[Boot Hill] Stats in the various editions

[Finarvyn]

I originally posted this at the K&K Alehouse back in 2006. Now that I have my own forum, I thought I would re-post it here.

Stats for 1E and 2E:
1. Strength (for hit points)
2. Speed (for first shot)
3. Shooting Accuracy
4. Throwing Accuracy
5. Bravery

Stats are generated by rolling percentile dice, with an extra bonus factored into PCs. 1E and 2E are percentile based.

Stats for 3E:
1. Stength (hit points again)
2. Coordination (replaces the two accuracy scores)
3. Observation
4. Stature (fame, etc.)
5. Luck

Stats are generated by rolling 2d10, and again an extra bonus is given to the PC.

3E does a lot more with Skills and such, but seems to lose some of the charm of the gunfight. I guess it's less of a combat game and more of a RPG, but most of my fond memories of BH go back to shootouts with a touch of plot here and there. Putting the plot above the action is just wrong, somehow!

[Finarvyn]

1E Stat Generation

Reminder that there are 5 stats, each acquired by percentile die roll. For PC's we get to add the following:
roll 01-50, add 10
roll 51-70, add 5
roll 71-00, add zero.

1E stats each have their own chart, so I need to look at each one in its own analysis. Rather than list each percent (this will be long enough without all of those details) I will list for each stat the major category breakdown given in the 1E rulebook along with the number (or percent) of NPC's and PC's that would fall in the range.

Speed … NPC … PC
Slow … 5 … 0
Below Average … 5 … 0
Average … 10 … 10
Above Average … 15 … 15
Quick … 15 … 15
Very Quick … 15 … 20
Fast … 15 … 20
Very Fast … 10 … 10
Lighting … 5 … 5
Greased Lightning … 5 … 5

Accuracy … NPC … PC
Very Poor … 5 … 0
Poor … 10 … 5
Below Average … 10 … 10
Average … 10 … 10
Above Average … 15 … 15
Fair … 15 … 20
Good … 10 … 15
Very Good … 10 … 10
Excellent … 10 … 10
Crack Shot … 3 … 3
Dead Eye … 2 … 2

Bravery … NPC … PC
Coward … 10 … 0
Cowardly … 10 … 10
Average … 15 … 15
Above Average … 30 … 35
Brave … 15 … 20
Very Brave … 10 … 10
Fearless … 8 … 8
Foolhardy … 2 … 2

Strength … NPC … PC
8 Feeble … 2 … 0
9 Puny … 3 … 0
10 Frail … 5 … 0
11 Weakling … 7 … 7
12 Sickly … 8 … 8
13 Average … 15 … 15
14 Above Average … 15 … 20
15 Sturdy … 15 … 15
16 Hardy … 8 … 13
17 Strong … 7 … 7
18 Very Strong … 5 … 5
19 Powerful … 3 … 3
20 Mighty … 2 … 2

Oddities in the data: rolling 46-50 is as good as 51-55, and rolling 66-70 is as good as 71-75. It all goes back to the way they add their points along the way.....

[Finarvyn]

3E Stat Generation

For an NPC in 3E, roll 2d10 for each of 5 stats:

All editions of BH have some form of extra bonus awarded to the PC compared to NPC die rolls when the stats are generated. Here's how it goes in 3E:

Roll 2d10 for each of 5 PC stats:
if roll is 2-5, add 5
if roll is 6-10, add 3
if roll is 11-14, add 2
if roll is 15-17, add 1
if roll is 18-20, add nothing.

Roll … NPC Prob … PC Prob
2 … 1 … 0
3 … 2 … 0
4 … 3 … 0
5 … 4 … 0
6 … 5 … 0
7 … 6 … 1
8 … 7 … 2
9 … 8 … 8
10 … 9 … 10
11 … 10 … 7
12 … 9 … 8
13 … 8 … 19
14 … 7 … 9
15 … 6 … 8
16 … 5 … 13
17 … 4 … 5
18 … 3 … 7
19 … 2 … 2
20 … 1 … 1

Not quite a "bell" shape for NPCs, but sort of triangular. It does focus more numbers to the center, however, which is what it is designed to do. This will generate stats with an average of 11. (With exactly 100 outcomes, each probability number is also its percent.)

This generates PC stats with an average of 13.38, and it doesn't have at all the "bell" shape you might expect.

Just some random follow-up thoughts:

1. I have no idea why +4 isn't included in the PC bonus chart. Seems like a quick fix.

2. A 13 is the most common PC stat to roll, followed by a 16 and then a 10. There is only a 3% chance to roll less than a 9, and a similar 3% chance to roll above an 18.

3. An oddity in the system: a PC rolling a 5 (+5) for a stat is better than the same PC rolling a 6 (+3).

Anyone else care about this?

[makofan]

If it's not spamming, I have a 3rd edition Boot Hill that would be free to anybody willing to pay the postage. It's almost mint, and the pull-out campaign map in the back is still attached.

[Finarvyn]

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