Experience Points

[TippetsTX]

But that is part of my issue as well, Lars. TFT stats represent more than simply the obvious physical or mental aspects of a character's profile. For that reason, I firmly believe that increases to those attributes should be viable throughout the character's lifecycle.

[hcobb]

Legacy does handle "the old hand" better than 1st edition and I suppose you can just treat the initial +5 boost to DX as a training montage.

[TippetsTX]

"It's like he's trying to speak to me. I know it."
- Marlin

I'm not following you, Henry.

[hcobb]

The classic movie meme is that the new trainee is first given non-combat training to improve their stamina and reflexes (one example being Disney's Mulan), then adding combat talents. This matches to the initial +5 DX boost your first 1300 XP will go into.

Later on attributes freeze up and reverse through aging while memory points are the easiest thing for an alzheimic geezer to add on.

[TippetsTX]

Originally Posted by hcobb

Later on attributes freeze up and reverse through aging while memory points are the easiest thing for an alzheimic geezer to add on.

Well, speaking from experience, I think learning new skills takes alot more effort the older I get (at least it feels that way).

[Steve Plambeck]

Originally Posted by TippetsTX

Well, speaking from experience, I think learning new skills takes alot more effort the older I get (at least it feels that way).

And in a way that is actually embodied in Nils' suggestion. If new talents and spells only come with attribute increases, and older characters find it progressively harder to keep increasing attributes, then it is indeed progressively harder for that character to learn new things.

As Legacy is written, older characters will suddenly start learning more and more new talents (after further attributes become too expensive) which is kind of the inverse of the natural order.

[larsdangly]

It wouldn't be too hard to introduce a house rule that lets you get PC's up to 45, 50 or more stat points, but I predict that you'll regret it within a couple of months. I've played this game pretty actively for over 40 years and can tell you it is a lot less fun when everyone has values of 16+ in every stat. It all just becomes much of a sameness and quite predictable. If you want a high power level with some distinctive flavor for each character, I highly recommend adapting the Supers rules from the Companion; you can have pretty high functioning wonder-heroes with those rules without the whole game blurring into a pudding of maxed out excellence.

[hcobb]

Why not lower the super stats? Charge double for each DX or IQ point over 14.

Molly then starts at ST 6, DX 10, IQ 15 (a 31-attribute character because that last point of IQ cost two starting points)
She advances to DX 14 with 500 XP.
Adding the 16th IQ point costs (36th Attribute doubled) another 600 XP.
The 17th IQ point costs 1200 XP.
And the 18th IQ point costs 2000 XP.

[TippetsTX]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

It wouldn't be too hard to introduce a house rule that lets you get PC's up to 45, 50 or more stat points, but I predict that you'll regret it within a couple of months. I've played this game pretty actively for over 40 years and can tell you it is a lot less fun when everyone has values of 16+ in every stat. It all just becomes much of a sameness and quite predictable. If you want a high power level with some distinctive flavor for each character, I highly recommend adapting the Supers rules from the Companion; you can have pretty high functioning wonder-heroes with those rules without the whole game blurring into a pudding of maxed out excellence.

I actually agree with you here Lars, which is one of the reasons I added the concept of POWERS to my game. They create a third area of development for characters which leads to more varied builds and gameplay options. And with regard to progression that allows for higher STATS than Legacy, I think there is a viable range well before hitting 50 (my model actually caps out around 48, which will still take several years of play to achieve) that caters to a more epic-level campaign. The challenge is in properly scaling the challenges for that level of play. That said, however, I suspect my players will be quite happy to remain in the mid-range Veteran tier (37 to 42 points) for quite some time.

[Steve Plambeck]

Six players, 18 years of continuous play, and only a couple PCs got to 40 points, and then just barely near the end of that long run. Few PCs made it past 36 points. And we kept the original Melee/Wizard EP rewards system the whole time, with points for hits taken, hits dealt out, and ST spent casting spells in addition to EP for role-playing.

I guess some campaign worlds just have bigger monsters, badder NPC villains, deadlier traps, and larger ambushes!

I'd venture to call attribute bloat more a byproduct of playing style than anything in the rules, but everyone's mileage will vary.

[Edit: I wonder though if always using the double damage for pole weapon charge attacks helped keep our mortality high. Also, we never used Wishes to increase attributes. And of course there was no limit then on the ST put into missile spells, not that it kept our wizards from dying at twice or more the rate of fighters.]