Sierra: Arcanum - The Game

ou begin the game with either a pregenerated character (one of several different characters that come with the game), or you can create your own character. You can modify your character by selecting a different gender and race, if desired, and then can optionally select a variety of backgrounds based on the race of your choice.

Some sample backgrounds include being raised by snake handlers, which increases your starting poison resistance but decreases your beauty due to the large number of bite scars on your arms and legs. Another example would be an orphan halfling who was abandoned in the city as a child and never received an education, so your starting pick-pocket skills would be high but your intelligence would suffer accordingly.

Race and background both alter the starting levels of the character's stats and other abilities. You can adjust the starting values of your character's stats as long as the character point total remains unchanged. When finished with adjusting your character's stats, you can purchase starting equipment.

A character has 4 physical and 4 mental stats, each covering the areas of power, skill, resistance and appearance. In terms of both physical and mental realms, Power represents raw strength, Skill represents default ability, Resistance represents the amount of invulnerability to damage, and Appearance represents how you appear both physically and mentally to others. The 8 stats are

Physical Mental

Power Strength Intelligence

Skill Dexterity Perception

Resistance Constitution Willpower

Appearance Beauty Charisma

These stats cover a broad range of characteristics in the game, but they can be described briefly as

Strength - The raw, physical muscle power of the character, Strength determines how much damage the character can inflict and how much he can take. Some weapons have a minimum strength requirement to operate them effectively.
Dexterity - The overall body coordination of the character, Dexterity affects the character's default ability in more skills than any other stat.
Constitution - The endurance limit of the character's body, this stat determines the character's fatigue and resistance to poison.
Beauty - The physical appearance of the character, this stat affects the initial reaction of people to the character and also affects the character's ability to seduce them.
Intelligence - The mental power of the character, Intelligence affects several skills as well as being the limiting factor in the character's learning of spells and technological skills.
Perception - The ability for the character to notice his surroundings, Perception also affects the character's ability to use ranged weapons effectively.
Willpower - The ability to resist mental influences, this stat affect the character's ability to haggle and his resistance to certain spells and skills. Willpower also contributes to the character's hit points and fatigue, by allowing him to ignore some of the damage taken.
Charisma - the sum of the personality and charm of the character, Charisma affects the character's ability to persuade others and change their initial reaction to him.

Each stat ranges from 1 to 20, and the human average is 8. It costs 1 character point to raise a stat, and having a stat of 20 is considered a rare event. Achieving this high level in a particular stat earns you a bonus, such as a double damage bonus for a 20 Strength stat or immunity to poison for a 20 Constitution stat.

Aside from Basic Stats, the character has several derived stats that are impacted by the level of your Basic Stats.

From Strength, the character derives the following stats: Hit Points, Carry Weight, Damage Bonus, and Throwing Range.
From Dexterity, the character derives their Speed and their Armor Class Adjustment.
Constitution is used to derive Fatigue, your Heal Rate, Poison Resistance and Poison Recovery Rate.
From Beauty comes a Reaction Modifier, impacting how other people react upon your first meeting.
Charisma tells you the Maximum Followers you can have in a game at any given time.

Pouch An additional derived stat, Magical/Technological Aptitude, is based on the amount of character points you have spent on magical spells and technological skills. A character with more points in spells than in technological skills is said to have Magical Aptitude, while a character with the reverse situation (more points in technological skills than spells) is said to have Technological Aptitude.

As a character's Magical Aptitude increases, he can learn more spells and use magical items more proficiently. However, technological items work less well, either when used by him or when used on him. Similarly, as a character's Technological Aptitude increases, he can use technological items more proficiently. However, spells and magical items work less well, either when used by him or when used on him.

You begin the game with five basic resistances that can range from 0 to 95%. Most races begin with a 0% in each resistance except poison resistance, which starts at a level based on Constitution.

Damage - This is a general resistance to damage caused by weapons and physical attacks.
Fire - This is resistance to damage by fire and spells that produce fire.
Electrical - This is resistance to damage by electricity and lightning from spells or technological devices.
Poison - This is resistance to damage caused by any kind of poisoning, whether natural, man-made, or supernatural.
Magic - This is resistance to magic, similar to that provided by Technological Aptitude. However, unlike Technological Aptitude, magic resistance does not affect the your use of items or spells - it only impacts on how these magickal items are used against you.

Armor, background, race, potions, and magic can modify all resistances.

As you progress through the game, you will have several stats that change. These game-acquired stats include the following:

Level - Level advances reward you with character points to spend on skills, stats, and spells. The maximum level in the game is 50.
Experience Points - You begin the game with 0 experience points, and you gain experience as you defeat enemy monsters and solve quests.
Alignment - You begin with a neutral alignment, and your actions will eventually lean towards a Good or Evil alignment. Alignment affects how some people react to your character and may also restrict you from using some spells or magical items.
Reputations - Each character may acquire a reputation during the game based on his actions. Reputations and alignment are related, as both can affect a person's reaction to the character, but while alignment tends to shift continuously, reputations tend to stick, so think carefully before you decide to rescue a baby from a burning building or push an old man beneath a speeding carriage.
Fate Points - Characters begin with zero fate points and may acquire them through the completion of heroic deeds.
Character Points - These are acquired at each new level and can be spent to raise stats and skills and to acquire new spells.
Poison Level - You start with a zero poison level, but this can change if you are bitten by poisonous creatures or struck by envenomed weapons.
Age - Every character starts at age 20 and will gain a year after each game year.
Gender - You can start as male or female, and this selection will most likely not change during the game. Gender choice affects some dialog options and quests solutions and very little else. Not every playable race within Arcanum has two playable genders, however (no female dwarves with the game this time.)