The Attributes FAQ

The Hollow Earth Expedition (HEX) roleplaying game has been in existence for about five months now officially, and there are many elements of the game system that have aspects to them that make the players, and GMs, think a little bit. This Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) page is designed to answer some of the commonly asked questions about one of the more basic HEX game elements - the Attributes.

Attributes Frequently Asked Questions

While most of the Attributes in HEX are pretty useful, the only one I don't really see being useful at all is Charisma, especially as regards the Intimidation Skill and rules. After all, big people can intimidate small ones, but the Attributes and Skills don't really show that. How do you feel about this?

Jeff Combos said, "Charisma is more than just likeability, although that is a big part of it. It also represents your character's force of personality. It's like his mental Strength, just as Intelligence is his mental Dexterity, and Willpower is his mental Body. Being able to intimidate someone is more than just the physical aspect of the person doing the intimidating. Smaller, or less physically threatening people can scare us right out of our pants if they have enough force of personality. Hannibal Lecter and Mina from the League of Extaordinary Gentlemen (the comic) are good examples. Mina actually manages to get Hyde to back down.

"Now, I do see your point about big people intimidating small ones. Some of that I think will be natural intimidation, even without the bigger and tougher person flexing their muscles. If a big, strong character tries to use this to their advantage, possibly through a display of their Strength, I'd give them a bonus on their Intimidation roll. I think that would be totally appropriate."

I'm somewhat disappointed that HEX contains no skills that use Body or Willpower. Why is this?

Jeff Combos stated on this one: "While there are no Skills with Body or Willpower as their Base Attribute, there are Talents that allow you to swap them in. This is partially because they represent a character's resistance, but also because they are already very important Attributes. They are what determine a character's Health, Stun, and in the case of Willpower, Perception rating. I didn't want to overdo it."

With that being said, I can't promise that you'll never see a Willpower-based Skill in the future."

Special thanks to Jeff Combos, Melissa McNally, M. Sechin Tower, and the folks on the Hollow Earth Expedition (HEX) forums for their help in the compiling of this FAQ information.

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