One Stat to Rule Them All: Difference between revisions

 

The mirror opposite of a [[Dump Stat]]. Subtrope of [[Whoring]] in that there are oftentimes perfectly playable games in there even if you don't worry about these kinds of things.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* Similarly to the above, the [[The Matrix (Film)|Matrix]] RPG [http://www.scribd.com/doc/14108115/MatrixRPG There Is No Spoon] has a Matrix stat which is rolled pretty much constantly, and trumps mundane skill. There are other things to spend character points on, but the game admits flat-out that Matrix is the god stat.

* Parodied in [http://web.archive.org/web/20051024220642/http://www.unclebear.com/downloads/badtudes.pdf Bad Attitudes], an Action Movie RPG. The only stat is Attitude, which is initiative, [[Hit Points]], and points to spend on the important skills (shooting, hand-to-hand, driving, not falling, and picking up girls/guys). The only other skill, despite being an all-encompassing knowledge skill, is called Basically Worthless Stuff. There are three 'classes', Regular Folk, Sidekicks, and Action Heroes, with progressively-higher Attitude scores. Action Heroes can only buy the five action skills; Regular Folk can only buy Basically Worthless Stuff. Damage is also class-based. Essentially, everyone should be playing a brainless Action Hero.

** In game, of course, there's POW of which you need an awful lot if you're going to be a hard core wizard. Unfortunately, garnering anything more than the tiniest amounts of POW tends to result in total brain melting insanity, so its a bit tricky to min-max this one, in practise.

* In ''Bushido'' - a [[Dungeons and Dragons|D&D-like]] game set in feudal Japan - all skills are determined by adding stats together. For example, leaping and climbing ("Karumijutsu") was Deftness plus Will; Strategy ("Senjo-Jutsu") was Wit plus Will; most fighting skills were Strength plus Deftness plus Will; overland speed ("Hayagakejutsu") was Health plus Will; horsemanship ("Bajustsu") is Will x 2 ... starting to see a pattern?

** Energy: [[Dump Stat|never put anything into this.]] (Even when playing a sorceress!)

** Strength is outdone by skill- and equipment-based damage boosts. The attack rating (accuracy) from Dexterity can easily be found elsewhere or is simply irrelevant. The same can be said for the mana gained from Energy. Thus, with enemies having high damage, Vitality is the only thing really worth investing in.

*** They're probably fixing some [[Unstable Equilibrium]] with this. One of ''[[Diablo II]]'''s newest patches, 1.13c, added in the ability to "respec" and reset attribute and skill points once per difficulty level to encourage non-[[Min Maxing]].

* Ironically ''[[Diablo III]]'' got "Damage" stat, which is a mix of weapon damage, attack speed, crit rate, crit damage and damage stat (varies per class). Every offensive skill use Damage stat as base multiplier so everyone stacks +damage or +main stat items on themselves. Closely followed by vitality which provides health.

** In the original ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' AP wasn't quite so important, as there ''were'' no godlike alternate forms and only one devastating finishing blow. The real god stat in the game was MP, because more MP = more magical healing. Even better, the strength of your spells was determined by your maximum MP, so now you have better spells in addition to being able to cast them more often.

*** ''And'' it powered your special combat moves such as the Arcanum multi-attack.

* ''[[Progress Quest]]'' has strength, which affects your carrying capacity, and thus how often your character has to go back to town. As progress quest is a 'zero player RPG,' this is the only effect any stat has on the so-called 'gameplay.'

* Batting in ''[[Backyard Sports|Backyard Baseball]]''. Even the fastest runners can still easily get out if they have bad batting stats.