Description[]
This is meant to be a short guide for beginners with some thoughts regarding how/when to raise Attributes with a view to game mechanics.
Attributes are very important for your character, as they will determine your chance to succeed at Rolls for all sorts of activities and Adventures, as well as the efficiency of raising Skill Levels.
They further influence 4 derived Attributes (and Luck possibly one more[citation needed]).
Game Mechanics of Attributes[]
Attributes used in rolls determining success[]
When you have to make a Roll to succeed at a choosen activity (Actions, Spells, Abilities) or for a particular choice in an Adventure, all involve the use of an Attribute (except where based on an percentile chance).
See Rolls (Guide) for further explanation.
Attributes in Raising Skills[]
Attributes also determine how easily you can raise a subskill by Actions or Abilites, or when attending your classes and embarking on an Adventure. The recommended level is 6 - you can train skills in a minimum number of Skill Steps (usually 1) up to skill level 11. Attributes of 7 allow fastest training to 13, Attributes of 8 for Skill Level 15, etc. However,
- This is not applicable to every Subskill - e.g. Etiquette (from Heraldry) and Concentration (from Enspell) require more than the standard number of Steps beginning at relatively low levels.
- Consider that for any Skill or Subskill to surpass 10 requires other modifications which may have no direct relation to a Subskill or its governing Attribute.)
Having a meek 1 in the Attribute governing a study subject (any of the 6 Skills determined when you choose a College and register for electives at Character Creation) will mean you have to put up some effort to get a nice grade at the Exams because it will take many activities in the time you have to raise all relevant Subskills and Study Levels adequately.
Hence, in the long term, raising Attributes before raising related Skills over a certain threshold is a more efficient use of your schedule.
The 3+ Subskills of a Skill are almost always connected to the same Attribute, e.g. all 7 History Subskills use Intelligence. There are few exceptions - most notably in School Survival, which distributes 5 governing Attributes (all but Finesse and Fitness) among its 8 Subskills. {Bully is another (Rallying uses Charm) ... what are others?}
Some Attribute/Skill combinations may seem distributed strangely; this is arguably merely an artifact of Academagia's des/dev folks having to cover so many activities and subjects while ensuring that each Skill consists of at least three Subskills so that the internal mechanics are consistent and somewhat balanced.
The formula is probably floor((Skill_Multiplier * max(1,floor(Current_Skill/Attribute)))) + Skill_Modifier (by Seloun http://academagia.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=1117#entry7079)
Raising Attributes at Character Creation[]
You will start with all 7 Attributes at "1". Even though you are given 10 Character Creation Points (and can gain more by taking disadvantageous Backgrounds), you may never spend more than 5 of these directly on Attributes in the first stage; therefore not all of them can be raised above 1 at this stage. Additionally none can be raised above 3 in this manner. However, there are additional Background options in subsequent Character Creation steps that can raise your starting Attribute scores. Using a combination of point-for-point and Background benefits, you can raise any Attribute to a starting level of 5; Strength can potentially start at 6, Finesse at 7!
- Think about using other options instead of plainly putting a point into an Attribute, since the Background options also give other bonuses. Further consider that in a few cases, there is some level of disadvantage (particularly balancing the +1 to Intelligence and Natural Philosophy via the family background 'Graverobbers').
Raising Attributes after Character Creation[]
A few remarks relevant to this will be included for each Attribute, but key to most of them: in deciding which classes to take, pay particular attention to what happens when you raise the Study Level (not the Skill Level - that's a separate concern and will take much more time!) of each class Parent Skill to 10. Several of these result in a permanent +1 to an Attribute.
Importance of single Attributes[]
ALL Attributes are important - no hard and fast rule here. Your choice will also hinge on your playing style. Attributes have different numbers of Parent Skills connected to them, so first, here are the hard facts:
Furthermore, the Courses available at the academy are even more concentrated towards Intelligence (see the table here).
Skills are differently important. While it is hard to see how e.g. Architecture can possibly play part in a pupil's life at school, all play a role at some point among the manifold Actions, Adventures and random encounters. Might run into a test of Architecture here as one possibility to solve a puzzle.
There are, however, Skills of consistently wide-ranging importance - most relevantly, the magical Parent Skills.
