalty? Say, a maximum penalty of -5 and a maximum bonus of +5? That would keep players with low stats from failing all the time, and it would also prevent players with high stats from gaining massive bonuses to low-level skills.
I think I'll do that.
