I've struggled with indecision about what dice system to build Survivor's Folly off of since the very inception of the game. I mentioned in Dev Blog 1 that I began this game inspired by the Caltrop Core system by Titanomachy, but switched to a d6 system after some criticism by some friends regarding the d4. While I don't exactly like the d4 as a die, it just works so much better than a d6 for the design philosophy I have for the Survivor's Folly.
One of the things I noticed while writing up a brief essay on D&D's ability score and ability modifier system for new players at my table, I realized that ability score is not exactly necessary for play. Rather, the modifier maxes out at +4 at 1st level (with an ability score of 18) at least at my table and the ones I play at. This makes the d4 logical for rolling attribute scores in Survivor's Folly.
I've included an image from my Obsidian.md development journal:
There are, as you can see, four attributes. Each attribute can have a score up to but not exceeding 4. To determine attributes, you simply roll 1d4 four times and place the results in whatever attribute you want (there are other rule variants for attribute distribution, but this is the one with the most freedom).
My sample character was designed to be a close combat machine with that lucky 4 on the attribute roll.
Because of how fluid the d4 is for the way I originally wanted the attribute system to work in Survivor's Folly, I've decided to go back to the original system going forward.
What are your thoughts about this change? What is your opinion about the d4? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter.