- Incantation (Finesse) with a range of hostile and beneficent spells, especially for duelling; required Study for Godina students
- Negation (Fitness) as your defense against hostile spells, especially in duels; required Study for Durand students
- Revision (Intelligence) your bread-and-butter 'change reality' spells; required Study for Morvidus students
- Glamour (Charm) - cast Illusions and Emotions; required Study for Hedi students
- Astrology (Luck) - some slick Abilities and Actions; required Study for Avila students
- Enchant (Insight) - crucial for customizing your Items; entangled with Forge (Strength) especially and Calligraphy (Finesse) tangentially; required Study for Vernin students
Can't really go without all of those (unless you are in Aranaz, but even then it's not necessarily advisable). And the two forbidden magical arts?
Points for Fitness[]
That is 3 instances of the value of Fitness already! There's also Athletics - want to run, swim, punch or wrestle someone? Can't go without. And similarly, Rimbal; this competitive team sport was mostly removed from "the first-year experience", but will probably be introduced to play some role when competing with other Colleges. (also see Magalda Quaranta.)
Importantly, each personal Stress limit is based on Fitness. Stress resistance is highly important so you don't have to spend too much time at Rest - especially if you're being Bullied ... Read the Article on Stress for further information.
A low-level one-time boost occurs at Acrobatics 3, and even lower, Running 1 will unlock a Location which offers the possibility of repeatable permanent Expansions to Fitness!
Points for Insight[]
Still lots of Skills with Enchant on top, most prominently Music, Religion and Research.
Piety 7 opens Cleanse and Remake, which boosts all Attributes by at least 3, making it much easier to level up Skills. Also, Pray for Money (Religion 10) can generate 20-200 pims a day.
Low-level Abilities that permanently improve Insight (see Category:Expand Insight):
+1 Insight AND Intelligence: Learn from Mistakes (Planning 2)
+1 Insight: Goose Bumps (Danger Sense 4)
+1 Insight: Understand Strategy (War 2)
Also, as long as it consistently gives an extra random Expansion to Subskills and Research topics, check out Put to Paper.
Points for Intelligence[]
Highly important for Revision and lots of Skills, including Study Habits, Dialectic, Gossip, History, Language, Zoology ... Usually on par with Insight.
Getting a high Insight to learn Research will lead to tons of options to raise Intelligence (and most other Attributes) later on; see Research Topics.
Points for Finesse[]
With Incantation and Duel to start; look at Enspell-4 as a meta-skill for spell-casting, Sleight-of-Hand's Composure and Acrobatics, and Compete - Planning. It is crucial for Calligraphy as well.
Not to miss wholly out on. Additionally it influences how much gear you can conceal on your body (see Concealment) and possibly reduces Chance of Discovery in areas where you have no business officially.[citation needed]
Points for Charm[]
With the magic skill Glamour to start, the list goes on over School Survival - Social Skills to Befriend and Blackmail.
Social interaction appears to be the soul of the game. Make friends, get perks (Clique Abilities from forming/joining a Clique, a variety of benefits from Favors given by Instructors).
The possibility of Expanding this Attribute is almost as simple/early as that for Fitness - in fact they are closely associated through Locations unlocked by developing Dance. To wit, Master Whip's Studio is the only Location which offers a single chance per use to Expand two Attributes.
Points for Luck[]
Astrology is quite outstanding with some powerful spells, and also governs Espionage, Explore, Malice and Sabotage. Apart, Luck may be of influence in general Chances of Success and definitely in choices only doable on simple Luck (possibly the "Pure Luck" Skill that is governed by it). No hard facts to corroborate that, but there may be more to it than it seems.
As with Intelligence, there are no repeatable means to raise this Attribute.
Points for Strength[]
Strength is crucial for Enchanters because of its importance to the Forge family of Subskills. Also governs Patrol (insert usefulness remarks here), Bully by which you can force duels via Vendetta (very late in the game), and Schoolyard Education might be worth expanding so you can defend against bullies and do some business instead.
Forge is of broader significance in that its Subskill Jeweler unlocks the only Location where you can repeatedly Expand Finesse.
Apart, Strength determines how much you can carry: see Encumbrance.
The only method of repeatedly raising Strength is at the Quintana Gym. (It also has a chance to raise Fitness, but each of these chances is small and separate from the other.)
A lot of choices will hinge on your playing style. You can never be perfect at everything, but work around deficits with spells and other abilities ("buffs").