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<blockquote data-quote="Elric" data-source="post: 2533936" data-attributes="member: 1139"><p>Here's the way I see it (I don't have the book yet): in any point buy system there will be powers that should cost slightly more than what they cost and powers that should cost slightly less than what they cost. Without resorting to fractions there's no way to fix this. </p><p></p><p>The problem is especially true for 1 pp powers where a power that costs 1 pp may actually “be worth” 0.7-1.3 pp (70-130% of its cost). On the other hand, a 4 pp power worth 3.7-4.3 pp is going to be worth 92-108% of its cost. </p><p></p><p>Frukathka- thanks for posting that. It works just like D&D Evasion (and Improved Evasion) then. </p><p></p><p>The problem I have is as follows: Let’s assume that you currently make Reflex saves 50% of the time. Let’s also assume that taking two half damage attacks is just as bad as one full damage attacks (clearly not that case at particularly high or low PLs). Furthermore, I’m going to say that half of your reflex saves are against area attacks.</p><p></p><p>If you take Improved Evasion for 2 pp then you have a 50% chance to take no damage from the attack and 50% chance to take half damage. Total number of “effective full damage hits”: 50%* ½ + 50% *0= 0.25</p><p></p><p>Let’s say you take +2 to your Reflex save for 2 pp. Then you have a 60% chance to take half damage and a 40% chance to take no damage. The total number of “effective full damage hits” is 60% * ½ + 40%* 1 = 0.7. If you didn’t take either one you’d have an “effective full damage hits” of 0.75 (50% full damage hits, 50% half damage hits).</p><p></p><p>Since half of all Reflex saves are area attacks, Improved Evasion should be roughly twice as effective for resisting area attacks as improving your Reflex save. However, it isn’t; taking Improved Evasion is 10 times as effective as raising your Reflex save. </p><p></p><p>Unless area attacks are incredibly rare compared to other types of Reflex saves this is much too effective. It’s possible that area attacks are 20% of Reflex saves: in this case Evasion is undercosted but not by that much. However, my 1e experience (and the list of save types in Simpson’s sheet) suggests that area attacks would be much more prominent.</p><p></p><p>One thing I haven’t mentioned, though. Everything that I’m describing as a problem could be game design brilliance <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>The low cost of Evasion might be intended to reduce the prominence of area attacks. After all, if lots of people have Evasion then using area attacks becomes a much riskier proposition. I’ve always felt that the ability to hit multiple opponents at a time and avoid attack rolls was worth the extra pp and the reflex save for half damage (some form of Selective makes things even better). </p><p></p><p>Without the existence of Evasion, other ways to hit multiple people with one attack (such as the Super-Speed power stunt Rapid Attack and the Autofire extra) would be much weaker. If anyone has taken economics (game theory) recently, this is similar to mixed strategy equilibrium: the power of Evasion makes area attacks less common and since area attacks aren’t that common every character doesn’t have to have Evasion.</p><p></p><p>Additionally, as previously mentioned the existence of Evasion helps to make Defensive Roll better (and since the feats are so conceptually similar this synergy makes perfect sense).</p><p></p><p>Steve, care to comment?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Elric, post: 2533936, member: 1139"] Here's the way I see it (I don't have the book yet): in any point buy system there will be powers that should cost slightly more than what they cost and powers that should cost slightly less than what they cost. Without resorting to fractions there's no way to fix this. The problem is especially true for 1 pp powers where a power that costs 1 pp may actually “be worth” 0.7-1.3 pp (70-130% of its cost). On the other hand, a 4 pp power worth 3.7-4.3 pp is going to be worth 92-108% of its cost. Frukathka- thanks for posting that. It works just like D&D Evasion (and Improved Evasion) then. The problem I have is as follows: Let’s assume that you currently make Reflex saves 50% of the time. Let’s also assume that taking two half damage attacks is just as bad as one full damage attacks (clearly not that case at particularly high or low PLs). Furthermore, I’m going to say that half of your reflex saves are against area attacks. If you take Improved Evasion for 2 pp then you have a 50% chance to take no damage from the attack and 50% chance to take half damage. Total number of “effective full damage hits”: 50%* ½ + 50% *0= 0.25 Let’s say you take +2 to your Reflex save for 2 pp. Then you have a 60% chance to take half damage and a 40% chance to take no damage. The total number of “effective full damage hits” is 60% * ½ + 40%* 1 = 0.7. If you didn’t take either one you’d have an “effective full damage hits” of 0.75 (50% full damage hits, 50% half damage hits). Since half of all Reflex saves are area attacks, Improved Evasion should be roughly twice as effective for resisting area attacks as improving your Reflex save. However, it isn’t; taking Improved Evasion is 10 times as effective as raising your Reflex save. Unless area attacks are incredibly rare compared to other types of Reflex saves this is much too effective. It’s possible that area attacks are 20% of Reflex saves: in this case Evasion is undercosted but not by that much. However, my 1e experience (and the list of save types in Simpson’s sheet) suggests that area attacks would be much more prominent. One thing I haven’t mentioned, though. Everything that I’m describing as a problem could be game design brilliance :) The low cost of Evasion might be intended to reduce the prominence of area attacks. After all, if lots of people have Evasion then using area attacks becomes a much riskier proposition. I’ve always felt that the ability to hit multiple opponents at a time and avoid attack rolls was worth the extra pp and the reflex save for half damage (some form of Selective makes things even better). Without the existence of Evasion, other ways to hit multiple people with one attack (such as the Super-Speed power stunt Rapid Attack and the Autofire extra) would be much weaker. If anyone has taken economics (game theory) recently, this is similar to mixed strategy equilibrium: the power of Evasion makes area attacks less common and since area attacks aren’t that common every character doesn’t have to have Evasion. Additionally, as previously mentioned the existence of Evasion helps to make Defensive Roll better (and since the feats are so conceptually similar this synergy makes perfect sense). Steve, care to comment? [/QUOTE]
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