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Message: <blockquote data-quote="77IM" data-source="post: 4617394" data-attributes="member: 12377">To clarify, only the damage bonus scales; no other bonuses scale.  I agree that the scaling damage is problematic, but I don't want to remove it because I want the system to be as flexible as possible and damage bonuses often seem appropriate.  +2 also isn't a very impressive damage bonus.  I've thought of increasing it to +5, but don't want people to confuse it with an extreme stunt; or changing it to +2 per die (instead of increasing with tier), but that raises questions about magic missile and falchions and other multi-die powers.The theory behind the DCs is that players will probably pick stunts that relate to their best skills and abilities, and that if they do, they should have a better than 50% chance of succeeding.  Thus, the following matchups are possible:Skill check vs Hard DC (from DMG p.42):  If you are trained in the skill and have a reasonable ability mod, your bonus+10 should exceed the DC.Skill check vs Monster defense:  Monster defenses are in the general neighborhood of the Hard DC but don't always match up, depending on the monster and on the defense you are up against.  This is often favorable to the PC at low levels, but nasty at high levels.  I like using defenses, though, because they make sense and are pre-calculated.Skill check vs Monster skill modifier +10 (basically, the monster's "passive skill"):  This depends heavily on whether the monster has that skill or not.  If the player is using their best skill, few monsters will be able to match them -- but many monsters will have crappy opposed skills, so this is often greatly in the PC's favor.  The DM can mitigate this somewhat by picking the best of several monster skills (like, the monster can use Athletics or Acrobatics, whichever is better; or Perception or Insight, whichever is better).Ability check vs Medium DC (from DMG p.42):  This has less variance than skills because there's no possibility of a +5 Trained bonus.  However, if you are using your good ability it should still be in the PC's favor.Ability check vs Monster ability modifier +10 (basically, the monster's "passive ability"):  If the PC is using their best ability, and the monster isn't using their best ability, this is usually in the PC's favor.  But, there's a lot of variety in monster ability scores, so this one could be risky for the PC.It's tricky because skills, abilities, attacks, defenses, and AC all have slightly different "offsets" (e.g., AC and weapon attacks tend to be a few points higher than non-AC-defenses and implement attacks), and rise at different progressions (e.g., monster defenses go up with level, but skills with 1/2 level, so a player needs to really pump a lot of feats and magic items into their skills to keep pace).  Also, if you allow players to target the monster's weakest skill, that's a huge advantage.If anyone has suggestions to improve this aspect of the system, I am all ears.  I value keeping the system flexible and quick to use over mathematical precision, but I also want to make the stunts balanced, so that they are not too easy or too hard. -- 77IM</blockquote>

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