Dealing with High Stat players

[Shostak]

Originally Posted by Barmace

I guess my question is really just how do you roll (handle) for a high level stat?

The same as for lower stats: 3d6. And yes, in the absence of negative modifiers, they will succeed most of the time.

A strength of 20. How would I hold someone in a cage unless it is specially made? But in a common jail in a common town. He could break out pretty easily.

You are not required to even allow a roll for things like breaking out of a jail with a reinforced, locked door or steel bars.

Starting the best a warrior can do it
St. 16 Dex 8 IQ 8

A thief would be
ST 8 DEX 16 IQ 8

I would not call those "best" builds, but min-maxed. Perfectly acceptable, but perhaps not practical.

I guess off the top of my head...each city or adventure will just get harder and harder like if I have a 42 point character they will only face 40-50 point encounters?

High-stat characters can be challenged by low-stat ones in TFT. Someone with a low IQ is going to have to fight their way through illusions and is an easy target for Control Person spells, while someone with low ST is going to have to worry about getting wounded by a dagger, and someone with a low DX is going to find it very challenging to not fall off a slippery ledge or dodge a poisoned dart trap.

[Peter von Kleinsmid]

Originally Posted by Barmace

I guess my question is really just how do you roll (handle) for a high level stat?

I play it straight, and would recommend doing the same.

Originally Posted by Barmace

for shooting a bow...a 20 Dex would never miss on a simple thing but of cource harder things it will. But most of the time. they will roll 16-18 is a miss as opposed to a 12 Dex which has a much bigger gap To Hit.

Yes, and that's what a DX 20 archer is supposed to do, twice per turn, even. DX 20 with a bow is a world-class archer, and is generally quite fun for the player. Let them hit things frequently. The rules already cover this well. This is not a problem.

Originally Posted by Barmace

I was just using the example so that I can understand how to handle someone with a high stat. A strength of 20. How would I hold someone in a cage unless it is specially made? But in a common jail in a common town. He could break out pretty easily.

Maybe, if the construction of the jail isn't particularly strong, or maybe not. ST 20 is a very strong human, but even small village jails may be built well enough to withstand a strong person, or even a couple of strong people teaming up. Start with the rules for Doors in In The Labyrinth on page 70. The 5-die roll to run against a door and knock it open is about an ordinary door that was not built for that kind of abuse.

Even if a character does get thrown in a jail and manages to get out by any means, that's an interesting situation that can lead to fun and interesting play! As a GM, I would provide only the amount of resistance that I thought (or determined by random rolls) was present. Player characters doing unexpected and unruly things that make use of their abilities, and the situations they lead to, is what the game is about. Ok, they broke down the door... what happens next? All sorts of interesting things could happen!

IF they get caught again, and what you determine should happen is the guards would put them in a more secure cell, well, there will certainly be more secure cells somewhere. They might have the village blacksmith provide some heavy chains, or just use a lot of rope to very securely tie the prisoner up, or have a posse of villagers guard the prisoner as they march him to the nearest fort or town with a better jail. But there will be proper cell doors that would need many more dice to break down, and that have round-the clock guards with weapons who will be a problem for unarmed prisoners trying to escape.

Originally Posted by Barmace

What I am looking for is suggestions for those that have very high Stats could be just STR. DEX, or IQ....I know I am putting the Cart before the horse.

Let them be strong, agile, and smart, and do things well. The rules of TFT already allow for plenty of ways for such characters to find life interesting and challenging, if the GM just applies natural consequences. They may be quite heroic and successful, but there are always more dangerous challenges to undertake.

Originally Posted by Barmace

But even a few levels could really tip the scales on the game. I know that Dex of 8 you will not hit very often or Strength 8 you will not do a ton of damage. I am just looking for suggestions maybe 6 months or a year end. right now I am confident on handling a 32 point character it is when they get into 42 and above where it can get tricky

You won't get even to 40 points in a year of play unless you play frequently, and the PCs survive, AND you give them a LOT of experience. And if they do reach 36 or higher, they will be quite capable, but probably the players will be enjoying having achieved that level of ability.

More capable PCs will often be able to defeat opponents that would have been challenging before. But the risk won't entirely go away. Surviving will still depend on effective play, avoiding extremely dangerous situations, and good fortune. And players tend to naturally take on more dangerous and difficult situations, when their characters are more capable.

Originally Posted by Barmace

I guess off the top of my head...each city or adventure will just get harder and harder like if I have a 42 point character they will only face 40-50 point encounters?

I would say that the GM generally should not just make the whole world become more powerful to match they PCs' point levels. The PCs own choices and actions however may tend to lead to more challenging situations. Players will tend to choose more dangerous things to take on.

Of course, a visibly strong party will tend not to get attacked by opponents that realize they're weaker, and may attract the interest of stronger and more capable foes, especially if the PCs are known to have a lot of gold or magic items. And NPCs who realize the PCs are very powerful may tend to flee and go warn others, which can tend to naturally result in a powerful party ending up facing larger and/or more capable groups of foes.

PCs who do notable things may tend to get noticed and develop reputations and enemies that lead to more challenging opportunities, challenges and foes. Powerful people and organizations may want to employ a strong PC group, and assign them some difficult missions. Others may have known the people the PCs have defeated, and want revenge. Or they may just want to relieve the PCs of their loot and magic items, or to strike first so they don't end up the PCs' next victims.

[TippetsTX]

Originally Posted by Barmace

I guess my question is really just how do you roll (handle) for a high level stat?

for shooting a bow...a 20 Dex would never miss on a simple thing but of cource harder things it will. But most of the time. they will roll 16-18 is a miss as opposed to a 12 Dex which has a much bigger gap To Hit.

So let's start with your first use-case...

Assuming the character survives long enough to achieve it (which I have my doubts about), then yes, an adjDX 20 archer should hit almost every time he shoots at your low-to-average tier targets especially within a few megahexes. These opponents probably wear none-to-moderate armor and will drop like flies before the exceptional skill of your bowman. Smarter foes will choose to DODGE requiring a 4d roll to hit, making it a bit harder on your archer, but to level the playing field even more, the shooter should be faced by strong opponents in head-to-toe heavy armor and shields. The archer will be forced to make 'aimed shots', preferably at the head, for -6 DX per shot in order to deal any meaningful damage.

And that's just using RAW and no magic (REVERSE MISSILES would be especially deadly to your archer). If you open the door to a few logical house-rules like a master martial artist whose Evade ability allows them to DODGE just as well as they can DEFEND (5 or 6 dice to hit) or shields that provide cover rather than armor, you can create even more interesting and challenging encounters for all levels of play.

[hcobb]

I have an online scenario showing how impossible it is for a wizard who starts at IQ 17 to survive, even with the +3 to hit of the higher level staff spells here:

https://www.hcobb.com/tft/necropus/