Roleplay combat question - twice as good = loses one in three?
Author
I have a quick roleplay question as I'm building a combat system for my game.
If combatant A is twice as powerful as combatant B, should he lose a third of the time?
Example:
A's overall combat prowess is 2.
B's overall combat prowess is 1.
2+1 = 3
A would win 2 out of three times and lose the remaining one.
Is such a system good for an RPG? Or should twice as powerful mean much lower odds of losing?
"Twice as good" is a vague concept, because performance (and difficulty) are difficult to quantify. So, you could indeed decide that those little numbers you have there represent the odds of winning. The actual fun in the game will merely depend on how those little numbers are set. If gaining a "+1" has the same difficulty for the entire game, then high-powered fighters will have a lot of difficulty improving while low-powered fighters will have an easy time improving. If gaining a "+1" gets exponentially easier, then improving will remain just as easy.
In the end, it's up to you to decide how two characters should interact, based on how much time the player spent playing, and then build a mathematical rule out of that. You don't seem to have made that decision yet.
In the end, it's up to you to decide how two characters should interact, based on how much time the player spent playing, and then build a mathematical rule out of that. You don't seem to have made that decision yet.
Author
No this is true, and those numbers could equally be 10 and 20, or 100 and 200. In a system with 100 and 200, increasing combat effectiveness would occur more frequently. I take your point about not having an underlying system worked out yet.
I'm basically brainstorming around the numbers. For example, if levelling up doubled this combat effectiveness, a level 5 fighter would have on average a one in three chance of losing to a level 4 fighter and a one in five chance of losing to a level 3 fighter. Do these chances sound about right? Or too high or low?
I'm basically brainstorming around the numbers. For example, if levelling up doubled this combat effectiveness, a level 5 fighter would have on average a one in three chance of losing to a level 4 fighter and a one in five chance of losing to a level 3 fighter. Do these chances sound about right? Or too high or low?
Quote:Original post by kingy
I'm basically brainstorming around the numbers. For example, if levelling up doubled this combat effectiveness, a level 5 fighter would have on average a one in three chance of losing to a level 4 fighter and a one in five chance of losing to a level 3 fighter. Do these chances sound about right? Or too high or low?
Again, a level is just a number. If moving from one level to the next is a matter of minutes, then these numbers are not good. If moving from one level to the next is a matter of hours, then the numbers are starting to look good. If it's a matter of days, then it's again not very good.
Leaving aside the danger of using pen-and-paper games as an inspiration for computer game rules (since the main source of level gain in pen-and-paper games is the game master, who awards levels based on what is fun, not what is mathematically sound)...
D&D goes for an exponential stepladder, meaning that a second-level character can whack the hell out of its own first-level self with reasonably good probability (due to better equipment, followers, additional feats and spells, and improved health points). A third-level character is usually almost certain to blast away his first-level self. A fourth-level character will blast away his first-level self, save for the insanely lucky shot.
D&D goes for an exponential stepladder, meaning that a second-level character can whack the hell out of its own first-level self with reasonably good probability (due to better equipment, followers, additional feats and spells, and improved health points). A third-level character is usually almost certain to blast away his first-level self. A fourth-level character will blast away his first-level self, save for the insanely lucky shot.
Quote:Original post by RivieraKid
if your twice as good should you be able to defeat 2 enemies at 1/2 your ability?
That math seems a bit iffy to me.
To echo what some of the others have said. It depends on what you want to do. What sort of a feel are you looking to have?
Consider this:
A (10) + B (20) = 30
By your logic:
A = 33%
B = 66%
Does it seem logical that a level 20 creature (e.g. an ancient red dragon) would lose a third of its battles to something half its level (e.g. a hatchling red dragon)?
(Note that endless hours of D&D has taken its toll on my brain, and the above statements are only ballpark estimates as far as hit dice are concerned.)
A (10) + B (20) = 30
By your logic:
A = 33%
B = 66%
Does it seem logical that a level 20 creature (e.g. an ancient red dragon) would lose a third of its battles to something half its level (e.g. a hatchling red dragon)?
(Note that endless hours of D&D has taken its toll on my brain, and the above statements are only ballpark estimates as far as hit dice are concerned.)
The term "Twice as good" is a bit vague. If you are talking about how many opponents it can take on (ie a level 2 could take on two level 1s with an equal chance of success for either), or you could be talking about stats (and in this case the level 2 might be able to take on more than two level 1s to get that equal chance of success).
