General guidance on fantasy campaign balance - request

[Nolgroth]

Okay. Coming in late to the party but I can't ever resist throwing my $0.02 in.

 

 

Hi everyone, I have gone through the boards and looked through FRED trying to come up with a good magic system and have good general game balance. I hope I can outline it here and get some feedback.

 

1. - Standard 75pt + 25 points of disadvantages, no more than 20 points for a single disadvantage.
2. - NCM is in effect, the maxima can be exceeded by no more than five, and only for a single defining characteristic for new characters. Further increases will be dictated by game circumstance.
3. - Speed cannot be purchased by new characters.
4. - Maximum CV is 12 typical range is 4 - 6
5. - Typical DC is will be 3 to 8, max DC is 12
6. - Typical armor will be 3 to 6 rPD
7. - Combat luck can be bought only once
8. - Powers cannot be used to simulate skills to start

 

Magic system:

- Mana battery required, full night sleep required to recharge it. it will be possible to find external independent focus batteries in game.

- Magic is a VPP, requires a skill roll, side effects (ego blast on failure), incantations, full phase to cast. limited to 40 active points to start. Can only change the VPP by studying a new spell from a book or scroll.

 

What am I missing? Any big mistakes or imbalances?

 

1. Good enough. Looks like a relatively low powered game compared to the "standard" fantasy.
2. I can see why you would do this, but I assure you that it is unnecessary at the point range you are starting at. It is good to know the upper limit of abilities, but only a few players are going to want to try to max out every stat with XP anyway.
3. Either have everybody with a set Speed or allow characters to purchase it within your NCM guidelines. At 10 points per 1 Speed, that is going to take a bundle of points to buy up to anything unbalancing.
4. Maximum CV for the beginning of a campaign should be about 6, with 12 being the grand total from CSLs and Martial Maneuvers. I would actually even have the absolute max CV around 10 to start and shift upwards as the characters gain XP. Just the way I would do it.
5. Same for DC. When considering whether to have a maximum campaign DC versus the Damage Doubling rule, consider this; Campaign Max makes the damage about the character and Damage Doubling Makes the damage about the weapon. Neither is wrong or right from a rules standpoint. It is simply what is appropriate to your game. I've seen the argument that everybody will then max out DC. I say "so what." If one character is doing 12 DC with a two-handed sword, one is flinging spells that do 12 DC and the thief is getting 12 DC from expertly wielding small blades, then so be it. As long as everybody is having fun, either method works.
6. Why not stick with Fantasy Hero standards regarding armor? Just a curiosity question. 
7. What Markdoc said about stacking Combat Luck with other resistant defenses. I've gotten to the point where I almost don't want to allow Combat Luck in any campaign that has other ways (Armor, Spells, Superpowers, etc.) to get Resistant Defenses. 
8. So a Knock spell (Really high Lockpicking) is out? What about Comprehend Languages (Universal Translator)? Both are staples of the fantasy genre. Just wondering why this would be a thing.

 

A VPP for magic is going to have to be balanced by something else. In addition to having a Known Spells requirement, you might also want to consider END cost adjustments, making (some or all) spells cost LTE, or something else to really keep them from dominating the battlefield. You might even try a reagent limitation. D&D can get pretty ridiculous, but the old Ultima series of video games had a pretty easy to track set of reagents. In all earnestness, I would be wary of using a VPP for magic. If you must use a power framework, use a Multipower. That way, each new spell learned still costs XP and they are limited by both the Pool and Active Cost. Building up the Multipower would, by necessity, a huge XP sink but that would specialize the character. If one of the players wanted a Fighter/Mage equivalent, then they would have to sacrifice magical power for martial training. I think it would work out better.

 

No matter which way you go, BUILD THE SPELLS FIRST. At the very least, require that all spells pass muster with you before approval. Post them here and let us tear them apart before you give the go ahead. 

 

Now off to read the rest of the thread.