Alright, so my largest group has been playtesting some new mechanic ideas that I thought I would share with all of you, and see what you think. Note that we've only been playtesting them for about a week and a half, so the concept might still be rough, but I think you'll like what I have. Anyways, during a game we had an issue where the group had to move a large crate, protecting it during the process. During the conversation, the players tried to figure out which one of them could lift it best. Three of them had the same Somatics score (a flat, a dragonfly, and a worker pod all with a SOM total of 20), but common logic dictated to me that they should not be equally capable of carrying the crate. I ruled that the worker pod would be the most capable, but then we had this mild argument over how and why they wouldn't be equally capable. It ended with me just saying "because I said so as GM", but I honestly felt like I wish there was a more concrete reason, if only concrete enough to set in stone which morphs are stronger. So after reading the rules for a bit, I came to a simple realization; the only statistic innately tied to your morph and completely unattached to your ego is Durability. I decided that rather than trying to make a new stat (as that would mean reviewing all morphs and figuring how to grant this new stat to each one), I decided that the new mechanic should just be derived from Durability... maintaining the simplicity of the mechanics. In essence, I used Durability to represent not just hardiness, but sheer mass and girth. Morphs with higher durability are larger, heavier, and therefore more capable of the exertion of strength than smaller morphs with lower durability. I was simple and finally described an entire aspect of morphs that has otherwise gone completely untouched. I decided that this new attribute, Force Value, should be based on both Durability and Somatics... one representing the force your body can apply due to mass and strength, and the other representing the extra force you apply by sheer mental focus (a couch potato sleeved in an olympian should not be able to lift as much as an athlete sleeved in an olympian). Basically I just added the two together to get your FV. It functioned based on two principles: [list][*]Force Value is concrete enough to compare and contrast individual characters, so that you can better understand how strong each one is. [*]Force Value is abstract enough that the GM won't have to tie specific weights to any given Force Value. It just gives enough information so that the GM can make an informed decision in any scenario based on how much they feel Force Value should apply.[/list] At our next game, I brought the new mechanic to the table and used it. Things moved a bit more fluidly in situations where strength was a factor. No one argued over who was stronger, because now we had a concrete answer on the topic. Moreover, it answered some previously confusing aspects of the game, like how much more a group of flexbots merged together can haul as opposed to a single flexbot. All in all, it was a success. Sometime last week, I realized that the other mechanic tied to Somatics, Damage Bonus, was previously (due to a clerical error) tied to Durability. It made me actually think for a second... now that I've actually tied Durability to mass, tying durability to your ability to deal damage in melee combat makes much more sense. Even at the same Somatic score, a punch from a fury should hurt far worse than a guy in a flat, simply because the fury is built for fighting. I decided to consolidate the two... Force Value became [(DUR + SOM) ÷ 10], and replaced Damage Bonus in all respects. We playtested it again at our next game using the modification, and I came to a few more conclusions. [list][*]The new Force Value, with its much smaller number, felt more abstract in the minds of the players. They tried even less to tie it to real weights and measures, so it very much just became an abstract gauge for physical strength. [*]While I was afraid it might unbalance melee combat, I found that it only added 3-4 more damage in almost every scenario. Mathematically, the most it could possibly add is another 7-8 damage... and only in very unlikely circumstances (Reaper morph with tough level 3 has a +7.5 modifier to Force Value, which is the highest I've found so far). All in all, it made melee slightly more potent, but raised the bar on all sides. [*]This new usage of Force Value also clarifies things that were previously confusing. Heavier morphs now hit harder as they should. 100 merged flexbots now actually hit with the force of 100 merged flexbots (never take on 100 merged flexbots in hand-to-hand combat!).[/list] The mechanic ended up a total success. My players have accepted it for the purposes of defining strength, those with melee characters love it for the slight boost in damage, and I have had far less headaches when dealing with applications of strength. So, now I ask what all of you think (especially the devs). Is this mechanic good? Should I actually try to tie concrete strength values to FV rather than leaving it largely abstract? Is it good enough to become a core mechanic of the game? Please let me know... I would love to improve and alter this mechanic so that it suits the game most optimally. It would especially be awesome if this got written into the game!