Attribute Generation in Lucky 7, Part 3

I’m writing this in Austin, Texas, so this will be a quickie.

When I go running I think about things. Often it’s stuff for my RPGs—either rules or adventures. Lately it’s been a lot of stuff for Lucky 7. Now that there’s only three attributes, I think that calls for changes in the way to generate attribute scores.

The old methods were in these posts:

• Attribute Generation for Lucky 7
• Attribute Generation in Lucky 7, Part 2

The Methods

Most of these are just the old methods update, but there’s a new one.

Method #1: Point Buy (Former Method 3)

This method has the most player agency. Depending on the player involved it might be super quick, or it might take an eternity of agonizing decision making. Some players using this have the habit of making the same character every time.

Step 1: For each of the three attributes, assign any value between -2 and +2.

Step 2: Twiddle with the assignments until sum of all three attributes equals +1.

Step 3: There is no step 3!

Method #2: Quick Random (Former Method 1)

This method is the fastest of the bunch, but has the least player input. It’s good for simulating the feel of old school role-playing.

It also has the least character diversity, as it’s impossible to generate a character with a very good score (+2), a good (+1) score, and a very bad (-2) score.

Because it’s so quick, it’s particularly good for making characters when a new player shows up unexpectedly, or to replace a PC that was killed or captured.

This method uses this attribute table:

d3 Roll	d6 Roll	d12 Roll	Attribute
1	1 – 2	1 – 4	Physical
2	3 – 4	5 – 8	Mental
3	5 – 6	6 – 12	Spiritual

Step 1: All attributes start at 0.

Step 2: Roll a and refer to the table above. Add 1 to the corresponding attribute.

Step 3: Same as step 2. Note: You could just combine this with the previous step by rolling two dice at that step instead of one.

Step 4: Same as step 1, but instead of adding, Subtract 1 from the corresponding attribute.

That’s it!

Example: I’m making a new character. Starting attributes are P: 0, M: 0, S: 0. I roll 3d6 and get:

• Die #1 is a 3 so Mental goes from 0 to +1
• Die #2 is a 2 so Physical goes from 0 to +1
• Die #3 is a 3 so Mental goes from +1 back down to 0

The character starts the game with:

• Physical: +1
• Mental: ±0
• Spiritual: ±0

Method #3: Random (New)

This is more complicated than method #2, but is provided for those who want the “purity” of generating all possible character types randomly.

This uses the same attribute table as Method #2.

Step 1: Each of the three attributes starts with a value of -2.

Step 2: Roll 7 dice (7d6 is easiest, but any combination of d3, d6, or d12 works).

Step 3: Referring to the attribute table, add 1 to the attribute indicated by each die.

Step 4: In the unlikely¹ that an attribute would be raised above +2, assign the +1 to a different attribute instead. Roll randomly if you can’t decide.

Example: I’m making a new character. Starting attributes are P: -2, M: -2, S: -2. I roll 7d6 and get:

• Die #1 is a 6 so Spiritual goes from -2 to -1
• Die #2 is a 4 so Mental goes from -2 to -1
• Die #3 is a 5 so Spiritual goes from -1 to 0
• Die #4 is a 3 so Mental goes from -1 to 0
• Die #5 is a 5 so Spiritual goes from 0 to +1
• Die #6 is a 5 so Spiritual goes from +1 to +2
• Die #7 is a 6 that would raise Spiritual to +3, and that can’t happen. I decide to raise Physical from -2 to -1

The character starts the game with:

• Physical: -1
• Mental: ±0
• Spiritual: +2

Method 4: Random Pre-Gen(Former Method 4)

This is really the simplest of the bunch. The name was James' idea.

Step 1: Roll 1d20. Reroll any result of 19 or 20.²

Step 2: Refer to the table below.

1d20	Physical	Mental	Spiritual
1	-2	1	2
2	-2	2	1
3	-1	0	2
4	-1	1	1
5	-1	2	0
6	0	-1	2
7	0	0	1
8	0	1	0
9	0	2	-1
10	1	-2	2
11	1	-1	1
12	1	0	0
13	1	1	-1
14	1	2	-2
15	2	-2	1
16	2	-1	0
17	2	0	-1
18	2	1	-2

Example: I’m making a new character. I roll 1d20 and get a 14. The character starts the game with:

• Physical: +1
• Mental: +2
• Spiritual: -2

Method 5: Random NPC Generation (New)

The methods above are all designed for player characters, and will result in a character whose sum of attributes is equal to +1. A totally random method could result in stronger or weaker characters. The level of randomness is well suited for non-player characters. If you want to go full old school, you can use this method for player characters, too.

