Max level (assuming human) 99
Stat parameters:
Health Points: Governs actual health. When it hits 0, you die! Max of 9999. If an attack overcomes your protective stats, no matter how small, it will cause a minimum of 1HP damage.
Strength: Governs general attack power. Ability to overcome obstacles. Physical power.
Dexterity: Governs accuracy/evasion. Higher likelihood of critical attacks. May affect perception.
Intelligence: Governs magical aptitude. Higher likelihood to solve problems easily. May affect magical resistance.
Stamina: Governs overall energy. Can be replenished with rest, food, potions, etc. When it hits 0, you can be effected by various conditions and become more susceptible to damage. The longer you go with low stamina, the more in peril you become! If you want to survive, keep this replenished!
Mana Power: Governs the energy to cast spells. Can be replenished by meditation, certain herbs, and potions. When it hits 0, a horrible migraine assails the user, and spells can no longer be cast. Mana is considered our noncorporeal essence made manifest - essentially, it's spirit power. Some magicians believe that if you die at 0 MP, your soul will be too weak and will be unable to move on to the afterlife.
The world is full of possibilities! Nature provides a variety of bounties. Natural items, or items not made by human hands, generally act on base stats. For instance, a healing herb can heal for 2 points. HOWEVER! When modified by human hands or higher tier crafting, these effects can become percentage based! That healing herb can become a healing potion that heals for up to %20 of HP! How useful!
In this world, experience is usually considered the energy of the world made manifest, collected by natural domination. Every act that bends the world to your will can provide experience points - adventurers kill monsters and protect the populace. Miners gain exp by collecting ore. Craftsmen collect it by crafting various items! If you think killing a goblin is the only way to collect experience points, then you'll be doing yourself a disservice. In this world, even a shut in can become level 99 with enough effort!
For those without the... need... to collect experience *cough* the protagonist *cough* there are special ways to employ experience points. The first is the conversion of experience into stamina and mana points. If done consecutively over a 24 hour span, the cost will increase exponentially until all EXP is depleted. The costs reset after a day has passed. Use this wisely!
NOTE: While the EXP system can create MP and Stamina, there is no way to use it to create HP!
The second potential use of EXP is experience transference. Specifically, the protagonist can transfer his unused experience to his companions. This is nonrefundable! Additionally, a level up gained using this method will not be as strong as a natural level up. You've been warned!
The final, and most expensive, of the experience system options is item creation. Using collected experience points, it is possible to trade them for raw materials. The quantity and quality of the materials vary based on the experience cost. Crafted items are not available using this system, but pure metals can be obtained. It is hypothetically possible to obtain pure metal ingots for the right price.
Skills: A brief explanation
Skills are, besides stats, the best way to gain power in this world. Acquiring a skill is relatively easy: You need simply perform an action with a desired consequence in your mind. This will generate the corresponding skill, assuming it exists. To refine that skill and make it more powerful, similar or more complex operations of the same skill must be repeated.
For example:
A man swings a hammer at a nail in a wooden wall. Because his intention is to modify the wall, he gains the woodworking skill. From there forwards, the skill will grow if he continues to work with or modify wood.
However! Your intentions will affect your skill gains! Let us return to the example:
A different man makes the same motion and hammers a nail into a wooden wall. Because his intention is to fix the nail, he gains the blacksmithing skill. This skill will grow if he continues working to modify metal.
On another note, normal skill levels go from 0 to 10. 0 shows that they've acquired the skill but they have made no progress refining it.
There do exist such things as special skills. Specifically, there are combined skills, specialization skills, and "divine gift" skills.
Combined skills are born from 2 or more similar skills, and usually give extra bonuses.
Specialization skills are born from complete mastery of a normal skill. These are very rare, but give an extreme boost compared to their original.
Finally, Divine Gift skills are something passed on only by blood. They are inherited and usually don't have a level associated with them. Some might refer to them as racial traits. They are named as such because these skills were said to be given by a deity at some point in time. The truth is shrouded in mystery.
That's it for my introductory brochure! Feel free to use this as a reference in the story going forward! There are many things I have left out, to be discovered by the characters later on. So, please enjoy!