Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 7788678" data-attributes="member: 53980">I would just try to balance the activities to a reasonable degree. Activities that can be equivalent should be. (Don't have +1 FIT and +3 FIT competing in the same space.) Aim for rough equivalence with activities that grant disparate bonuses.If the system has any real level of complexity or choice (which is what it sounds like you're aiming for), there is virtually no way to balance it perfectly. I mean, how many points of stress is a temporary +3 bonus to FIT worth? The answer is subjective.If things aren't lining up, find a filler bonus. Maybe grant one or more Inspiration for activities that carry lower benefits otherwise. When I first joined my gaming group years ago (2e) their tradition was that they would award individual XP bonuses at the end of each session for good role play. The upside was that it encouraged people to role play. I'm a very quiet person in general, but once I took note of the fact that I could level faster by speaking up, I did! The downside was that receiving the low reward could spoil someone's night, and it also encouraged spotlight hogging.There was a particular character that a friend of mine played who didn't speak. He gesticulated and made faces, but he never spoke. As a result, the DM at the time awarded him very little XP for role play, which made him visibly upset. The DM simply responded that he hadn't role played much. I'm not certain whether it was because the DM was looking at his notes and therefore didn't see the gestures, or if he simply didn't consider it to be role playing. Personally, I thought he was doing a fine job role playing his concept, and would have probably awarded him extra XP had I been the one behind the screen. He retired the character after that, and brought in a more standard concept that I've long since forgotten the details of.That event is one of the reasons I ended up changing the rule in my games to group XP. Good role playing gets noted in a pool. At the end of the night, the pool is tallied up and everyone receives the same reward. Good role playing still contributes to leveling faster, but it now does so for the entire group.My point being that I think your concern valid. It does happen. If some activities are significantly weaker than others, role players may feel punished for taking the weaker option. Worst case scenario, you could discourage role play based decisions or players might even decide to bring in characters whose interests align with the more beneficial activities. As such, I recommend not having weak options (insofar as you can manage). Direct equivalence isn't necessary, but if you step into a player's mindset and compare two options and one of them outright sucks, it should probably be improved.</blockquote>

Verification