Personally, I like systems that don't cause enemies to vary wildly in power. I look at it this way. If the game (battle) is interactive enough to be fun, then the player will have the capacity to win just about any battle, with any foe, through careful strategy and/or timing.

There are boundaries, of course. If they're heavily outnumbered, or the enemy has significantly advanced equipment, the fight could be too much to win outside of a miracle. When this happens, give them an escape option. Let them acknowledge the challenge, then retreat.

Quote:Original post by JensB
Now, in a level based RPG, you start life killing rats etc (level 1 monsters) and gradually get tougher and tougher opponents as you progress.

In a skill based system, a rat would be a weak all over opponent, that you can beat with any combat skills - But, assuming I'm a priest that now needs a new target to fight against - say to get cash I want to kill these bandits.

How would I know if this fight is doable for me/how could I balance it?

- so I "con" the bandit (or click him) - what should the game consider to determine how hard the fight would be to me...

- and how would I deal with balancing something like this in terms of progression?

Why do you even need the 'consider' command anyway? It's a remnant of DIKU MUDs that happened to carry over into MMOs, but which isn't really at all necessary for fun. You could judge an opponent by size. By aggression. By reputation. By the markings on its back. By the equipment it is using.

Quote:Original post by JensB
What about the balancing aspect - I.e. how would I create the illusion of progression (like in a level based system) within a skill based one - or is there even a need for that?

Some progression is good. But in my opinion, most games take it way too far. There's no need to forcably outdate your older enemies by making them so weak that they're no longer good for challenge or training profit. Progression in most role playing games is done with arbitrary numbers. The only difference between inflicting an extra 1 point of damage and inflicting an extra 10 points of damage is that a lot more enemies become obsolete.

The game decides how much the character improves per gameplay, by being less dramatic with the power granted to advancing enemies. As a player, I base my progression rate off of that, not off of how many digits my stats climb. Or in other words, if wolves are only slightly tougher than giant rats, then advancing a little bit is the same as advancing a lot, except that giant rats are still a fun part of the game while I'm doing battle with wolves.

Also try to come up with skills that influence the gameplay, but only have a minor influence on the player's basic combat abilities. Skills that expand the player's combat options. Particularly, skills that expand their options in unique situations, when the player is being mindful.

Hiding and sneaking are examples. They don't give the player direct power, because they're not always useful in combat. But they give the player more power over specific scenarios when the player makes better decisions to deal with them. In other words, sneaking is only power when you use your brain to employ it the right way at the right time.

Quote:Original post by JensB
I.e. how would I create the illusion of progression (like in a level based system) within a skill based one - or is there even a need for that?

There's no illusion of progression: there is progression. It's just on a continuous scale rather than a discrete one, so you don't notice individual acts of progression as much. So that's not really the problem. What is your problem? And where does 'balance' come into this? Can you express exactly what it is that you think your players might want or lack as a result of using a skill-based system?