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Attributes

Every Operator is described by six attributes (called "ability scores" in classic D&D 5E). They run from 8 (basic fitness, can carry a rucksack) to 18 (peak human, Tier-1 selection-cleared). Most rolls in the game add an attribute's modifier to a d20.

These are the same six attributes used in classic D&D 5E, so the math will feel familiar - what changes is the flavor. Strength is "deadlift the casualty" not "swing a greatsword," Wisdom is "read the room and the rooftop" not "commune with nature."

Modifier Table

The modifier is what you actually add to rolls. The score itself only matters for a few things (HP at 1st level, encumbrance, the point-buy in Character Creation).

Score Modifier
8 -1
9 -1
10-11 +0
12-13 +1
14-15 +2
16-17 +3
18 +4

Formula: modifier = (score - 10) / 2, rounded down. Identical to classic 5E.

The Six Attributes

Strength (STR)

Raw physical power: lift, drag, breach, climb, hold a doorway shut against a body slamming into it.

  • Attack rolls: Melee weapons (knife, bayonet, rifle butt) and thrown weapons.
  • Common checks: Athletics (climb, swim, jump, grapple, shove), brute-force breaching, hauling a casualty under fire.
  • Saves: Resist being grappled, shoved, or physically restrained. See Saving Throws.
  • Carry: Encumbrance is tracked against STR (see your character sheet).
  • Example moments:
    • Pulling a wounded teammate out of an upturned vehicle while it leaks fuel.
    • Kicking a reinforced door off its frame when the breaching charge is two rooms away.
    • Holding a collapsed beam up long enough for the medic to drag a casualty clear.
    • Wrestling a combative detainee to the ground during a snatch.
    • Carrying a SAW with a full belt load across two klicks of broken ground without dropping pace.
    • Climbing a knotted fast-rope hand-over-hand in full kit.

Dexterity (DEX)

Speed, fine motor control, and trigger discipline.

  • Attack rolls: All ranged weapons (firearms, launchers, thrown grenades) and finesse melee. The most-rolled attribute in the compendium.
  • Common checks: Acrobatics (keep your feet, regain balance), Sleight of Hand (lockpicks, pickpockets, palming), Stealth.
  • Saves: Dive for cover, dodge a blast, avoid falling debris. Most "the explosion just went off" rolls are DEX saves.
  • AC: Adds to AC in Lite armor and most Medium armor (per Armor).
  • Initiative: Initiative is a DEX check.
  • Example moments:
    • Dropping a fresh mag into the well while moving to the next piece of cover.
    • Threading a shot between two hostages at a chokepoint.
    • Picking a padlock in 30 seconds with the patrol two corners away.
    • Fast-roping out of a hovering helo onto a rooftop in crosswind.
    • Driving a panel van through a roadblock without losing the mirrors.
    • Cinching a tourniquet one-handed in under ten seconds.
    • Slipping past a sentry's flashlight cone by going prone in a ditch.

Constitution (CON)

Stamina, pain tolerance, raw bodily resilience.

  • Hit Points: HP at 1st level = 10 + your full CON score. Each level after 1st adds 1d10 (or 6) + CON modifier.
  • Common checks: Hold your breath, run for hours, stay awake on a 36-hour OP, resist the cold.
  • Saves: Resist poison, disease, shock damage, suppression effects, and the worst of a blast wave.
  • Example moments:
    • Lying motionless in a ghillie suit for eighteen hours of overwatch.
    • Coming up out of a cold-water insertion still able to shoot straight.
    • Pushing through the second day of a multi-day patrol on three hours' sleep.
    • Staying conscious after a flashbang at close range.
    • Eating a CS-gas exposure during a room clear and continuing to call targets.
    • Walking out under your own power with a through-and-through that should have you on the ground.

Intelligence (INT)

Education, reasoning, recall. The professional-knowledge attribute.

  • Common checks: Investigation (read a scene, work a clue), History, Nature (terrain, weather), tech analysis, demolitions math, language and codework.
  • Saves: Resist mental intrusion, deception, illusion, and disorientation.
  • Skills picked at 1st level: Number of starting skills = 2 + INT modifier. INT pulls weight at character creation even for non-techs.
  • Example moments:
    • Identifying a hostile rifle by the cyclic rate alone.
    • Computing a P-for-Plenty charge for an unfamiliar steel beam in your head, with the breach window closing.
    • Cross-referencing a captured phone's contact list against the target package on the fly.
    • Setting up an encrypted squad net on borrowed civilian radios.
    • Recognizing a vehicle's make and trim from a half-second glimpse on CCTV.
    • Reading a blueprint in a foreign language well enough to find the load-bearing walls.

Wisdom (WIS)

Awareness, intuition, situational read. What separates a competent shooter from one who survives.

  • Common checks: Perception (the most-rolled skill in the game), Insight, Survival, Animal Handling, Medicine.
  • Saves: Resist fear (Shaken), charm, and being talked into something stupid.
  • Passive Perception: 10 + WIS mod + relevant training. Used constantly by the GM for ambush, stealth, and "do you notice."
  • Example moments:
    • Catching the glint of a scope on a rooftop two blocks away.
    • Spotting freshly-turned soil beside the road and calling the convoy to halt.
    • Reading a checkpoint guard's body language and clocking that he already made you.
    • Knowing the wounded teammate is downplaying it and Triage Code is worse than they're saying.
    • Predicting the weather window will close before exfil and pushing the timeline up.
    • Holding your nerve when a fragmentation grenade lands in your foxhole and there's still a play to make.

Charisma (CHA)

Force of personality. Command presence on a friendly element, intimidation on a hostile one, talking your way past a checkpoint.

  • Common checks: Intimidation, Persuasion, Deception, Performance (cover identity work).
  • Saves: Resist effects that would suppress your sense of self - mind-control narratives, deep coercion, breaking under interrogation.
  • Leadership: Unit Leader features key off CHA.
  • Example moments:
    • Talking a nervous border guard out of asking for the second set of papers.
    • Selling a journalist cover story to a militia commander who already half-suspects you.
    • Giving a brief that gets a tired, banged-up squad back on their feet for the second objective.
    • Breaking a detainee in the first ten minutes without laying a hand on them.
    • Holding a cover identity at a three-hour social function full of people who would shoot you.
    • Negotiating safe passage with a village elder when the translator just walked off.

Compared to Classic D&D 5E

  • The six attributes, the modifier formula, and the +0 baseline at 10 are unchanged.
  • DEX is even more dominant here than in classic 5E because almost all weapons are ranged.
  • CON drives HP harder: at 1st level you get your full CON score in HP, not just the modifier.
  • INT is not a dump stat. It controls your starting skill count and most tradecraft (demolitions, comms, tech).
  • WIS does the work that Perception/Insight do in classic 5E - there are no nature spirits, but there are snipers on rooftops.
  • CHA is rare-roll but high-stakes. You don't bard your way through a fight, but you do talk your way through a checkpoint.