RPG Systems that allow for characters of diverse levels of Power

[John Dallman]

I've never seen a group of players stick with a game with a more powerful mentor in the group. It always turns into the high level guy is better at everything show and then crumbles to dust and a new system takes it's place.

I've successfully run a multi-session segment of a campaign featuring an NPC who was more knowledgeable and magically skilled than the party, but less used to combat. There wasn't much violence: they were exploring a region of the astral plane. It probably helped that they'd known and trusted the NPC for some time before this segment started, and felt that they needed a guide after previous attempts at exploration.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Not necessarily. If you were intentionally creating Morrison's JLA, sure, but then you aren't actually talking about "characters of different power levels."

They’re the same “power levels” across much of DC’s history in terms of character efficacy, especially when you consider Batman’s noted ability & intent to plan to take down any superhero/supevillain he’s aware of, coupled with a billionaire’s bankroll to “get things done.” His cave that houses a supercomputer, cars, jet, helicopter and arsenal aren’t trivial resources.*



* I’m somewhat surprised nobody’s done a Batman (or Iron Man) “clone” who uses his resources to finance a private army of capable individuals to be vigilantes in a broader geographical area. All of the, wearing the same costume and using the same gear. Hmmm…maybe my next superhero character…

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

threat Though when this comes up, I always note that even the folks who did the Justice League Unlimited animated show had a couple cheats they frequently did here: 1. They'd sort a lot of the weaker characters so you really almost never saw characters like The Question and Green Lantern on screen at the same time in a situation where their abilities were at all relevant; 2. With the core JLAers, virtually any time you had opposition that really demanded people like Wonder Woman and the Martian Manhunter, notoriously Batman would be in the Batplane, which significantly upped his combat capability.

That was kind of my point. Batman as written for the past 20-30 years has an arsenal of equipment and a plan on how to use it against nearly any super-powered threat he knows of. With enough time to prepare, he’s a threat to virtually any DC character on Earth, and some off of it as well.

 

[Reynard]

They’re the same “power levels” across much of DC’s history in terms of character efficacy, especially when you consider Batman’s noted ability & intent to plan to take down any superhero/supevillain he’s aware of, coupled with a billionaire’s bankroll to “get things done.” His cave that houses a supercomputer, cars, jet, helicopter and arsenal aren’t trivial resources.*



* I’m somewhat surprised nobody’s done a Batman (or Iron Man) “clone” who uses his resources to finance a private army of capable individuals to be vigilantes in a broader geographical area. All of the, wearing the same costume and using the same gear. Hmmm…maybe my next superhero character…

That all started with Morrison 25 years ago. He invented the "Batgod" version of Batman that could plan for anything and take down the JLA. Prior to.that, Batman was hyper competent but still largely depicted as human. Dark Knight Returns planted the seed, of course, but it didn't reach fruition until Morrison.

Batman spent the 90s getting beat up by the likes of the Electrocutioner for goodness sake.

 

[Davinshe]

That all started with Morrison 25 years ago. He invented the "Batgod" version of Batman that could plan for anything and take down the JLA. Prior to.that, Batman was hyper competent but still largely depicted as human. Dark Knight Returns planted the seed, of course, but it didn't reach fruition until Morrison.

Batman spent the 90s getting beat up by the likes of the Electrocutioner for goodness sake.

Interesting! I always said that Batman in JLA was basically a completely different character than his solo issues due to the fact that his essential trait becomes ingenuity and invention when with the justice league (the only characteristics he has that can be made to be relevant among his more powerful peers). Nice to learn there was a specific author that is responsible for that.

 

[Davinshe]

They’re the same “power levels” across much of DC’s history in terms of character efficacy, especially when you consider Batman’s noted ability & intent to plan to take down any superhero/supevillain he’s aware of, coupled with a billionaire’s bankroll to “get things done.” His cave that houses a supercomputer, cars, jet, helicopter and arsenal aren’t trivial resources.*



* I’m somewhat surprised nobody’s done a Batman (or Iron Man) “clone” who uses his resources to finance a private army of capable individuals to be vigilantes in a broader geographical area. All of the, wearing the same costume and using the same gear. Hmmm…maybe my next superhero character…

wasn't there a "Batman Inc." series that basically did this? Superior spiderman sorta did this as well, with Doc Oc (in the body of Spiderman) creating squadrons of spider henchmen to keep the city safe for him.

 

[MGibster]

I am trying to decide how SWADE would handle it. SWADE is inherently swingy, and "power" is usually a matter of increased skills within a relatively small range, so on the surface it seems like it could work. but once you start folding in arcane backgrounds, super powers, high tech, etc... I think you end up in the situation where the "normal" characters will just be too squishy and not be able to hurt any opponent appropriate to the Big Guns PC.

In Deadlands, PCs can take Veteran of the Weird West which bumps them up the next rank from whatever the starting rank is supposed to be. i.e. If the starting rank is Novice then the Veteran of the Weird West will start out as Seasoned, or if starting is Seasoned they'll start Heroic instead. The drawback is the player needs to draw a card to determine some sort of side effect and some of them can be pretty horrendous. Maybe that rifleman you built ends up with one arm or beneficial magic never works on you.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

wasn't there a "Batman Inc." series that basically did this? Superior spiderman sorta did this as well, with Doc Oc (in the body of Spiderman) creating squadrons of spider henchmen to keep the city safe for him.

Could be. I basically quit buying comics in the mid-1990s, but still kept checking up on developments in the major characters. But not as obsessively as I used to when I was buying virtually everything.

So I may have missed them doing that, if so.

 

[SarahNewton]

Our new RPG "The Chronicles of Future Earth", which uses a very customised, gritty, lethal, yet epic version of the Fate Core system we're calling "Cosmic Fate" (or just COSMIC), is specifically designed to allow characters of very different levels of power to play together. Partly this is achieved by using what we call "horizontal" advancement as well as vertical - the way characters gradually increase their ability to interact with and influence communities, other characters, organisations, and indeed the whole world around them as they advance. Even beginning characters are competent, just narrower in their focus, so there's plenty for them to do even in a game where other characters (on paper at least) are of greater magnitude.

The system has a gameplay which takes the best parts of Fate and mixes them with a vibe similar to old school BRP games like Stormbringer and Hawkmoon, with some Clarke Ashton Smith thrown in for good measure (summoned demons! demon weapons! ancient lethal artefacts!). There's a free quickstart PDF (also available in the print version) so you can get a taste for the world and setting, plus the main rulebooks and supplements which we've started to release in March and which will be releasing regularly from here on in.

Cheers,

Sarah

 

[Reynard]

In Deadlands, PCs can take Veteran of the Weird West which bumps them up the next rank from whatever the starting rank is supposed to be. i.e. If the starting rank is Novice then the Veteran of the Weird West will start out as Seasoned, or if starting is Seasoned they'll start Heroic instead. The drawback is the player needs to draw a card to determine some sort of side effect and some of them can be pretty horrendous. Maybe that rifleman you built ends up with one arm or beneficial magic never works on you.

Sure, but the way Savage Worlds works, arcane background powers are often more valuable than gaining a couple skill ranks. There isn't really parity between a highly skilled two gun kid and a undead gunslinger hungry for demon souls, both of which cost the same number of "points".