Attributes (using Doyce Testerman's Holistic Stat System variant):

The biggest difference in the campaign is the holistic stat system, as inspired by Doyce Testerman's system. As he observed, the four stats in the Phage Press rules are stretched way too far, and Warfare and Psyche manage to outweigh Endurance and Strength. No more!

No stat exists in a vacuum. Every activity has one major stat that influences the outcome, and one stat that influences it to a lesser degree. We cover 8 basic activities - if an activity is not listed below then it is not rated by stats. So, yes, dancing is not rated according to any stat - how good you are is determined by your character's background, the role-playing and ultimately the story. The 8 areas holistic stats below represent only the most contended areas in a typical Amber game.

Holistic Stat

Formula

Description

Power

(P+P+E)/3

Your ability to use and channel raw power. Useful for most destructive forms of sorcery and powers, for forcing Pattern to erase a black road, for forcing or breaking a Trump contact, unleashing Primal Chaos, channeling destructive energies away from you, etc.

Finesse

(P+P+W)/3

Your ability to use power in a subtle fashion as well as overall sensitivity to your environment. Useful for manipulating shadow probability, sending out Logrus tendrils, sensing personal dangers, reading emotions, etc.

Brawn

(S+S+E)/3

Your overall muscle and ability to move things around outside of combat. How much you can lift, pull, push, or carry. A typical Amberite (0 points) can lift 8 times what a typical healthy human can lift (100kg), or about 800kg. Eric at ~100 Brawn can lift about 1600kg (or 2 times as much as a typical healthy Amberite). 

Fisticuffs

(S+S+W)/3

Your overall ability to create unarmed mayhem. A typical Amberite (0pts) is typically able to take on 8 trained combatants (Human Rank) as equals. Gerard at ~100 Fisticuffs can handle about 16 such thugs, assuming they could all get to him at once.

Willpower

(E+E+P)/3

Your overall ability to resist temptation, deprivation and discomfort. Useful for resisting sorcery that affects the mind, invasive trump calls, pushing yourself beyond bodily limits, etc.

Fortitude

(E+E+S)/3

Your overall ability to resist physical damage, fatigue, sleep,, illness and poison. A typical Amberite (0pts) is immune to most diseases, can sweat-off common toxins, heal a simple broken leg in four weeks, a nasty sword cut in the arm in 8 days, or a lost finger in 2 years. Corwin (~100+ Fortitude) can survive even virulent diseases at points of physical vulnerability, ignore most poisons (fugo makes him ill), heal a simple broken leg in a week, a nasty sword cut in the arm in 2 days or a lost finger in six months.

Swordplay

(W+W+S)/3

Your overall ability to create armed mayhem (despite the term 'swordplay'). A typical Amberite (0pts) is typically able to take on 8 trained combatants (Human Rank) as equals. Bleys at ~100 Swordplay can handle about 16 such foes.

Ranged combat is captured under Swordplay, but don't expect the GMs to make it easy to knock off fellow players from a distance – it has poor story value most of the time.

Strategy

(W+W+P)/3

Your overall ability to understand, plan for and execute tactical and strategic decisions, as well as organize a military, play chess, etc. It does not cover stuff like lockpicking, detecting personal danger or your ability to drive a car. A typical Amberite (0 pts) has the capabilities of great shadow strategists such as Alexandria, Julius Ceasar, Sun Tzu, Napoleon, Rommel and Patton. Someone of Bleys' ability (~100 Strategy) is capable of outthinking these same persons when at a disadvantage or handicapped.

Where P = Psyche, S = Strength, E = Endurance and W = Warfare

You cannot buy down to Human or Chaos ranks – these are reserved for NPCs. All of your four basic stats begin at 0 points, which is default Amber Rank.

Human Rank – the level of ability of most shadow dwellers.

Chaos Rank – the level of ability of most chaos demons (but not the Lords of Chaos), hence the name. Roughly four times as strong, combat capable, tough, psychic sensitive, etc. as Human Rank. Many paragons of human virtue fall in this range. This is the maximum Rank a human may have in Brawn, Fortitude, Fisticuffs, and Swordplay.

Amber Rank – the default level of ability of Amberites and Lords of Chaos. Roughly eight times as good as Human Rank, twice as good as Chaos rank. This is the maximum Rank a human may have in Power, Finesse, Strategy and Willpower.

Ranked – generally runs from 1 to 100 points, though it is open-ended. Most of the signature Elders (Fiona, Bleys, Corwin and Gerard) have their stat at 100 or so points (Benedict is in a class by himself).

Each 25 points for stat means an additional 50% increase in performance over Amber Rank. Thus, having a 50 Fisticuffs means you can engage 100% more (or two times the) opponents in a fair fight than someone of Amber Rank Fisticuffs.