SableWyvern
Hero
I mentioned some time ago on the Mongoose boards that I'm not happy with the standard d20 distribution of power when applied to the sort of game I want to run with Conan.
A poster over there mentioned the option of capping level progressions, and sent me to Ryconada's thread over here. After I gave a lot of thought to the implications of higher level characters in the game world, I came to the conclusion that the exponential increases in power worked contrary to what I am looking for in a gritty game, which is what I want Conan to be.
While the Conan version of d20 goes some way to levelling this field with its use of a lowered massive damage threshold and increased weapon damage, I do not believe it has done enough to suit the style of play I am looking for.
At the same time, I do not want to impose too many limits on feats and special abilities available to the PCs, and have no interest in taking things to the extremes Ryconada has done (although I very much like his system as it is, it doesn't meet my particular requirements). Thus, I am looking at implementing the following alterations to level progression in my own game:
For levels 1-10, there will be no change, except for HP progression, which will follow a fixed progression for all levels, as follows:
Level......d12......d10......d8......d6
1..............12........10.......8.......6
2..............10.........8........7.......6
3................8.........7........6......5
4................7.........6........5......4
5...............6..........5........4......3
6...............5..........5........4......3
7...............5..........4........3......2
8...............4..........4........3......2
9...............4..........3........3......2
10.............4..........3........2......2
11+*.........4..........3........2......1
(d12 included for monster HD).
*Conan already uses a fixed hp progression after level 10.
This results in exactly an average hp gain over the first ten levels, with the largest gains early. Ignoring Con modifiers, a Level 3 character has approximately half the hp of a Level 10 Character, while a level 6 character has approximately half the hp of a level 20 character. For a precise summary:
HD........L3........L6........L10.........L20
d6.........17.......27........35...........45
d8.........21.......34........45...........65
d10.......25.......41........55...........85
d12.......30.......48........65..........105
This already goes a long way towards limiting the distance higher level characters get from lower level ones.
The larger change is to end BAB, Save, Magical Attack and Defensive progressions after level 10. Skills, feats and special abilities will continue to be acrued normally. For the purposes of meeting the pre-reqs for feats and combat manouevres, characters can assume the progressions continued normally (eg, a 14th level Soldier stuck on +10 BAB can treat his BAB as +14 to meet pre-reqs).
I am not sure whether to retain ability increases past level 10, but I am thinking that I probably will. I will almost certainly add a feat allowing a +1 increase to BAB, for Fighter BAB classes that really want a third attack.
The end result is that high level characters continue to become tougher and more versatile, without reaching virtual invulnerability.
An important note is that only humans will have advancement capped at level 10. Other things gain BAB, Save and all the rest past 10 HD (note that most adversaries will be human, the purpose here is to ensure that supernatural critters will rightly be Things To Be Feared).
Thoughts, opinions, criticism welcome.
A poster over there mentioned the option of capping level progressions, and sent me to Ryconada's thread over here. After I gave a lot of thought to the implications of higher level characters in the game world, I came to the conclusion that the exponential increases in power worked contrary to what I am looking for in a gritty game, which is what I want Conan to be.
While the Conan version of d20 goes some way to levelling this field with its use of a lowered massive damage threshold and increased weapon damage, I do not believe it has done enough to suit the style of play I am looking for.
At the same time, I do not want to impose too many limits on feats and special abilities available to the PCs, and have no interest in taking things to the extremes Ryconada has done (although I very much like his system as it is, it doesn't meet my particular requirements). Thus, I am looking at implementing the following alterations to level progression in my own game:
For levels 1-10, there will be no change, except for HP progression, which will follow a fixed progression for all levels, as follows:
Level......d12......d10......d8......d6
1..............12........10.......8.......6
2..............10.........8........7.......6
3................8.........7........6......5
4................7.........6........5......4
5...............6..........5........4......3
6...............5..........5........4......3
7...............5..........4........3......2
8...............4..........4........3......2
9...............4..........3........3......2
10.............4..........3........2......2
11+*.........4..........3........2......1
(d12 included for monster HD).
*Conan already uses a fixed hp progression after level 10.
This results in exactly an average hp gain over the first ten levels, with the largest gains early. Ignoring Con modifiers, a Level 3 character has approximately half the hp of a Level 10 Character, while a level 6 character has approximately half the hp of a level 20 character. For a precise summary:
HD........L3........L6........L10.........L20
d6.........17.......27........35...........45
d8.........21.......34........45...........65
d10.......25.......41........55...........85
d12.......30.......48........65..........105
This already goes a long way towards limiting the distance higher level characters get from lower level ones.
The larger change is to end BAB, Save, Magical Attack and Defensive progressions after level 10. Skills, feats and special abilities will continue to be acrued normally. For the purposes of meeting the pre-reqs for feats and combat manouevres, characters can assume the progressions continued normally (eg, a 14th level Soldier stuck on +10 BAB can treat his BAB as +14 to meet pre-reqs).
I am not sure whether to retain ability increases past level 10, but I am thinking that I probably will. I will almost certainly add a feat allowing a +1 increase to BAB, for Fighter BAB classes that really want a third attack.
The end result is that high level characters continue to become tougher and more versatile, without reaching virtual invulnerability.
An important note is that only humans will have advancement capped at level 10. Other things gain BAB, Save and all the rest past 10 HD (note that most adversaries will be human, the purpose here is to ensure that supernatural critters will rightly be Things To Be Feared).
Thoughts, opinions, criticism welcome.
