Aptitude System

The Quill · Post by **The Quill** » 01 Aug 2025, 23:36

Aptitudes

Aptitudes show your character’s overall strengths. They act as guidelines for what your character can reasonably do when interacting with other players or NPCs, but you only need them in moderated threads.

Penwick has six Aptitudes: Physique, Intelligence, Charisma, Spirit, Agility, and Sorcery, each rated from 0 to 16.

When you create a character, you distribute a pool of Aptitude Points (AP) across these six stats. The amount you receive depends on your character’s age and Origin.

Aptitudes matter most in moderated threads and sports. In those situations, your Aptitude in the relevant area is added to a single roll of a ten-sided die (d10) to determine the outcome. More AP in an Aptitude means better odds of success. You can also choose (but are never required) to use Aptitudes in regular threads if you want to add luck or resolve conflicts fairly.

Physique
Characters with a high Physique are stronger, more resilient to disease and poison, and can endure greater amounts of pain or discomfort for longer stretches of time. A strong Physique doesn’t have to mean a muscular character; you can flavour it however you want.

It also sets your Health Pool (Health Pool = Physique * 100), which matters in moderated threads where your character can be knocked out (reach 0 or negative health).

Intelligence
Intelligence reflects how quickly and accurately your character understands information. High Intelligence means better problem-solving, pattern recognition, planning, and noticing details others miss. Intelligence can be thought of as one's reasoning ability, but also covers things like intuition and observation. It also helps resist Charisma-based influence. Emotional and social awareness are not part of Intelligence; they fall under Charisma instead.

Charisma
Charisma is your character’s social skills and ability to influence others through charm, persuasion, likeability, intimidation, or manipulation. High Charisma makes it easier to sway other characters, though highly intelligent characters can resist. You can flavour Charisma as charming, threatening, manipulative, etc., but you are expected to be consistent with how you choose to play your character's charisma.

Spirit
Spirit represents inner strength, focus, and mental endurance. Characters with high Spirit are able to overcome gruelling obstacles, set aside their fears, and push themselves to perform great feats through willpower alone. It also makes their spellcasting more reliable due to their increased focus, and provides resistance against fear, intimidation, or mental manipulation.

Agility
Agility covers speed, reflexes, accuracy, and dodging ability. Characters with high Agility are more nimble and graceful than others, allowing them to move quickly out of harm's way or hit a target with greater accuracy. High Agility may also translate into greater running speed, allowing a character to outpace others.

Sorcery
Sorcery determines the power and effectiveness of your character's spells. A spell cast by a character with high Sorcery will have a greater effect/do more damage as opposed to a character with low Sorcery.

The Quill · Post by **The Quill** » 02 Aug 2025, 06:00

Starting A New Character

When you create a character, you receive a set number of Aptitude Points (AP) to distribute across the six Aptitudes. Your starting AP amount depends on your Origin and can be found in your Origin AP Table.

For example, a first-year Balanced student starts with 36 AP. If you split them evenly, you'd have 6 AP in each Aptitude, which translates into your character being a fully functional, but generally unskilled person.

Your character gains more AP each year (in July), and you can assign those points however you want.

Aptitudes range from 0 to 16, but some stats cannot be set to 0 because that would make the character non-functional:

Physique may not be 0, as this would mean your character is dead or unconscious.
Intelligence may not be 0, as this would mean your character is utterly oblivious to their surroundings and would likely be walking into walls.
Charisma may be 0. You are allowed to lack any sense of social grace.
Spirit may be 0, but your mind will likely shatter at the slightest setback.
Agility may be 0. If you want to have the reflexes of a brick, we'll let you, but you are going to get hit by stuff. A lot.
Sorcery may not be 0, as this would mean you are a squib or a muggle.

Aptitude Scale:

Spoiler (click to show)

Below you can get a rough indication of what having X amount of Aptitude Points invested in an Aptitude translates into.

Points	Tier	Description
0	Incapable	You are completely untrained or naturally deficient in this area.
1	Feeble	You struggle even with basic tasks and often fall short of expectations.
2	Very Poor	You show minimal ability and are often outclassed by others.
3	Poor	You’re noticeably below average and easily challenged in this area.
4	Below Average	You show some competence but lack reliability.
5	Average	You meet general expectations for someone your age.
6	Competent	You handle most common situations with confidence and consistency.
7	Capable	You are above average and show promise beyond basic expectations.
8	Skilled	You are well-practiced and perform impressively in standard situations.
9	Talented	You stand out among peers and can perform well even in high-pressure scenarios.
10	Excellent	You are highly impressive and frequently relied upon for your ability.
11	Exceptional	Your prowess is rare, often admired or respected by others.
12	Extraordinary	You exceed almost all others in this field and are frequently superior.
13	Heroic	You are renowned for your skill and at the limits of what most people think possible.
14	Masterful	You are so masterful that you make it look easy.
15	Prodigal	You are a once-in-a-generation talent. Tales are told about people like you.
16	Legendary	You are at the peak of mortal potential and nearly mythic in capability.

Aptitude Point Caps

When you create a new character, you will get a number of Aptitude Points to start with. You may then distribute these AP freely (with some minor limitations) across the various Aptitudes. These limitations are called "Caps", the maximum amount of AP you can have in one Aptitude. You can see what your AP caps are in your Origin AP Table.

A character can only "break" a given AP Cap by taking a special ability that allows them to break it. Most Origins are capped to a maximum of 13 Aptitude Points in any given Aptitude.

Because you are unrestrained in your allotment of Aptitude Points from third year on out, you are able to play a student character who is prodigiously good in a particular Aptitude (like being highly intelligent, or highly charismatic). However, the cost you pay for doing so is that you will be lacking AP in other areas.

Earning More Aptitude Points

Each year, as your character graduates into their next year at Penwick or simply exists for another year as an adult, you will gain additional Aptitude Points.

You can view your AP caps in your Origin AP Table.

The Quill · Post by **The Quill** » 05 Aug 2025, 11:00

Rank

A character's rank is calculated by summing all their invested Aptitude Points together. Rank is not an absolute measure of a character's capabilities and say nothing about the outcomes of conflicts since dice rolls provide an element of luck/chance which can change the balance of power. That said, rank is useful to have a rough idea of where characters sit in relation to one another.

The Aptitude system has a few hard limits built into it. These are:

The hard limit for player characters is a rank of 96. Under no circumstances can this limit ever be breached, even if some loophole were to be discovered that would permit it; this hard limit overrules it. The number 96 is calculated from 6 Aptitudes with a maximum of 16 points in each (6*16).
The hard limit for moderator-controlled NPCs (not including staff characters) is a rank of 99.
A character with a rank of 100 would be a god. This is out of reach of players and out of reach of moderator-created story NPCs. In other words, you will never see a character with 100 Aptitude Points.

It should be noted that a well-educated adult in this setting who has gone through both school and university would likely wind up with a rank in the low 70s. Player characters are the exception in this setting; they are the ones who can (through hard work and dedication) reach into 90s territory. Legendary NPCs like the founders of Penwick and staples of HP lore like Grindewald, Merlin, Voldemort, and Dumbledore all rank high, but even they barely manage to rank in the 90s territory.

You are not obligated to list your character's rank or think much about it. Rank is merely meant as a quick indicator in moderator scenarios of the level of threat players might be facing.