Quote:
Originally Posted by tbeard1999
Agreed. You know, it's interesting to consider how Champions handled the 3d6 bell curve and the issue of how quickly the probabilities change (i.e.an 8 has a 26% chance of success on 3d; a 12 has a 74% chance).
As I recall, the success roll was 9 + (attribute/5). (?) This allowed you to have very high attributes without having virtually automatic successes on 3d rolls.
|
There were a couple of interesting additional effects, particularly relating to different divisors and different usages for different stats. Success rolls for skills and "saving throws" (stat rolls, in other words) were based on the 9 + (stat/5) formula, but combat was based on a different one: 11 + attacker's Offensive Combat Value, or OCV (DEX/3) - defender's Defensive Combat Value, DCV (also DEX/3), with bonuses and penalties from maneuvers, skill levels, and so on. The Ego Combat Value (EGO/3) would substitute for OCV and DCV when using mental powers. Also, initiative order in combat is by Dexterity, from high to low, so a single point can matter there.
There's also a general rule for rounding of fractional values: below .5 rounds down, above .5 rounds up, and .5 exactly rounds in the character's favor. So characters get the benefit of hitting different breakpoints. Dexterity 13 is a breakpoint for stat rolls, but for combat it's just shy of hitting one, so Dexterity 14 is more common. But sometimes someone will go Dexterity 15, in order to go before all the folks who went with 14. 23 is an even better breakpoint; it's both a combat value (DEX/3) and stat roll (DEX/5) breakpoint. But again, that makes 24 a tempting target, to go ahead of the 23's. And 25 to go ahead of the 24's. And so on.
Quote:
I'm not advocating for such a system (yet), although it does address one of my key issues with TFT. So a ST15 character in such a system would need a 12- on 3d. 74% chance rather than 95% chance. A ST20 character would need a 13-. And so on. Of course, you do lose some distinction between ST levels. But high ST has advantages besides a better 3d roll - damage, weapon use, health. DX could be an issue, since it mainly is used as a 3d roll. IQ includes talents/spells, so it might be okay. (And you could make spellcasting a 3/IQ roll without overpowering IQ).
And of course, you can change the equation. 7 + (attribute/3) for instance, or 8 + (attribute/5), both of which give an average person a 50% chance of success on 3d.
|
Fuzion came along as a sort of descendant system of Champions, explicitly with R. Talsorian's Interlock (Cyberpunk 2020). It generally irons out the stats so that every point matters. Instead of dividing by one breakpoint value for stat rolls and another for combat, it reduces the values overall. A base human might have DEX 3, which might be roughly the equivalent of DEX 13 in Champions; combat there would be 3d6 + attacker's DEX - defender's DEX. Stat rolls are done with 3d6 + stat against a difficulty value.
Fuzion was not well received by the general Herodom, but not for anything to do with the system. Fuzion has often been called Hero Games' New Coke; it's a decent system, fixing a number of problems people have had with Champions and the HERO System over the years, but it was a Big Announcement at exactly the wrong time, and as a result it didn't really get a fair shake by Hero gamers.
All of that is to say... applying math to a stat value to get a roll works for Champions, but people who dislike the system hold the quite reasonable position that having to do extra math to play a roleplaying game can be a barrier to entry. Not much of one by itself, but with Champions especially, it's one of a number of them that add up.