The Fantasy Trip

[JLV]

Originally Posted by Bayarea

No you are misunderstanding my point 10000 EP is still 10000 EP so lets say for the sake of argument you play the same character one session per week per year (taking 2 weeks vacation) and average 400 EP/session.

Well, that's our disconnect right there. We play a LOT more frequently than that when I have a group -- usually the minimum is every weekend for multiple hours, and frequently one or more week-nights as well. That blows your theoretical numbers right out of the water from the start -- given that level of frequency, topping 1000 XP per week is not unlikely, which takes your "time" issue down to much more likely levels. Even assuming people take a month off (in the military you get 30 days of leave per year -- and if you accumulate too much, the higher-ups get cranky about it since it makes it look as if they are denying you leave...), you're still easily topping 30,000 XP per year, and probably getting closer to 45,000 to 50,000.

Originally Posted by Bayarea

My problem with your argument is that if one character somehow got to a high level that it breaks the entire game. Move the campaign away from him or his area, split the party, where super tough guy goes nothing happens eventually he will get the hint.

I'd like to take exception to the word "argument." I'm not arguing. I'm simply stating the observed facts in my campaigns. And punishing a player for exceptional play...isn't my style...

Originally Posted by Bayarea

99% of all PC and Non PC characters are under 45 attributes. If one player gets a character up to a level like what you are talking about a few things usually happen the player retires (maybe becoming a NPC Sponsor) because there are no challenges, the player becomes a political broker or fief holder so his attributes don't matter as much anymore or if he is obnoxious the GM takes care of him (rare wasting disease, bad mushrooms, Mnoren assassin and the like) and that is the end of that.

Killing off a player character as a "reward" for exceptional play seems...bad...somehow, to me. If the player wants to continue to play, he or she should be allowed to. Unless one of the house rules is that "no Player Character can ever surpass 45 points" or something. In which case the reverse effect takes place and after increasing by 13 points, the game is essentially over -- they can never improve, never gain new talents or spells, etc.

Most importantly, you're disregarding my explanation that Attribute Bloat has insidious effects long before you reach the 90-point wonder. The character essentially becomes a human threshing machine when his DX hits roughly 18, and his ST just continues to decrease his vulnerability as he increases it beyond 18 (which is easier to do since you can effectively stop increasing your DX at about 18-24), while his IQ grows to grotesque proportions as he plumps it up to gain new talents and/or spells. Eventually you would think his 40-pound head would wobble even on his massively thewed neck...

I'm wondering if some sort of sliding experience scale based on the current attribute point total of EACH ATTRIBUTE might not go a long way to addressing some of this. Perhaps each point of ST gain should predicated on the existing total of unadjusted ST for that character -- something along the lines of "it costs 100XP TIMES THE NEW UNADJUSTED ST LEVEL to increase ST by 1. Thus, if your ST is 8 and you want to go to 9, it'll cost you 900 XP, while if your ST is 17 and you want to go to 18, it's gonna cost 1800 XP (those numbers are not a "suggestion" btw, instead merely being thrown out to explain the theoretical process) -- similar numbers would apply for DX and IQ. That doesn't solve the fact that DX effectively tops out at roughly 18 (or at best, let's say 24, if you want to wear Plate Armor and carry a shield), whereas the ST and IQ attributes are essentially unlimited in any way, but at least it slows attribute bloat to the point where it takes longer to get to the point of skewing the system. (Edited to add: And naturally, you could use some sort of logarithmic scale here too, instead of the purely arithmetic one I used above. Say, doubling the cost for each ST point gained. Thus, you might pay 900 to get ST 9 (100 x the desired new ST level) while you would pay 2000 to get to ST 10 (200 x the desired new ST level) and 4800 to get to ST 12 (400 x the desired new ST level), and so on. Again, numbers are used solely for illustrative purposes and do not constitute a "suggestion" or "recommendation." Those numbers are probably too extreme in any case, but you get the point.)