Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Hot Take: Uncertainty Makes D&D Better
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 8924745" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>I'm not talking about overall power level, but power <em>difference</em> between characters of different levels and-or skills.</p><p></p><p>If the highly-skilled higher-level character has an 80% chance of succeeding at task X while the unskilled low-level character has a 10% chance of succeeding at the same task, the way I'm defining it that's a +70% difference between those two characters.</p><p></p><p>Unless I've been reading you wrong (always a possibility!) you'd rather see the high-skill high-stat high-level character have a 100% chance of success while the low-level low-stat unskilled guy has 0% chance; ie. a 100% difference (which is the maximum possible). In other words, you're looking for a steep power curve.</p><p></p><p>And when comparing between otherwise identical characters of adjacent level, the size of that % difference taken as an average across all levels (to account for uneven jumps, tier advances, etc.) generally indicates the steepness of the power curve built into that system.</p><p></p><p>A real quick way to eyeball this at least for combat purposes is to take a typical low-grade monster (let's say, four Orcs) and figure out the range of character levels to which they'd present a viable threat without being either pushovers or a near-guaranteed TPK; and then to take a more significant monster (say, two Frost Giants) and repeat this process. A wider range of character levels points to a flatter overall power curve.</p><p></p><p>Another quick eyeball test is how well the system handles characters of different levels running in the same party. Flatter power curve = more tolerance for level variance.</p><p></p><p>3e had a very steep curve. 1e and 5e don't.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 8924745, member: 29398"] I'm not talking about overall power level, but power [I]difference[/I] between characters of different levels and-or skills. If the highly-skilled higher-level character has an 80% chance of succeeding at task X while the unskilled low-level character has a 10% chance of succeeding at the same task, the way I'm defining it that's a +70% difference between those two characters. Unless I've been reading you wrong (always a possibility!) you'd rather see the high-skill high-stat high-level character have a 100% chance of success while the low-level low-stat unskilled guy has 0% chance; ie. a 100% difference (which is the maximum possible). In other words, you're looking for a steep power curve. And when comparing between otherwise identical characters of adjacent level, the size of that % difference taken as an average across all levels (to account for uneven jumps, tier advances, etc.) generally indicates the steepness of the power curve built into that system. A real quick way to eyeball this at least for combat purposes is to take a typical low-grade monster (let's say, four Orcs) and figure out the range of character levels to which they'd present a viable threat without being either pushovers or a near-guaranteed TPK; and then to take a more significant monster (say, two Frost Giants) and repeat this process. A wider range of character levels points to a flatter overall power curve. Another quick eyeball test is how well the system handles characters of different levels running in the same party. Flatter power curve = more tolerance for level variance. 3e had a very steep curve. 1e and 5e don't. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Hot Take: Uncertainty Makes D&D Better
Top