Attributes

Character Statistics

Characters statistics in Cogent Roleplay can be broken down into two categories which determine the bonuses (or penalties) you receive when rolling against Challenge Levels encountered in the game, whether Actions or Conflicts. These categories are:

Attributes & Skills

By default, in Fast Play games player characters will be given 2 Attribute points and 12 skill points they may assign to their character during character creation.

Attributes

By default, in Fast Play games, player characters will be given 2 Attribute points they may assign to their character during character creation. Generally, in Campaign Play players will start with less points and gain more during play the course of their adventure.
Attributes represent the physical abilities of your character. There are three:
Strength
Reflex
Intelligence


When assigning a point to an attribute or skill, simply ‘shade’ a box in with your pencil as shown above.
The tapered ‘negative’ box present represents the capacity for a character have negatives in attributes. Players may not choose to have a negative in an attribute – it is only there in case a disabling characteristic or injury demands a negative be applied to an attribute.
These three attributes cover all of the actions your player might attempt. Upon first glance it can seem like many physical abilities or qualities a person can possess are missed (most other role-play systems have a lot more), such as stamina, constitution, speed, knowledge, charisma etc. but in Cogent, these things are incorporated into the three Attributes above. Things like constitution and stamina are covered in strength, speed in reflex, and knowledge and charisma in intelligence. There’s no need to over-complicate it!
Each of these attributes apply to certain skill checks and to all combat rolls. From a combat perspective, one point in Intelligence and one point in Reflex have the same dice bonus as two points in strength. This is because a fast or clever opponent may very well be just as challenging as a strong one.
In addition to granting bonus dice to appropriate rolls, each attribute also gives a specific advantage unrelated to dice checks. These are:
Strength: For every point in strength the character can reduce a victory level achieved against them in combat once every combat encounter
Reflex: As combat is conducted in a round by round format, the player with the highest reflex gets priority in that round.
Intelligence: For every point in intelligence the player receives 3 additional skill points to spend.

Think of it like this:
An average person in any setting will have the equivalent of 0 points in each. 1 point in any of these attributes equates to the character being professional or naturally gifted in that area. 2 points in any one attribute would equate to being elite or ‘world-class’ in that aspect.
For example:

	0 Points	1 Points	2 Points
Strength	Average	Professional Soldier or Career Rock-climber	Olympic level weightlifter or world champion fighter
Reflex	Average	Circus Acrobat or Accomplished Thief	Gold medalist gymnast or master martial artist
Intelligence	Average	University science professor or a Career Politician	Award-winning particle physicist or ‘Sherlock Holmes’ level detective

Some settings (depending on the narrator) may allow for over 2 points in one attribute. These are mostly justifiable through means of superhuman powers, genetic anomaly, magical enchantment or advanced technology.
Complete Rulebook