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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Crazy Jerome" data-source="post: 5866981" data-attributes="member: 54877">Assuming a game where attack bonus and defenses do not automatically scale, sharply, is it possible to get more usage out of a class power progression built on accumulating minor but new abilities that gradually get better?  How much "power" customization do you need to make this work? For an example (which didn't much work in its own context, IMO), consider the ranger favored enemy mechanic where the ranger spreads out  his favored enemy bonus every few levels, but increases the earlier bonuses at the same time.  First level might be +1 versus goblins.  At 5th, the ranger bumps that up to +2, and also picks up +1 against a new group.  That's fine as far as it goes. However, between the first choices being made first and the later choice never going very high, the last few groups might as well have not been on there.  A +1 against "my fourth or fifth most likely enemy" at high levels hasn't been very impressive. This did not much work because it is pretty much the complete opposite of what spellcasters got:  New abilities that are powerful and spiffy--and oh, we'll throw in a few extra shots of your lower level abilities, which just got better too.  Power compounds (thus a great deal of what leads to "quadratic wizard). 4E got around part of this problem by providing a floor for any adventurer.  No matter what, you get this baseline of ability, through the +1 per 2 levels boost. There are some niche objections to that, but by far the biggest objection has been against"getting better at everything." But what if all abilities are pretty much on something like the old ranger favored enemy power progression?  Not that they all gain "+1 every few levels and pick up a new one at the same time at +1," but that older abilities get stronger and newer ones come in weak?  In a system where the scaling is sharp, why even bother.  But in a system where the scaling is more narrow, those weaker abilities might have some niche uses. The trick to this is also a way to "split the baby" on the "casters are magically wonderful" and the "casters should be sharply limited" camps.  Namely, casters would start out sharply limited, and grow magically wonderful over time.  However, things pulled in later would be more limited. For example, say this is done by something similar to the "schools" that have been in several versions. A wizard starts out not like a 3E sorcerer, nor a 3E wizard, not a 2E specialist, but rather picks a couple of schools only.  The wizard progresses in those.  After a few levels, the wizard continues to get better in those, but picks up a new school, appropriately weak for just having started it.  It's not compounded power, but situationally useful, and an investment in later levels--like the ranger's second favored enemy pick. Next post, some key mitigating factors for customization ...</blockquote>

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