In FO:NV, there was a perk that gave the player a chance to knockdown enemies with appropriate melee weapons. My problem with it was that it was a fixed chance (10 and 5 % iirc) for success. Meaning a STR 10 character has the same chance as a character to knockdown either a STR/END 10 opponent or a STR/END 1 opponent.In other words, a burly man will have no easier a time to knockdown a little girl than a nerd has to knock down a supermutant, even if there were a difference in skill, so long as both met the minimum requirements to get the perk. So I set out to "fix" the perk by making the chance to knockdown a contested "roll" between the attacker's STR and the target's END (or AGI if it's higher) with the damage taken (higher dmg = greater chance for a knockdown), skill level, and luck weighing in a bit. Never finished it because RL conspired against me and i suspect even caused my old PC to implode.

The old formula was tentatively something like this:
IF Attacker's STR + DMG + Weapon type + Perk effect + Melee Skill factor + LCK > Target's END or AGI (whichever higher) + Melee Skill factor + Luck
THEN knockdown success

Anyhoo, nothing I've seen, heard or read so far makes me think that the perk system in Skyrim will handle things differently. A perk that gives a stun, knockdown, or other disable or effect would likely be given the same chance to proc regardless of the attacker or target. Without the old attributes, a hulking Nord would have the same chance to knockdown a troll as he would have to knock up..er down the local tavern wench. And the same Nord going head to head against a Bosmer with the same perk would be as likely to get knocked down as to knock the other down.

So I'm looking for suggestions to replace the old STR vs END (or STR or AGI, still undecided) contested roll I had planned. I suppose a check could be made against the health of the target, to reflect how hard he is to take down. But what "attribute" could replace the attacker's STR to determine his chance to succeed?

Also, this would be a whole lot harder if like in FO3 and NV, perks couldnt be attached to NPCs so here's hoping...

Umm you do know that there are no attributes in Skyrim right?

There is no strength or agility, so you can't change the formula that doesn't exist. The only thing you can check are skill levels.

This is why he's looking for suggestions to replace them.

Anything wrong with that sentence?

Maybe attributes are still there, just hidden from the player and increased automatically depending on your skills.

One could also make a custom set of attributes as global variables, but we'll need to see the scripting language and the UI before we know if we can easily add an attriibute display to the character sheets. If you don't want to go that far, I'd use the endurance / stamina as base for knockdown resistance.

That's what he's saying, he's looking for replacements.

edit: :ninja:

hmm i wouldve thought that even without reading the OP, the title would suggest I was aware the old attributes weren't in, thus the need for a "replacement".

@ JOG

hidden attributes would make things a lot simpler indeed. I suppose I'm looking for a backup in case they weren't. I'm curious about how practical custom attributes would be considering all NPCs would need to have them too.

EDIT: endurance/stamina sounds good. But that would be on the defender's side. What would be the counterpart for the attacker? i.e. that which wouldve been the attacker's STR, had there been attributes