Ideas for disparate character power levels

[Morrus]

Say you want to play a TTRPG where there is zero concern for the PCs to be of equal power level. Maybe a superhero game with Superman and Batman in it, or The Doctor and companions, or Gandalf and the Fellowship.

So, given that premise, somebody (or multiple somebodies) gets to play a much more powerful character than other players are playing.

What mechanics can make that work?

Mechanics which grant the player stuff which isn't intrinsic to the character itself are one approach used by some games. A metacurrency like story points, fate points, whatever the game calls them. That can give the player agency and power without making the character more powerful. So Superman is directly powerful, but Batman has lots of metacurrency to affect the game.

What other methods are there to achieve this goal?

 

[Bill Zebub]

Really flat progression helps. Zero-to-hero does not.

The One Ring handles it pretty well, to a large extent because progression tends to improve effectiveness a lot more than survivability. Which means that in an encounter the “weak” characters contribute less, but can also handle getting targeted by adversaries.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Slower recharge rates for the superhumans.

 

[Umbran]

What other methods are there to achieve this goal?

One thing that usually helps is a design that encourages conflicts in which there's a lot of important things to do besides "punch the one big bad guy".

Another is a system with a broad interpretation of "power". If social, psychological, emotional, or relationship power is overall as effective as bending girders and spewing fire, then Jimmy Olsen can work in a game with Superman and be okay.

Mechanics that make killing difficult or otherwise discourage it.

 

[Tonguez]

Fate accelerated Approaches work, everyone gets to be good at their own thing and create advantages and aspects that can be exploited by the narrative using fate points.

Approaches are particularly good as theyre about character not skills

 

[BookTenTiger]

I wonder if you would need a mechanic for narrative control. Lois Lane isn't superhuman, so the radioactive robot isn't going to be punching her. The character playing Lois Lane needs mechanics that allow them to avoid a situation in which they are even getting punched in the first place.

I could see something like Fate's fate points being used.

For myself, I really like crunch. So it would be more interesting to me if Superman got feats like "laser vision" and "flight" and Lois Lane got feats like "in the right place at the right time" and "there's always a plan b" that allow her player to take control of the narrative.

LOIS: My "right place at the right time" feat lets me (the player) place obstacles in the path of the bad guy. As the radioactive robot walks towards me, a water main breaks, enveloping the robot in a huge geyser.

 

[Art Waring]

Underground RPG was one example of a game with a pretty comprehensive character creation chassis with the equivalent of super powers, and both the ability to push the limits or take drawbacks to offset the costs.

Basically, you could have one character maxed out with RES (toughness) and literally become a walking tank (unless you get pasted), while most characters are typically built along the midrange and are considered only mildly augmented in comparison.

Edit: Oops, I forgot to mention that there are several drawbacks to pushing your powers too far, characters (veterans) must take anti-stress drugs regularly, or suffer from mild to severe mental drawbacks depending on your chosen powers.

So, the walking tank is really big and bad, but push him too far and he will buckle under the mental stress and go "homicidal mania." Thus, why most players play midrange characters with more balance, but characters can still push the limits of their characters with consequences.

 

[Blue]

To me, it's the scale of punishment on failure. In a game like D&D where permanent(-ish) character loss is on the table it's really hard. In a superhero game where you are expected not to always be able to stop the foes plots every time and you just pick yourself up again it's literally nothing extra needed.

Marvel Heroic Roleplay can do a great buddy drinking night between Thor and Hawkeye where they get into all sorts of superpowered mischief, likely at least partially instigated by Loki. It doesn't matter that one is a highly skilled normal and the other is the god of thunder.

Same in the Masks: A New Generation game I'm running - literally if it came to full on PvP one character, our Nova, could incinerate the rest of the team. And probably a good chunk of the city at the same time. But the game isn't about that, it's about finding yuourself when everyone in the world has expectations on who you are. The mechanics don't care about X points of damage, they care if you are Angry or Helpless or Insecure, and what that does to you.

Fate has a nice damage mechanic. But as long as you are willing to lose the scene before the final force to lose the scene, you get to narrate how it happens. Does your body fall off the bridge and get washed safely downstream? Do you break and run away screaming? Do you fall unconscious, buried under lose dirt you can break out of when you wake? With a system like this, you can have characters of different power levels without much issue.

 

[aco175]

I kind of look at it in a Rocky/Apollo relationship. Rocky started out as a nobody and relatively quickly rose to be on the same level as Apollo. Apollo did not get any skills or powers since he started with them, but the new character got to pick several along his rise.

 

[MGibster]

Mechanics which grant the player stuff which isn't intrinsic to the character itself are one approach used by some games. A metacurrency like story points, fate points, whatever the game calls them. That can give the player agency and power without making the character more powerful. So Superman is directly powerful, but Batman has lots of metacurrency to affect the game.

This meta currency worked rather well for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel made by Eden Studios.

I think GURPS would just let the chips fall where they may. Batman isn't going to be as effective at punching things as Superman is, but he's got a lot going for him. He's good at figuring out what drives the bad guys and can use that against him, he can intimidate criminals who wouldn't be intimidated by Superman (because they know Supes won't hurt them), and of course he has the best superpower of all, money.

But then I remember a GURPS Supers campaign where I made a Batman analog that was greased rather quickly by some dude with a rifle. So maybe no the best example .

What other methods are there to achieve this goal?

Buffy/Angel also suggested the GM tailor encounters to the correct power level. i.e. Xander shouldn't be in a situation where he is expected to duke it out with Spike or evil Angel. Run away? Get captured? Sure.