Attributes define your natural gifts, the raw level of talent that you start with before you begin adding experience and skill gained through your life.

Attributes are vitally important to the mechanics of the game; typically, when you make a roll to determine the outcome of some action you attempt, you include one Attribute with your roll.

Attributes, like most other concepts in Leverage, are rated by dice, from d4 to d10. When you create your Crewmember’s Rap Sheet, you assign all six of your Attribute’s dice ratings. The available die types are defined by choosing one of several standard arrays of die types. If you need to, take another look at “What Do Dice Mean?” (page 19).

Focused: Two dice each at d10, d8, and d6. Choose this array if your Crewmember specializes in certain areas over others.

Versatile: One die at d10, four at d8, one at d6. Choose this array if your Crewmember is more wellrounded.

Arrange the available dice in whichever manner makes sense to represent your natural abilities.

There are six Attributes: Agility, Alertness, Intelligence, Strength, Vitality, and Willpower. Read over the descriptions; you’ll see that every Attribute has a social aspect. That’s important, especially if you’re someone who feels safe ignoring one side or the other. On a Leverage Crew, everyone has to step up and con someone at one time or another. So it’s important to consider how your Attributes affect how you perform that sort of task.

Sometimes there’s overlap between things two different Attributes encompass. During a Job, the Attribute that gets rolled in those cases depends on how you describe what you’re doing. Are you listening carefully to the tumblers clicking over in the safe’s lock? That’s Alertness. Have you memorized all of the standard safe codes for major models, and try those first? That’s Intelligence. Same task, different Attributes.

Physically, Agility represents your grace and quickness, your kinesthetic sense. If you have a high Agility, you might be really good at throwing and catching, climbing and leaping, balancing and running. This also encompasses fine motor control, so delicate lock opening, pocket picking, stage magic, and defusing a bomb might be done with Agility. Physically agile people are good sculptors, athletes, and mechanics.

Agility’s social component also deals with grace and quickness, but of language rather than hands. Talking in circles to confuse the Mark, distracting someone with a joke, the flim-flam fast-talking misdirection. Socially agile people are often good salespeople, politicians, and stand-up comics. It’s about 90% body language and non-verbal cues.

Alertness is how good you are at noticing things that are hard to see; in this sense, its social and physical components blend together. Alert people have keen senses and a good intuitive understanding of the way things should be. So much so that they can tell when things are not as they should be. Used in reverse, the insight it gives helps inform efforts at illusion, disguise, and misdirection—making things and people appear to be something they’re not. Alert people make good night watchmen, computer network analysts, and stage magicians.

Intelligence is related to knowledge, memory, logic, and facts. Knowing the facts and being able to recall them without hesitation informs how to alter those facts convincingly, so (in this business, anyway) being smart helps you with lying. Intelligent people make good computer security experts, technical salespeople, and Job planners.

Strength is several things. It measures your ability to apply brute force, true, but more than that it measures natural ability at throwing a punch or finding the right handhold for a long climb. Physically strong people are often good athletes, soldiers, and piano movers. (What? They are!)

Strength has a social and mental aspect to it, as well. Use it socially for aggressive presence and intimidation. Mentally, it can represent an athlete’s or mechanic’s intuitive understanding of the more subtle points of applying force, such as using leverage and imbalance to your advantage. Many socially strong people are bodyguards, law enforcement officers, and organized crime figures.

Vitality measures your health and fitness. Expanding from that, it’s your endurance (how many flights of stairs can you climb before collapsing from exhaustion?), your toughness (can you take a punch and keep going?), and your resilience (how long can you go without a good night’s sleep?). Physically vivacious people make good long distance runners, boxers, and outdoorsmen.

Socially, Vitality can indicate enthusiasm (real or manufactured), patience, and determination. It measures your ability to hold people’s attention and seem interesting to them. Socially vivacious people often make good motivational speakers, politicians, and coaches.

Willpower encompasses your self-esteem, force of personality, and determination. This can represent a social presence or “soft” intimidation ability, how well you appear to be confident and in control. It can also impact your ability to be sincere and persuasive. When you lie for a career, telling the truth takes some work sometimes. People with good Willpower can make good preachers, politicians, and other leaders.