Not just another source of numbers
Part of how they're distinguished is their area of applicability, of course, but there should be something a little more than that, and I wanted to put it in writing.
Capabilities
- give you descriptors, which…
- make certain actions possible
- give PCs Twists if you're an NPC
- give overwhelming superiority for brute force actions
- allow you to participate in certain conflicts you otherwise couldn't
- represent enhancements built/bred into your body/mind
- no longer represent training in the case of cog & meta; that's getting removed entirely to Expertise.
- can represent actions built in at the instinct level
- provide points and reserve
Expertise
- represents training and experience
- allows you to participate in certain conflicts that you normally couldn't
- in extreme cases gives you a descriptor that feeds Twists from NPCs to PCs.
- provides points and double reserve
Core Values
- provide reserve, but typically not points
- do provides points to resist changing themselves
- open up the highest level of expertise
This is assuming I stick with Reserve instead of Escalation. If I switch to Escalation…
- Capabilities provide one Escalation token at level 2, two tokens at 4, and three tokens at 8.
- Expertise will provide one token at 4 and another at 8.
- Core Values will provide one token at 8, and you'll still be able to use CV in a reserve-like way.
- Expertise will act in some way to cap your totals, so you can't use all your Capability potential at once if your skill sucks.
