Language Matters

See what I did there? It's both a clever title (we are discussing matters of language) and suggesting that this discussion is of some import (since, you know, language actually MATTERS). Oh, the cleverness of me.

I digress.

I'm cleaning up language throughout... a while back, someone pointed out how often I used the word 'take'. At the time, I didn't think it was that big of a deal. I see it now. I cannot UNSEE it. Ouch. In addition to these sorts of editing clean-ups, there are some bigger issues around language - in fact, there's a pretty significant one I want to solve.

In the development of the game years ago, I shied away from the word 'powers' in describing your character's abilities, because I wanted to include normal skills in there too - sneak can be a skill you've learned or a superhuman power you've developed; it works the same either way. I don't want to label things as skills that are actually superhuman powers, but I don't want to suggest that the local cat burglar who has burglary and sneak somehow has superhuman powers that drive his petty thievery.

I settled on traits. Then, I settled on talents as the special things that you can do that are more narrow in scope, or which directly affect other things. Getting a +1 to ranged attacks from being a trained marksman is a talent; your basic ability to fire a weapon is a trait. The problem is that they are both words that start and end with t, so I'm always confusing the two as I write and think about it. They are both kind of general terms that could, theoretically, be interchanged. Your talents could be your traits, and your traits could be your talents, and nobody would be the wiser. I don't like that they are both such vague terms, and that they are so similar to each other. Thesaurus to the rescue! I can actually keep one - as long as the other one changes. Talent feels more narrow (I don't think of firing blasts of energy from my hands as a talent; talent implies something you learn to do, or a quirky thing you can do that nobody else can - both of those implied meanings align pretty nicely with the things that appear on the talents list). I also like talents because it is a FASERIP word, so I like keeping those whenever I can (which means I still need a place to bring PSYCHE into the game).

That leads us to the need to change talent. Here are some options:

Enhancement. This is a little clunky, but it works. You can have enhanced existing stuff (sneak, running) or enhanced new stuff (energy bolts and flight). The problem is that having an attribute like STR or DEX rated beyond 13 is also technically an enhancement. Other words like enhancement that have the same problem are things like upgrades, boons, endowments. Ugh. All of these are clunky. 

Advantage. I like this better. It implies something special you have that gives you an edge. It's got roots in other games. It still feels a little narrow, but it's better. I like that it has a positive connotation, while trait has a neutral connotation. These are things that help your character. Aptitude has a similar vibe to me - but it's also a little clunky. Edge also feels like it has the same issues. ("my character's edges are... sharp?")

Gifts. I like this even better. It has a positive connotation, it is pretty general, it's easy to remember, and it could be natural, imbued, learned... they are things you receive in some way. Gifted implies somehow special, but it could be in any number of ways.  I also like the sort of mythical/Biblical sensibility to it; the gifts of the spirit are pretty broad and expansive. I am leaning towards this one. Thoughts?