There is an other option.

mastery or expertise.

Go with the term that has aquired common usage by the folks that built it. Perk

Frankly, I don't remember perks in my pen and paper RPG days, but honestly that was the dawn of time (more than 20 years ago)

Storm

Lets not kid ourselves by believing Bethesda scoured PnP rulesets for a good term and just so happened to find one that describes a system eerily similar to that found in their other popular franchise that, by extension, would be easier to implement than an all new system.

To avoid veering off topic, I like abilities, but I'm pretty sure we still have "ability" as a term to describe permanent magical effects. If that's been changed, I'm all for abilities.

I voted for perk, though I wouldn't be opposed to feat. The rest of the terms are too narrow.

For everyone who likes "perk," ...perk is something you get in addition to something else, idk, it's like calling it a "bonus" or "free prize." I prefer the term Ability, because that's what all these are.

The ability to bypass armor.
The ability to cause damage-over-time bleeding.
Your new position within the Fighter's Guild comes with the perk of reduced armor repair cost from guild members.

Not bothered. It's what it does in the game that matters,not what it's called,at least to me anyway.
Stick with perk,whats it matter.

Agreed - I always associate the word "perk" with a small benefit you get for your position, not by ability (eg you get to have your own parking place, or you have an office instead of a cube).

I don't revolve my life around video games, so I guess the "other games call it that" arguement doesn't fly for me. I like a proper description which best describes what it is.

However, whatever they call it, I will still enjoy Skyrim based on the fun, adventure and the quality of the experience.

Storm

The term perk is always good, it just seems to me like Feats would fit better in Skyrim bliviongate:

As long as the system is good I don't really care what they call it. :shrug:

I like Perk, I know what it means. Besides I like "perky" girls.

I wouldnt mind Trait either though.

Perk to me sounds like an umbrella term. It fits if everything uses this label. Otherwise we could have racial abilities, character traits, skill talent/moves/proficiency (depends on the skill), and award/challenge mastery, all of which are still perks.

You included too many alternative options so perks won. :rofl:

yeah screw perks. i want all the weapons to simply be different models and not have their own unique effects.

You could call it a sedan.

But I could really care less what they call them. Just not trait.

Perk is the most accurate description for what they are from the list, and I can't think of a better word other than maybe "bonus" which doesn't sound better.

Some will be passive bonuses so things like "ability" or "talent" don't really work.
Trait doesn't make sense as it implies it's genetic or behavioral.
Mastery implies, well, mastery of a skill or ability I guess, which some perks will definitely not be, and may not even relate to specific abilities or skills.
Gain just sounds bad.
etc.

Perk is the only thing that encompasses all of the different types of bonuses.

I think the whole system should just be renamed to a 'skill tree'. Because that's pretty much what it is.

Ability is easily the mos accurate description. What the hell does perk mean anyways, it means a benefit of something. I suppose it's a benefit but by that logic you may as well call weapons "perks"

It's an ability because it's a talent you have developed.



Hmm, that's even better.

Perks are for Fallout, though they were misnamed there. Feats are for D&D 3rd(+) Edition and were similarly misnamed. "Ability" suits the subject matter much better, as it applies to having the ability to do something you may not have before.

A perk is a one-time benefit that comes along with something owed you; in this case it's a level. It's short for "perquisite." Ugly word. However, a perk isn't necessarily useful beyond its initial receipt. Most often it's just a neat-o burrito, mosquito one-off.

A feat is something you have finally accomplished, but it's over once you've done it - until you do it again. It's a noteworthy event. Do it often enough and it drops in status from a feat and is now an ability, since you are able to do it reliably. The only exception I could find was a reference to an obsolete definition that refers to a feat as synonymous with a particular skill or knack. Since abilities don't go away and you can do them any time you wish after acquiring them, the name fits.

In the modern world of HD, I certainly hope gamesas isn't considering saving UI space by going with a name because it has less characters.

I do agree that a passive statistic boost isn't an ability, so another name may be needed. I wouldn't mind descriptive sentences like, "Your hard work honing your abilities has paid off, as your XX is now increased!" or "Your hard work honing your abilities has paid off, as you are now able to YY."

I am completely indiffrent, but I don't see why you care. It is not a huge part of the game. It is just what we call those things we get every level. Its like debating whether it should be called ep, xp or exp. It seems silly to me. It is what it is and the name changes nothing.

Feat for the win.

I like feat.

I don't care for the term perk either; I'd prefer "boon."

The message I see is that 28% like the term "perk" and 72% want something else.

Storm