bell notificationshomepageloginNewPostedit profile

Topic : What are good words to refer to the condition of objects? In RPG games objects such as weapons or armor have a certain durability represented by a number. For example a sword has 100/100 Durability. - selfpublishingguru.com

10.05% popularity

In RPG games objects such as weapons or armor have a certain durability represented by a number. For example a sword has 100/100 Durability. After it becomes 0/100 it means the object is broken.

I want some object condition names like Perfect, Chipped, Good, Broken. I can't think of anything else. I want to have a name for every 10% of durability.
I plan to use them for weapons, armor and accessories. Can anyone help me?


Load Full (5)

Login to follow topic

More posts by @Speyer920

5 Comments

Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best

10% popularity

Since you will be using these conditions to describe a variety of weapons, armor, and accessories, the adjectives need to be applicable to all three categories.

That keeps it simple for you, and keeps it simple and consistent for whoever is consuming the story you're creating.

With that in mind, here is my proposal, though I may be returning to make edits.

100% - Pristine
90% - Unblemished/Undamaged
80% - Durable
70% - Tested
60% - Blemished
50% - Worn
40% - Damaged
30% - Weakened
20% - Fragile
10% - Compromised
0% - Unusable

I'll admit, I want a better word for 90%, but I was happy to keep these concise and digestible, all at one word apiece.

Take what you will, ignore what you must.

EDIT
Also, courtesy of Easy Tiger's comment below, here are some meaty options that more than deserve to be considered: scuffed, tarnished, battered, worn-out


Load Full (0)

10% popularity

In the famous game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Item wear is expressed in 5 (not 10, too bad ;) ) qualities:
Battle-Scarred, Well-Worn, Field-Tested, Minimal Wear and Factory New.
You might want to use them as a template or add a few more to match your 10% steps. You can draw some inspiration from other games which use item wear.


Load Full (0)

10% popularity

I have to agree with User2877 about using adjectives like slightly, mostly, completely, etc. Perhaps you could also add descriptive example words after the category title to demonstrate what conditions are included in that group

New could be followed by shiny, polished, etc.

Highest quality would include strong, hard, durable, etc.

Poor or Very Used may be described with chipped, broken, rusty, etc.

If using categories like Hardest to Softest, you could include familiar examples of specific objects or materials that provide a good mental comparison to the object you are describing (ie diamond, rubber, steel, fur, etc)


Load Full (0)

10% popularity

Usually adjectives are grouped into pairs of opposites such as "good and bad" or "light or dark". We don't really have a word for "10% good" or "70% light", in fact all words that might fall in between the extremes usually have specific meanings: "murky", "grey", or "ashen" all fall somewhere between "light" and "dark", but they aren't one of them more or less bright than the others but rather express different ideas about "neither light nor dark".

If you use existing adjectives to express a meaning they do not commonly have, you will confuse your readers. In your example, I'm not sure whether "good" or "chipped" are supposed to be harder; to me something chipped might still be good, so both might even refer to the same level of hardness.

A better idea for a scale of hardness, instead of finding one adjective for each level of the scale, would be to use pronouns in combination with adjectives in the same way that psychologists do when they construct Likert scales.

Here is an example from a psychological test, illustrating what I mean:

In the same way you could create a scale of hardness:

soft
very soft
somewhat soft
somewhat hard
very hard
hard

If you use additional pronouns such as "most" or adjectives such as "extremly" to further differentiate that scale, you can create 11 different levels of hardness.

You could also use the Mohs scale of mineral hardness as an example and use numbers.


Load Full (0)

10% popularity

What kinds of objects are you naming? Not every word makes sense for every kind of thing, for example you wouldn't call a coat "polished" or "rusty" (or "chipped"), but you might a sword.

It's not too hard to come up with a few general adjectives, such as tattered, damaged, mended, mint, pristine, flawless or even just old and new. The problem you'll likely run into with 10 different designations is that it won't be obvious which ones are better than others, especially around the middle.


Load Full (0)

Back to top