Initial attributes

There are six attributes, and I need to determine my initial level for each of them. To do this, I need to list out the total number of points necessary to achieve various levels. That should give me a pretty good idea about how far along I am.

1. 0XP
2. 300XP
3. 900XP
4. 1,800XP
5. 3,000XP
6. 4,500XP
7. 6,300XP
8. 8,400XP
9. 10,800XP
10. 13,500XP

Strength:

Okay, so to be fair, this is probably my weakest attribute. That's not to say that I'm weak, just that it's one that I work the least on. I do get exercise, usually in the form of walking or biking, and those contribute to strength and constitution. Other than that, I currently do very little.

In the past, I've done a fair bit of dancing, and before that, Taekwondo and fencing, but I feel that those are too far removed from the present to really count for much. Still, they helped me achieve a certain baseline level of physical fitness.

I'm going to put my current level at 3 for strength. I'm not starting from scratch, but I have a significant way to go.

Dexterity:

I feel like this is one of my stronger attributes, at least on a small-scale sense. It's not that I'm particularly flexible--that's a kind of dexterity that I greatly need to develop. My strength is in manual dexterity. I can type very fast, I can crochet, I can write and do many other things ambidextrously. Plus, the dancing I've done has left me at least somewhat light on my feet. Still, the lack of the overall physical component of dexterity keeps me from claiming a seriously high level. I'm setting this one at level 6.

Constitution:

I consider constitution to have two main components: health and endurance. My health is decent, but not perfect. I need to eat better, and I need to lose some weight. Over the last year, I've brought my weight down from 238 to 216 lbs, and although that's significant, my target is an even 200 lbs, which seems reasonable for my height (6'2"). And although I don't eat badly by any means, I'd like to do more cooking and fall back on frozen lunches less and less.

As for endurance, this is one of my strengths, physically speaking. Most of the exercise I get comes from walking or biking, as I mentioned before, and those tend to increase endurance. But those are relatively low-impact types of exercise, and my endurance is very low when it comes to higher impact activities.

As a result, I'm setting my constitution at 4. Good, but needs improvement.

Intelligence:

At the risk of sounding egotistical, this is probably my most developed attribute. I study languages for fun, read the Smithsonian magazine cover to cover, and get lost in Wikipedia entries about arcane bits of history. I once taught myself statistics for the hell of it. Understand that I'm not trying to say I'm super intelligent, merely that my own natural inclinations lend themselves towards developing this attribute more than others.

In other words, I'm a nerd. It's okay, I'm cool with that.

In setting my intelligence at 8, then , I'm mostly just trying to make it that much harder to reach the next level. And it's nice to have one high attribute, right?

Wisdom:

There are several components to wisdom that I think are relevant here. The first is a spiritual element. I am a Christian, and the pursuit of greater understanding of Christianity is something I feel contributes to wisdom. For that matter, study of any religion, or even atheism, should contribute towards wisdom as well. And that opens up the topic into the broader range of philosophy, a subject that I would really like to study more.

I believe wisdom also has to do with emotional intelligence and the understanding of people and emotions. Here, the line starts to blur a bit with charisma. As far as this blog is concerned, I consider the internal understanding of people to be in the realm of wisdom, and the active use of that knowledge to fall under charisma.

Based on these criteria, I think I'm no slouch, but have some progress to make. I'll give it a 5.

Charisma:

There are three separate aspects to charisma, as I'm going to define it. The first is physical appearance. I'm not talking about looks per se--I've got what I've got, and I'm happy with it. I'm talking more about hygiene, mode of dress, style, stuff like that. Could I use a makeover? Probably. I got off the fashion train back in college. So that's something to think about.

The next element is people skills. How do I deal with other people? Do I treat them well, understand them, get along with them? How well do I work with crowds, small groups, one on one? Unlike most self-admitted nerds, I think I do pretty well in this regard. I have no problem with public speaking, and have a pretty good speaking voice. I may not be stellar here, but I feel like I'm at least above average.

The final element is self-confidence, which is, in a way, the very heart of charisma. I have gone through periods of extremely low self-confidence. I think I reached my nadir in 8th grade. Since then, I've built up certain aspects of my confidence to a very high level, while leaving it low in others. Building up my self-assurance should be a priority. Overall, then, I'm giving myself a 4 in charisma.




So, on my next post, I start figuring out my current skills and skill levels. Won't be long now before I'm done with the character creation stuff and can move right on into leveling up.