Difficulty Table Confusion

[pjrake]

Before I ask my question, a quick background...

Got out of D&D 3.0 and switched to Savage Worlds. Looked into 4E but felt it was a bit complicated. Now Essentials came out and picked up the Rules Compendium and the Heroes book.

I remember how DC table worked previously, but now they have it in levels. I'm a bit confused as to how it works. I really enjoy that SW only have one Target number: 4, but it looks complicated figuring out a DC with all the levels.

If a 1st lv character attempts something his DC is, let's say 11. But if a 10th lv character attempts the same thing, his DC is 19? What am I doing wrong here?

Thanks!

-PJ

 

[ValhallaGH]

You're assuming that the DC automatically changes with character level. It doesn't.

The table is so that you know the relative level of a given skill DC, and how challenging it is. Climbing a specific tree is always a DC 16. If you're 1st level then that's a bit of a challenge. If you're 21st level then it's flavor text. A challenging 21st level climb is the Cliffs of Insanity after they've been coated in acidic teflon slime (~DC 35).

DCs only change if you still want it to be a challenge. In that case, the flavor text needs to change too. Just like in 3.0, having a harder climb implies that something is very different. Maybe the cliff is made of sand, or is covered in eternal napalm, or something else but it is significantly different and much more difficult. Only major heroes need apply.

Does that help?

 

[AngryMojo]

The big thing to remember about that table is that it's a guideline, not a hard and fast rule. Instead of the same task getting more difficult as you level (and I've seen many people who interpret it as such), it's more like an idea of what the DC's will be based on who would have a difficult time with it.

For example, how about the endurance skill?
A mid-heroic tier character would have a moderate time with resisting the effects of a steaming jungle for a day. So this would be a moderate difficulty check. By the time that same character is a mid-paragon hero of nations, enduring the heat of a mere jungle is much easier, hence the same difficulty is now under the easy column. The jungle hasn't changed, the DC is still the same, but the PC has.

By mid-paragon, the character is now walking through the Plague Jungle of Marzobar, where bubonica is transmitted by mosquitos. For such a great hero, this is a moderate task, but for those heroic level characters getting too big for their britches, it's difficult to impossible. Same endurance DC's for each, but the characters doing it are different.

At epic levels, even the Plague Jungles of Marzobar are simple to endure, and that steaming jungle is downright trivial. Now Marzobar is an easy task, and the steaming jungle doesn't even require a roll due to it's trivial nature. Instead, a moderate task would be enduring the heat of the Ash Sea of Magma in the elemental chaos, where temperatures exceed 300 degrees and it rains liquid fire. For a demigod like a level 25 PC, this can be accomplished, but not always. That paragon hero of the realm will have a difficult time, living, and must make more breaks in cool climates to live. Heroic street heroes will be incinerated. Same DC all the way around, again.

That's what the table represents, it's what should be a challenge to what level character. I do hope this helps.

 

[malraux]

Before I ask my question, a quick background...

Got out of D&D 3.0 and switched to Savage Worlds. Looked into 4E but felt it was a bit complicated. Now Essentials came out and picked up the Rules Compendium and the Heroes book.

I remember how DC table worked previously, but now they have it in levels. I'm a bit confused as to how it works. I really enjoy that SW only have one Target number: 4, but it looks complicated figuring out a DC with all the levels.

If a 1st lv character attempts something his DC is, let's say 11. But if a 10th lv character attempts the same thing, his DC is 19? What am I doing wrong here?

Thanks!

-PJ

The way to think about it is the level is really the level of the thing in question, not the character. The shorthand of level of the character = level of the challenge is just a simplification so you don't have to worry about if the Cliffs of Ultimate Doom is a level 22 cliff or a level 25 cliff.