Re: Epic NPCs and their stats

From: donald_at_6oARQA94XU5GG8MyCQb12LUKzYwpLtidjJ9U8maZ8vidyXNWn4bQNfFuEExfVruec8vXT
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:44:31 GMT

In message <f9uavg+s3ni_at_eGroups.com> "Jeff Richard" writes:
>> What is broken here is the character advancement mechanism (or it's
>> application).
>
>It is not broken. It just is not a fixed standard. Different gaming
>groups will simply have different benchmarks. This is not a failed
>mechanism, it is a feature of it.
>
>But as a result, the stats given for an epic character in one (ongoing
>- one shot and tournament games do not have this feature) game is
>meaningless and useless for another. You tell me your character's
>ratings and then I can tell you the appropriate stats for the Red
>Emperor or Harrek or whoever.

The problem is that the rules do have a fixed scale for stats which is based on the best ability of heros being xW3 and superheros being xW4. There is however little guidance on character advancement to maintain characters within that scale. At present it requires considerable experience to have any idea what level PCs will reach from a particular policy of giving hero points.

Even if a group decides they want to work with a different system then the narrator needs to know the base so they can scale NPCs accordingly. This is game system mechanics which need to be consistant within published works. What different people do with the rules is up to them.

-- 
Donald Oddy
http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/