Step 1: Roll 4d2-6. Assign the total to Physical. 

Step 2: Roll 4d2-6. Assign the total to Mental. 

Step 3: Roll 4d2-6. Assign the total to Spiritual.

Example: I’m making a new character. I roll 4d2-6 for Physical and get 0. I roll again for Mental and get -1. Rolling one more time I get a +1. The character starts the game with:

• Physical: ±0
• Mental: -1
• Spiritual: +1

Epilogue

That’s it for this week. The post was originally about the new Method 3. It works, but the way it worked in my head was better then in reality. I might not keep it.

Which method did you like the best?

---

1. This will happen about once per seven characters.↩

2. If you really want to avoid re-rolls, you could roll a d6 and a d12. If the d12 is between 1–4, the d6 roll is unmodified; if the d12 is between 5–8, the d6 roll gets a +6 modifier; if the d12 is between 9–12, the d6 roll gets a +12 modifier. No rerolls, but I don’t think the added complexity is worth it.↩

There was no post last week. Part of the reason is that I was working both jobs, but the main reason is that I’ve been having a problem with green slime. Specifically, I’ve been trying to write a post about the various slimes, oozes, molds, and gelatinous entitles. What I thought was going to be a simple, quick post to fire off has been giving me problems for over three weeks now. It’s still giving me problems, so this is not that post.

A few weeks ago I mentioned in passing that I was thinking about using only three attribute scores for L7. This post is about that.

We’ll do it as a FAQ.

Attributes in Lucky 7

What is an attribute?

For our purposes, an attribute is a numerical representation of a broad group of your character’s qualities. The same attributes (but with different values, of course) are used for all characters. Traditionally, attributes used in most games have been things like Strength, Intelligence, Dexterity, Constitution, etc.

What attributes does Lucky 7 use?

L7 uses three attributes: Physical, Mental, and Spiritual.

What does the Physical attribute cover?

The Physical attribute covers everything to do with the body. Your strength, dexterity, balance, constitution, and speed all fall under the Physical attribute.

What does the Mental attribute cover?

The Physical attribute covers everything to do with the mind. Your intelligence, wit, inventiveness, knowledge, and problem solving abilities are examples items in the Mental domain.

What does the Spiritual attribute cover?

Characters in Lucky 7 are more than just body and thoughts. There's also that “certain something” that makes you different from me. In these rules, we call that the spirit. In game terms this attribute covers things like will power, charisma, and personality. It is also used to represent your connection with the supernatural realm.

What numerical range is used for attributes?

Technically speaking, attributes are open ended. Realistically, though, character attribute scores range from -2 to +2 as shown in the next question’s table.

What do the different numbers represent?

Value	Meaning
-2	Terrible
-1	Bad
±0	Average
+1	Good
+2	Awesome

How are attributes used in game play?

Whenever you attempt a task, the GM determines which attribute is most applicable to the task. That attribute’s value is then used as a modifier to you die roll when determining success.

Example: Your character is crossing a slippery ledge. The GM determines that is a physical task of balance. You have an Awesome Physical score, so you get a +2 to your roll.

What if I want to my character to be fast but not strong?

There’s two ways to do this. One way uses an advantage, and the other uses a disadvantage. The way you pick should depend on your character’s concept and the one that you think will work best with your playing style.

For the advantage method you would give your character an Average Physical score (±0), and you would give then an advantage of “Fast.” This is appropriate if you see your character as pretty normal, but with a gift for speed.

If you see you character as above average physically except for his strength, you would use the disadvantage method. In the case you would give your character a Good (or Awesome!) Physical score (+1 or +2), and the disadvantage of “Weak” or “Reduced Strength” or whatever.

In game play the advantage method has the drawback of costing you an experience point every time you use that advantage. The disadvantage method will actually earn you an extra experience point whenever it comes into play. On the other hand, an average “Quickness” task is 16-17% more likely to succeed using the Advantage method rather than using the disadvantage method. Whether that extra chance of success is worth spending an experience point for is a matter of personal opinion.

Epilogue

I clearly stole was clearly inspired by Big Eyes, Small Mouth for the three stats. Although the attributes are the similar, the rest of the game is very different.

What do you think of the idea?

That’s it for this week. While writing this post, a short topic for next week came to mind. Plus I still have to finish the post about Slimes.