Quote:
Originally Posted by ravenfish
For what it's worth, T-Bone posted an alternate pricing scheme a while back with exponentially increasing skill and attribute costs, and some interesting things this pricing scheme lets one do with defaults and styles:
http://www.gamesdiner.com/escargo |
10 years back! Thanks for the recall.
I think the system I play with in that article really does allow interesting things – namely, handling skills, techniques, required specializations, optional specializations, wildcard skills, and even combinations of skills in a style under a single mechanic. With the added benefits of more flexible skill levels and better handling of defaults.
That said, as I note in the article, it's experimental stuff and I don't use it. The reason isn't because of any problems in its mechanics or effects, but a deeper-level matter, the topic of this thread: I don't entirely agree that cost per level of skill
should rise as the level increases.
That's because I think of character points as a rough measure of utility, and I'm divided on how utility changes with each added level of a trait. I can make a good argument that utility increases with each added level, and so cost per level should increase too. But I can also make a good argument that utility
decreases with each added level, and so cost per level should as well.
You can read these (thankfully brief!) arguments here:
http://www.gamesdiner.com/game_desig...st_scale_stats
It's not just about skills; IMO, those arguments apply to per-level utility and cost of attributes, DR, levels of a power... for pretty much any leveled trait, I can see merit in both opposing arguments.
So in the end, I make the assumption that added utility per level is flat-ish, and I settle for the flat per-level costs that GURPS uses for most things (skills, too, once they reach 4 pts/level). It's a nice compromise between the two opposing arguments. And it's
easy, especially where templates are concerned!
(Now, if only GURPS' flat per-level skill cost handled defaults more neatly...)
Going back to the original post, though, here's one more important thing to add: All the above is a discussion of utility, but utility isn't the only consideration! If you're one of the GMs who tracks
time to learn a skill, you could have time follow a completely different track from utility and cost. Specifically, you could keep skill costs just as they are in GURPS, while making each added level increasingly "expensive" in terms of time. (The good ol' Size & Speed/Range Table might offer just what's needed there.)
Maybe that change alone would deliver what the OP wants, without making any changes to character costs?