Re: Re: Initiates using feats.

From: Andrew Dawson <asmpd_at_...>
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 14:55:02 -0500

This can be altered--without changing ability ratings--by changing the contest results to give the marginal victory to the higher roll (instead of the lower roll) when the level of success is the same for both contestants (success vs. success, etc.).

With this change, a 12 rating (17 - 5 improv penalty) versus a 14 standard resistance has a ~39% success rate (complete + major + minor + marginal). A 17 rating versus a 14 resistance has a ~60% chance of success. This makes a 17 rating more respectable, and also creates a higher differentiation between ratings within the same mastery range.

Without this change (the way the system is now), the 17 vs. 14 has a ~49% chance of success, and the 12 vs. 14 has a ~47% chance of success.

I've used this change in my games and it works just fine, does not slow down play, etc.

The other change that I've considered, but not tested in play, is dropping the standard resistance to 12 or 10. I would still give the marginal victory to the higher roll, since this differentiates the ratings better as mentioned above. Both changes (marginal victory to higher roll and standard resistance 10) result in 17 vs. 10 yielding a ~73% success rate, and 12 vs. 10 yielding a ~56% success rate.

Thanks,
Andy

At 09:51 AM 8/12/2004 +0100, ASHLEY MUNDAY wrote:
>*This was all part of the same process as realising
>that 14 resistance was fairly hard to beat reliably in
>a simple contest and that 17 was actually still quite
>a crap ability score.