- 11,393
- 13,149
Hello there, and welcome to something I've been meaning to inquire about for a very long time. Simply put, our stamina page I feel is lacking somewhat, and from the general consensus I've had while asking people in private, there seems to be some agreement on that.
Now let me preface this by saying, yes: I know stamina is left as a vague and non-standardized statistic intentionally. I don't necessarily disagree with that, entirely. But at the same time, we have many, and I assure you, there are many, profiles that are using the same wording for very different feats. That part, the page does make an attempt to warn people against, but I don't think it's evident enough.
I suppose you can brush that off as an arbitrary issue, but that ignores the purpose of having the rating in the first place.
Another problem I feel is the inherent lack of distinction between stamina feats. Let me explain what I mean by that by providing an example: in Neon Genesis Evangelion, Angels possess an organ in their core which is called an S2 Engine (or Super Solenoid). This organ effectively functions as a perpetual motion machine that allows them access to limitless energy. That's limitless stamina, as would be agreed by most people.
However, on the other hand, if an Angel's Core is destroyed, that's them dead. They don't possess the capacity to get back and keep going after that, despite having limitless energy. Now while you can say "well duh, you're removing the Core and therefore the thing that provides them with the limitless energy in the first place", but that is ignoring the point. There is a marked difference between endurance and the ability to take damage and keep going.
That's also not mentioning mental stamina in the equation as well, as Ultima pointed out in a DM.
So all this, and what is my proposal? Well I'm open to them as they come, but at the very least there needs to be at least some measure of standardization of values, even if it's as simple as "human", "peak human", "superhuman". Failing that, outright banning the use of summary words and leaving just the description would be preferable.
On the topic of endurance, tolerance and mental fortitude, while I don't propose splitting up different kinds of stamina, for that would be unnecessarily drawn out and needlessly complicated, I would put more emphasis on said split in the page itself, so as to at the very least make the community more mindful the split does exist.
Now let me preface this by saying, yes: I know stamina is left as a vague and non-standardized statistic intentionally. I don't necessarily disagree with that, entirely. But at the same time, we have many, and I assure you, there are many, profiles that are using the same wording for very different feats. That part, the page does make an attempt to warn people against, but I don't think it's evident enough.
I suppose you can brush that off as an arbitrary issue, but that ignores the purpose of having the rating in the first place.
Another problem I feel is the inherent lack of distinction between stamina feats. Let me explain what I mean by that by providing an example: in Neon Genesis Evangelion, Angels possess an organ in their core which is called an S2 Engine (or Super Solenoid). This organ effectively functions as a perpetual motion machine that allows them access to limitless energy. That's limitless stamina, as would be agreed by most people.
However, on the other hand, if an Angel's Core is destroyed, that's them dead. They don't possess the capacity to get back and keep going after that, despite having limitless energy. Now while you can say "well duh, you're removing the Core and therefore the thing that provides them with the limitless energy in the first place", but that is ignoring the point. There is a marked difference between endurance and the ability to take damage and keep going.
That's also not mentioning mental stamina in the equation as well, as Ultima pointed out in a DM.
So all this, and what is my proposal? Well I'm open to them as they come, but at the very least there needs to be at least some measure of standardization of values, even if it's as simple as "human", "peak human", "superhuman". Failing that, outright banning the use of summary words and leaving just the description would be preferable.
On the topic of endurance, tolerance and mental fortitude, while I don't propose splitting up different kinds of stamina, for that would be unnecessarily drawn out and needlessly complicated, I would put more emphasis on said split in the page itself, so as to at the very least make the community more mindful the split does exist.
Last edited: