Since the Blood and Fists days, the way I balance characters against each other is to have my players roll up characters of various levels, and throw them head to head.
To give a sense of how the mental classes compare to each other, they fight other mental classes.
For non-combat balance/usefulness and how that factors in... well that's the real trick and there we're into "art not science" territory.
Anyway, here's sample PC #1, a Powerhouse, something of a thug.
Test Powerhouse (Powerhouse 1): HD 1d10+2; HP 12; Init +1; Spd 30 ft; Defense 11, touch 11, flatfooted 10 (+1 Dex, +0 Class); BAB +1; Atk +4 melee (1d6+4, Aluminum Baseball Bat), or +2 ranged (1d4+3, Knife); SQ Melee Master; AL Gang; SV Fort +4, Ref +1, Will -1, Rec +3; Rep +0; Str 15, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 12.
Background: Criminal
Occupation: Mobster: Perks (Weapons- Aggressive Stance; Unarmed- Reactive Stance)
Hobby: Crime
Skills: Athletics 4 (+6), Crime 4 (+4), Firearms 4 (+5), Influence 4 (+5), Perception 4 (+3), Streetwise 4 (+3), Unarmed 4 (+6), Weapons 4 (+6)
Feats: Armed Defense (16 Defense against melee attacks when not flat-footed), Attack Focus (Aluminum Baseball Bat), Move-By Action, Point Blank Shot
Contacts/Followers: None
Wealth: 10
Possessions: Aluminum Baseball Bat, Knife, Leather Jacket
2 comments:
Right away I like the division of Starting Occupations into your new Background, Occupation, and Hobby categories. Seems like they will give players more mechanics to help back up their backstories and characterizations, and reward them for thinking those elements through. Armed Defense is a cool feat that makes a lot of sense. My only quibble about this mobster is: "Why is he not packing a piece?"
Because of the methodology I touched on in the Speedfreak.
To remove the random element of one player buying the best equipment possible, rendering himself completely penniless in the process, while another player was conservative in his buying, I set ground rules on what they could buy.
They couldn't buy anything that would reduce their wealth scores, as any firearm would.
This was especially a concern for the speedfreak, who basically generated a sniper and had to settle for a bow.
Post a Comment