What's the deal with the luck stat?

[Ellef]

Half the games with luck don't explain it, and the other half give you minor bonuses to crits or loot drops. In which RPGs do you actually feel the affect of a luck stat in a meaningful or unique way?

 

[Ulminati]

I always leave it in the middle and ignore it. RNG fudging stats aren't interesting to me.

 

[felipepepe]

I dislike Luck stats and always dump it, especially in Fallout.

 

[SCO]

Luck stat is a sign that the dev is trying too hard to stuff things into the character system. Especially since it's also a sign of random loot, a major decline source. Fallout made it ok, by making it campy (special encounters for both good and bad luck etc). If it's used as a systemic stat it's annoying but if used a special 'unlocker' it's just like any other script gate so not especially offensive and can make for some funny reading due to the nature of luck checks 'success - no competence required' (or the opposite, which can actually annoy, but that's your fault for dumping you dirty min-maxer).

 

[Mech]

I read your post in Sienfeld's voice.

 

[Drowed]

Actually, I do not remember any game where "luck" has a really interesting role. And that is a shame. Bonuses to crits or loot isn't much, really. As SCO pointed, Fallout took a extra step, making the luck stat interfere with random/special encounters. I always thought that it could be used in this way, perhaps even as a requirement to release certain events in the game: you would only find a certain character in a certain place if your lucky is above a certain value, otherwise, you would need to go elsewhere; you would find the doorman of a base sleeping during work, when normally he would sound the alarm if you get close enough, etc. That, and other "tragic" events (but never something like instant death) that would happen if your luck stat was too low.

The obvious downside of this kind of thing is that various events in the game would have to be created with luck in mind, which not only increase the work exponentially, but could also sound "unfair" for some players. And I don't think any company would invest as much patience and work on something like a single attribute, which in the end would make luck something that will always be underwhelming on some way.

 

[Somberlain]

In New Vegas luck also has a major impact on gambling.

 

[Rivmusique]

It makes your crit bar fill up faster, so you can activate critical hits more often.

 

[baturinsky]

In some tabletop system Luck is an ability to fudge rolls somtimes, ehich can be interesting.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Eh, I recall plenty of games where it was noticable. IIRC in FO2 it gave enough of a crit chance that, in conjunction with perks, you could make a build around it. Plenty of roguelikes give it major impacts as well. The difference in loot you get on a high luck character in Incursion, for example, is very obvious. And in games like Nethack or Adom it tends to have a huge impact on how safe and effective prayer is (In Nethack it's also a really powerful stat for combat, since you can crank it up to max fairly early.)

That said I've played games where the effect is vague or nigh useless as well, but that is true of pretty much any stat. Luck tends to be a dump stat a little more often, but it's by no means unique.

 

[Eirikur]

The Quest for Glory series was one of my favorites growing up, and I've replayed them countless times (even the shitty third one, for import purposes). Still completely clueless about what the luck stat did.

 

[Ulminati]

In some tabletop system Luck is an ability to fudge rolls somtimes, ehich can be interesting.

I'm OK with that kind of luck/fate, where is the player who chooses to be slightly worse on average in exchange for being lucky when it really counts. It just doesn't work well in computer games because you can just reload to achieve the same effect

 

[twincast]

There is not a single thing I despise more as an attribute/ability than Luck, not even Comeliness.
Partly because randomness is already covered exhaustively by gameplay (die rolls etc.)--and physical attractivity (other than face) can be derived (easily and properly) from other ability scores in the rare case it's needed.
But mostly because--unlike all other (physical/mental) attributes--neither of them makes sense as something you can increase through training/practice (preferably with genetic maximums).
There's a place for such factors in a trait system, though--particularly for noteworthily (un)attractive faces, but also for (un)luckiness by way of divine (dis)favor in settings that have deities (or at least benevolent/malevolent spirits).
As to how good/bad luck should be handled when present: Either reroll and choose the better/worse result, or increase the range of critical hits/misses. Stay away from affecting my loot!

 

[Agesilaus]

Luck is the worst stat, hands down. Who bumps this stat? People who are role-playing the movie The Man Who Knew Too Little? It's a shit stat that distracts from the enjoyment.

 

[theSavant]

In Heroes 4 luck made double damage. It was extremely overpowered and spammed on almost every attack at higher levels. Made you win almost any battle. I agree with SCO that it's obsolete, and a sign of too much shit put into character stats.

 

[SCO]

I'm OK with that kind of luck/fate, where is the player who chooses to be slightly worse on average in exchange for being lucky when it really counts. It just doesn't work well in computer games because you can just reload to achieve the same effect

Arcanum did a ok implementation of this concept with fate points. And those were earned.
Fate points is one of the very few things i wanted other crpgs to steal from Arcanum. No dice ofc.

 

[Neanderthal]

In an old Viking campaign I added Lucky and Unlucky as birth talents: Lucky giving an automatic success once every nine day in any situation the user wanted, but also giving a penalty to XP earned. Unlucky meant I could force a failure upon the holder once every nine days, but also gave him an XP boost.

In another game I also used a mechanic where Luck had to be earned through failure, so a player could fail a task voluntarily and earn a Luck point for later which he could spend to automatically succeed at a task. It required some careful GMing but overall it worked, without a GM to adjudicate though i'm not sure that Luck really works too well. Though SCO is right about Arcanum's fate points, really nice system.

 

[Hoaxmetal]

I could force a failure upon the holder

Sounds like regular GM to me.

 

[Ninjerk]

Sounds suspiciously like rape to me

 

[Scroo]

I usually also dump the Luck stat. "Luck affects everything a little and generally gives you a more positive outcome in several situations", yeah whatevs thx for the free attribute points

 

[Neanderthal]

Sounds like regular GM to me.

Got to admit it required some careful choice of situations so that the player didn't feel agency was taken away from him, but as an Unlucky man he expected misfortune to dog him, it often allowed greater rewards to eventually be revealed as well. Tried to avoid using it to railroad players, as I far prefer letting the narrative emerge from their actions, rather than BUT THOU MUST.

 

[kmonster]

I don't like if a high or low luck stat locks away encounters like in Fallout.

 

[markec]

In Battlespire luck was tied with amount of loot (beside standard bonus to all actions) you could find. Not only amount and quality of items in chests but also number of chests. If you made luck your dump stat there will be very few containers to find, which in a dungeon crawler with limited resources is quite punishing.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Plenty of room for well implemented luck resulting in a chance of something interesting happening. Doesn't have to be through a stat. D20 systemically includes luck in a simple but meaningful way. I like luck as a modifier tied to status rather than a stat.

 

[Lhynn]

I liked its use in cyberpunk. basically as flexible points per session that run out.