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Old 06-16-2019, 11:27 AM   #1
Boge
 
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Default Capping character points and further customization?

I'm playing with an idea of capping character points, maybe 300 or 350. But with that, we'll want to still have some customization with our characters. My idea is to allow characters to choose a skill, advantage or stat that hasn't come into play and drop it by a point or two which they could then apply toward another that did see use. But I'm looking for a more detailed and fleshed out system.

So I'm wondering if anyone has done something similar and how have you handled character customization after capping character points?
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Old 06-16-2019, 12:03 PM   #2
Donny Brook
 
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Default Re: Capping character points and further customization?

Honestly, I'd hate the idea of a cap on character advancement.
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Old 06-16-2019, 12:09 PM   #3
Neveron
 
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Default Re: Capping character points and further customization?

There's always the more old-school alternative to capping character points, I suppose: gear as advancement. Rather than using character points to upgrade your base character, you gain money to upgrade your gun or find a magic sword or get a private airplane etc. etc. It definitely has some big drawbacks, however, such as some people wanting their character to matter more than their stuff.

I can't help you with your point-swapping thing, though.
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Old 06-16-2019, 12:27 PM   #4
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: Capping character points and further customization?

My advice is to retire characters when they reach a certain threshold (my retirements tend to occur at 250 CP to 500 CP above starting CP). I find that people get too attached to their characters after a year or two of play, meaning that they get bent out of shape when you kill them off. You either end up adjusting your campaigns for PC preservation, end up fudging the dice, or end up with upset players.
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Old 06-16-2019, 01:02 PM   #5
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Default Re: Capping character points and further customization?

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
My advice is to retire characters when they reach a certain threshold (my retirements tend to occur at 250 CP to 500 CP above starting CP). I find that people get too attached to their characters after a year or two of play, meaning that they get bent out of shape when you kill them off. You either end up adjusting your campaigns for PC preservation, end up fudging the dice, or end up with upset players.
This happens if the situation is right. Sometimes our characters reach points where their story is good to end and we'll move on. Other times they just have unfinished business and you feel you need to continue.

We used to just play a campaign, about 20 sessions and then be done with that campaign and characters. We've just started a new system where we're playing the same campaign in 8-10 sessions and then putting it on hold and moving on to another (rotating player choices). We're then coming back to them because it's easier for the GM to continue a campaign than to write up all new things, he's too busy for that. So each player has THEIR campaign that they have some say in the way things work.

The characters in mine are reaching the 300 mark. For a semi-cinematic campaign, I don't feel going much farther than this will be that enjoyable. Of course, there will still be changes we want with our characters. So I'm trying to get an idea of a good system that gives us options to adjust our characters with it being subtle enough that would reflect in game better (no changing from a master archer to a mage overnight). I've never played a character more than this one (about 50 total sessions now), so I don't know what happens when you reach 400, 500 point totals. What's the point when your opposition is raised to those point totals to give you competition anyway? "When everyone's super, no one will be." (That's a GM thing, out of my control)
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Old 06-16-2019, 02:29 PM   #6
Flyndaran
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Default Re: Capping character points and further customization?

I could maybe see it working in a supers campaign. Or if you don't count such things as social rewards as point based like the favor of the fairy queen or the occasional loan of mission critical equipment.
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Old 06-16-2019, 02:47 PM   #7
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: Capping character points and further customization?

It depends on the setting. Monster Hunters is a base 400 CP setting, so it probably can support PCs up to 800 CP without that much trouble, especially since monsters like Master Vampires are easily 1600 CP NPCs. Even mature vampires can be a threat though, especially when they figure out that a submerged cave in a lake is an adequate lair, since flamethrowers do not work underwater and PCs usually do not have Doesn't Breathe.
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Old 06-16-2019, 06:16 PM   #8
Boge
 
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Default Re: Capping character points and further customization?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
Or if you don't count such things as social rewards as point based like the favor of the fairy queen or the occasional loan of mission critical equipment.
We don't count this stuff towards our character point values unless we specifically bought it. If it's something we earned, our GM likes a give and take system, where a reputation affects you positively as well as negatively with your enemies or those that have different views from your own.

So doing a good deed gains favor and jealousy toward you. It gains you allies and enemies.
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Old 06-16-2019, 08:17 PM   #9
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Default Re: Capping character points and further customization?

Have you considered softer caps? Either limit how much they can raise a given skill/advantage/attribute or require a steadily more expensive unusual background to rise above a given level? That might encourage growth in breadth, allowing the character to keep improving without getting too over the top. Alternately, steal from old skill D&D and lean toward pumping points into Social Advantages (Wealth, Status, Rank, Allies, etc.)
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Old 06-16-2019, 09:00 PM   #10
ericthered
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Default Re: Capping character points and further customization?

I occasionally "Cap" PC advancement by not awarding any points in a campaign at all. Usually such characters are mature, well developed heroes, and in a genre where increasing hero power in inappropriate. A buffer of "Oh I forgot that" points is set aside, and we focus on how the heroes change the world, not on how the world changes the players.

Effecting changes on and in the world is usually how these games progress, and as been noted, this does require tracking social improvements and wealth separately from points.

But usually the lack of change is the point of such games. I start off such heroes at very high point levels, intending that they will never need to grow.
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