For instance:
If I have a level 1 character that has 20 Hit Points and does 4 damage each hit, then I might have a level 2 that has 40 hit points, but still does 4 damage. This level 2 could take twice as much damage as the level 1. Is this level 2 "twice as good" as the level 1s.
What if the level 2 not only had the 40 hit points, but what if it also did 8 damage a hit. Is it now twice as good? or is it more than twice as good?
So the term "Twice as good" is a bit too vague to use as a measure.
This actually means that characters will have to be gaining power exponentially.
A Level 2 is 2 times the strength of a level 1, and a level 3 is 2 times the strength of the level 2. But this makes it 4 times the strength of a level 1. This means that a level 10 is 512 time the strength of a level 1.
A level 20 is 524,288 time the strength of a level 1 character!
This creates a problem of power.
If you are going to have multiple characters adventuring together (either as a multiplayer game or as a single player game with multiple party members), then the differences between their respective levels will create problems.
As an example,using a typical level spread in a game like WoW, this difference is usually capped 5 levels. This means that using your doubling system, there will be a power difference between the highest and lowest levels in the group of 32 times. Adjusting the difficulty levels of the game to match this difference will be virtually impossible.
If you made it challenging for the highest level characters in the group, then lowest level characters will be slaughtered. If you make it challenging (but not impossible) for the lowest level characters, then the highest level characters would dominate and the lowest levels will not actually have anything to do.
This kind of power curve is too steep for anything but a single player, single character game.
Even in a single player multi character game, if at any time experience will be denied to a character (eg: they are killed and later resurrected), then this loss of experience (and therefore levels) will make them next to useless.
But, with a single player single character game, the power levels of the player character are only relative to the enemies they face. So increasing their power like this only means that you have to increase the power of the enemies the same, negative the need for such a massive increase in power level in the first place.
So, about the only reason you would include an increase in power level of this magnitude in a game, would be for aesthetic reasons. That is to make the player feel that they are becoming God like (and if that is what your story needs, then go for it). However, if the character is not supposed to be god like, then this would create a disjunction between what the story is telling them and what they are experiencing in the game. IT would, in effect, ruin any feeling of immersion and break the player from any feeling of Role Playing.
Only if it is a single player single character game about the character turning into a God. In any other situation, it would be bad.
For instance:
If I have a level 1 character that has 20 Hit Points and does 4 damage each hit, then I might have a level 2 that has 40 hit points, but still does 4 damage. This level 2 could take twice as much damage as the level 1. Is this level 2 "twice as good" as the level 1s.
What if the level 2 not only had the 40 hit points, but what if it also did 8 damage a hit. Is it now twice as good? or is it more than twice as good?
So the term "Twice as good" is a bit too vague to use as a measure.
Quote:If combatant A is twice as powerful as combatant B
This actually means that characters will have to be gaining power exponentially.
A Level 2 is 2 times the strength of a level 1, and a level 3 is 2 times the strength of the level 2. But this makes it 4 times the strength of a level 1. This means that a level 10 is 512 time the strength of a level 1.
A level 20 is 524,288 time the strength of a level 1 character!
This creates a problem of power.
If you are going to have multiple characters adventuring together (either as a multiplayer game or as a single player game with multiple party members), then the differences between their respective levels will create problems.
As an example,using a typical level spread in a game like WoW, this difference is usually capped 5 levels. This means that using your doubling system, there will be a power difference between the highest and lowest levels in the group of 32 times. Adjusting the difficulty levels of the game to match this difference will be virtually impossible.
If you made it challenging for the highest level characters in the group, then lowest level characters will be slaughtered. If you make it challenging (but not impossible) for the lowest level characters, then the highest level characters would dominate and the lowest levels will not actually have anything to do.
This kind of power curve is too steep for anything but a single player, single character game.
Even in a single player multi character game, if at any time experience will be denied to a character (eg: they are killed and later resurrected), then this loss of experience (and therefore levels) will make them next to useless.
But, with a single player single character game, the power levels of the player character are only relative to the enemies they face. So increasing their power like this only means that you have to increase the power of the enemies the same, negative the need for such a massive increase in power level in the first place.
So, about the only reason you would include an increase in power level of this magnitude in a game, would be for aesthetic reasons. That is to make the player feel that they are becoming God like (and if that is what your story needs, then go for it). However, if the character is not supposed to be god like, then this would create a disjunction between what the story is telling them and what they are experiencing in the game. IT would, in effect, ruin any feeling of immersion and break the player from any feeling of Role Playing.
Quote:Is such a system good for an RPG?
Only if it is a single player single character game about the character turning into a God. In any other situation, it would be bad.
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement
