power levels

From: bethexton <bethexton_at_...>
Date: Thu, 06 Jun 2002 13:51:06 -0000

I know this has been beat to death, but for some reason I was skimming through the basic HW book the other day, when a couple of paragraphs caught my attention:

"Low power means that your character will start relatively
inexperienced. They probably won't be the movers and shakers of your clan or tribe, let alone be known in the kingdom. They are unproven heroes, and will have a struggle ahead of them to gain the skills needed to fight in the hero wars. Only a few really great and powerful characters will be encountered."

"Medium power means that your characters are known locally as
experienced problem solvers. Heroes are widespread. These rules are written for medium-powered series."

It seems to me that much of the confusion about what various ability levels means may have stemmed from these two paragraphs. For although the rules state that the 5W/1W/17/13 hero is default for a medium powered series, we've since seen that this is more the skill level of a competent professional, and nothing remotely out of the ordinary. Further, what support material has been written all seems to assume you start off as a fairly ordinary joe, having a hard time getting the ear of the ring, happy to get paid with a few kegs of beer, etc.

Probably there actually needs to be four or more power levels defined:

beginner/learner/apprentice/initiate/somethingorother: New adults, just learning their skills Probably have something like 17/15/13/12, may not have full magic yet. Great heroes are just a rumour.

Journeyman/low power: Full adults, at the start of their careers. Not yet able to take on a full adults roll, but because of that maybe they are more expendable for adventures.... 2W/19/16/13

Ordinary: The heroes are recognized as fully competent in their professions, but are not out of the ordinary yet. Great Heroes will rarely be encountered, but lesser heroes might recruit you as a follower. Typical profile.

Leaders/Thanes: The heroes are recognized leaders and champions in their field. They aren't on par with the Great Heroes, but they will meet them and will be recuited to help further their plans. In turn the characters will have great influence upon ordinary folk. Ability profile??? maybe something like 5W2/18W/10W/2W ???

Extraordinary: The characters are great heroes, who's deeds change the face of the world.

Maybe it never needs to be that detailed, or maybe it needs even finer granularity. Either way, hopefully HeroQuest will provide an expectation of power levels that is more in line with the support material.

--Bryan