Perk Ideas

tim-cain perks system-design character-building game-balance rpg-mechanics

Abstract

Problem: RPG perks are often just flat numerical bonuses (+5 here, +10% there) rather than meaningful mechanical changes that enable interesting character concepts.

Approach: Tim Cain shares ideas from his personal idea book for perks that act as localized mechanic overrides — swapping which attributes drive specific systems, inverting penalties into bonuses, and creating perk chains for unarmored characters.

Findings: Perks become far more interesting when they change how a mechanic works rather than just boosting numbers. A "Charisma replaces Dexterity for AC" perk enables barbarians, monks, Spider-Man, and Jackie Chan archetypes. A "Lucky Klutz" perk turns a saving throw penalty into a bonus. These ideas rarely ship because they're lower priority than crash bugs and core systems, and sometimes get shot down by team members.

Key insight: The best perks are localized mechanic changes — they modify one well-defined rule in a specific, conditional way, letting players build characters they've seen in fiction but couldn't previously create in the game.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz8EjZ7QTLc

Charisma Replacing Dexterity for AC

Tim's core perk idea: let a character use their Charisma modifier instead of Dexterity for Armor Class. This swap is strictly scoped — it only affects AC, not saving throws, initiative, item requirements, or anything else Dexterity normally governs.

This solves a real archetype problem. Characters like Conan (fur loincloth), monks (robes), Spider-Man (no armor), and Jackie Chan (unarmored but charismatic fighting style) all exist in fiction but don't work well in systems where AC depends entirely on armor and Dexterity.

The Perk Chain

Tim envisions this as a progression:

  • Perk 1: Charisma replaces Dexterity for AC
  • Perk 2: Dexterity bonus adds to Charisma for AC (now both stats contribute)
  • Perk 3: AC bonuses from Charisma/Dexterity are increased by a percentage (20-50%)
  • Perk 4+: Other attributes can feed into AC — Strength (you're so big you shrug off hits), Wisdom (so pious enemies target others), Intelligence (too clever to get hit)

This gives unarmored characters their own perk investment path, parallel to the heavy armor perk chains (reduce encumbrance, reduce penalties) that they completely ignore.

The Strength Variant

An alternative branch: your Strength damage bonus becomes damage resistance against crushing attacks. A big, burly fighter can still be stabbed or cut, but clubs and maces just bounce off. This avoids overloading the "hard to hit" perk chain while still giving Strength a defensive role.

The Lucky Klutz

A perk for low-Dexterity characters that inverts their saving throw penalty into a bonus. A character with -3 Dex modifier on saves now gets +3 instead. They're still clumsy — easy to hit, tripping over things, falling into pits — but when a Fireball goes off, they somehow take less damage. They fell into the spike pit but somehow missed every spike.

Tim also describes a perk that lets low Charisma function as high Charisma specifically for the AC perk chain. At the cost of one extra perk, your Charisma penalty becomes a bonus for AC only — you still suffer low Charisma in dialogue, reactions, and follower limits.

The Design Philosophy: Perks as Localized Mechanic Changes

The unifying principle: stop thinking of perks as flat bonuses. Think of them as small, conditional rule modifications. You have well-defined game mechanics, and a perk says "this one mechanic now works slightly differently, in this one situation, for this character."

This approach serves player agency — letting people build characters from fiction (drunken master monks, charismatic unarmored fighters, lucky klutzes) that the base system wouldn't support. It gives meaning to attribute combinations that would otherwise be suboptimal or pointless.

Why These Ideas Never Shipped

Two reasons, applicable to many cut features:

  • Priority: Perk revamps are lower priority than crash bugs, combat balance, loot tables, dialogue, and lore. Tim references his "Bugs in RPGs" video and his principle of not balancing until crashes are fixed. "Okay" perks stay "okay" when the game is still crashing.
  • Team pushback: Some ideas get shot down. One person called the Charisma-for-AC idea "misogynistic" (claiming it reinforces the chainmail bikini trope), despite Tim's intent being barbarians and monks. Tim doesn't force ideas as director — he respects his leads' judgment, referencing the "Arcanum 1-Point Fiasco" as a lesson in overriding team consensus.

References