tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5891731747515762073.post6471102085295443247..comments2023-10-23T12:04:09.668-07:00Comments on The Chamber of Mazarbul: Dungeons and Dragons: Revising the Archaic d20 SystemBrian Slabyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05333048710667620592noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5891731747515762073.post-3115130185808591632013-10-31T14:31:47.279-07:002013-10-31T14:31:47.279-07:00Soooo I just wrote a lengthy response with a bunch...Soooo I just wrote a lengthy response with a bunch of specific examples, but I accidentally hit "sign out" instead of "publish," and the comment seems to be gone forever.<br /><br />The short version is that no, it's not nearly as bad in 13th Age because the discrepancy is never allowed to grow too high, even if the numbers themselves scale (because even unskilled characters add level to all ability checks). In contrast, your modifier in Pathfinder only increases if you actively put ranks into skills (nobody can scale all of their skills), meaning the gap will always be greater at high levels compared with low levels.<br /><br />This is justifiable from a simulationist standpoint, but it makes for bad gameplay. The whole "but I used to be able to succeed untrained!" notion. <br /><br />Also flexible backgrounds help (your background isn't "Perception," but rather someone with military training might be good at noticing stuff in a military camp, while an archaeologist gets a "perception bonus" in old ruins). And the fact that the same background applies to potentially all of your ability scores.Brian Slabyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05333048710667620592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5891731747515762073.post-37988444610694847052013-10-31T00:20:44.025-07:002013-10-31T00:20:44.025-07:00Do you find 13th Age has the same problem, as it h...Do you find 13th Age has the same problem, as it has a +5 limit to backgrounds (and I believe +7 at Epic Tier)?Tim Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07682826627977565611noreply@blogger.com