Right now, as of version 2003.03.19, the PPV scale starts at 1 PPV for 0.5 ability and doubles from there. What we are currently playtesting, (in an effort to lower the PPV levels so that "normal" characters are more like 20-25 PPV instead of 80-100 PPV,) is that abilty level 0.5 costs 0.5 PPV and doubles from there.
However, this has not lowered the PPV scale enough, and we've lowered the "proficient" level of ability from 5 to 4. This has been challenged however...
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My first problem with getting rid of ability level 0.5 is it takes away from our flexibility for character development. On a scale that only goes up to 5 or 6 for most characters, that's taking flexibility we already don't have.
But the very fact that we don't have much character development option in the first place is what I believe the real problem is. If we could find a way to have the "competent" and "mastery" levels even higher than they are now, and farther apart, this would give us more character development options.
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The other problem I have with getting rid of ability level 0.5 is that even when we fix it back to "competence" being level 5 instead of 4, the scale is still imbalanced compared to Size.
It used to be that size and ability were comparable, both basically on a scale of 1 to 10. But the size doubled, and the ability, if anything, shrank.
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Currently, our PPV scale for abilities doubles at every level:
1 is 1 PPV
2 is 2
3 is 4
4 is 8
5 is 16
6 is 32
7 is 64
8 is 128
But what if we had it quadruple every 4 levels instead?
0.5 is 0.5 PPV
1.0 is 1.0
1.5 is 1.5
2.0 is 2.0
2.5 is 2.5
3.0 is 3.0
3.5 is 3.5
4 is 4 PPV
4.5 is 5.5 PPV
5.0 is 7.0
5.5 is 8.5
6.0 is 10.0
6.5 is 11.5
7.0 is 13.0
7.5 is 14.5
8 is 16 PPV
8.5 is 22 PPV
9.0 is 28
9.5 is 34
10.0 is 40
10.5 is 46
11.0 is 52
11.5 is 58
12 is 64 PPV
12.5 is 88 PPV
13.0 is 112
13.5 is 136
14.0 is 160
14.5 is 184
15.0 is 208
16 is 256 PPV
This allows for a whole lot of character development, and it fits in better with our size scale. This would be with a recommended starting character PPV of 20 to 25.
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Yes, I forgot 15.5 on that scale, which would be 232 PPV.
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Anonymous
-
2003-08-09
You made levels 4.5 through 8 THREE times as much as levels .5 through 4 instead of being FOUR times as much. This list should be correct:
0.5 is 0.5 PPV
1.0 is 1.0
1.5 is 1.5
2.0 is 2.0
2.5 is 2.5
3.0 is 3.0
3.5 is 3.5
4 is 4 PPV
4.5 is 6 PPV
5.0 is 8
5.5 is 10
6.0 is 12
6.5 is 14
7.0 is 16
7.5 is 18
8 is 20 PPV
8.5 is 28 PPV
9.0 is 36
9.5 is 44
10.0 is 52
10.5 is 60
11.0 is 68
11.5 is 76
12 is 84 PPV
12.5 is 100 PPV
13.0 is 116
13.5 is 132
14.0 is 148
14.5 is 164
15.0 is 180
16 is 196 PPV
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The current exponential PPV scale we are playtesting (1/2 PPV = 1/2 ability level,) is very popular and pretty much unchangeable right now. So I believe the secret will be to not change the PPV ability scale, but the expectation of the PPV character scale.
So currently, an "Normal" character is 20-25 PPV. An experienced heroic character would be 40 to 50 PPV, and super hero characters would start around 80 PPV.
What I'm suggesting instead, is still 20-25 PPV for "normal characters," but "experienced, Heroic characters" could range all the way up to about 90 PPV, and classic super hero type character would be in the 100-1000 PPV range. So the low end stays the same, but the high end has much more PPV then what we've anticipated before.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
The ability scale hasn't been seriously challenged since last time we changed the size scale, which was a pretty massive change!
Right now, as of version 2003.03.19, the PPV scale starts at 1 PPV for 0.5 ability and doubles from there. What we are currently playtesting, (in an effort to lower the PPV levels so that "normal" characters are more like 20-25 PPV instead of 80-100 PPV,) is that abilty level 0.5 costs 0.5 PPV and doubles from there.
However, this has not lowered the PPV scale enough, and we've lowered the "proficient" level of ability from 5 to 4. This has been challenged however...
Our first solution to this problem was to get rid of abilty level 0.5 and have abilty level 1.0 cost 0.5 PPV.
This has two things that bother me about it, and I believe these two things actually illustrate a problem with our PPV scale in general.
My first problem with getting rid of ability level 0.5 is it takes away from our flexibility for character development. On a scale that only goes up to 5 or 6 for most characters, that's taking flexibility we already don't have.
But the very fact that we don't have much character development option in the first place is what I believe the real problem is. If we could find a way to have the "competent" and "mastery" levels even higher than they are now, and farther apart, this would give us more character development options.
The other problem I have with getting rid of ability level 0.5 is that even when we fix it back to "competence" being level 5 instead of 4, the scale is still imbalanced compared to Size.
It used to be that size and ability were comparable, both basically on a scale of 1 to 10. But the size doubled, and the ability, if anything, shrank.
Currently, our PPV scale for abilities doubles at every level:
1 is 1 PPV
2 is 2
3 is 4
4 is 8
5 is 16
6 is 32
7 is 64
8 is 128
But what if we had it quadruple every 4 levels instead?
0.5 is 0.5 PPV
1.0 is 1.0
1.5 is 1.5
2.0 is 2.0
2.5 is 2.5
3.0 is 3.0
3.5 is 3.5
4 is 4 PPV
4.5 is 5.5 PPV
5.0 is 7.0
5.5 is 8.5
6.0 is 10.0
6.5 is 11.5
7.0 is 13.0
7.5 is 14.5
8 is 16 PPV
8.5 is 22 PPV
9.0 is 28
9.5 is 34
10.0 is 40
10.5 is 46
11.0 is 52
11.5 is 58
12 is 64 PPV
12.5 is 88 PPV
13.0 is 112
13.5 is 136
14.0 is 160
14.5 is 184
15.0 is 208
16 is 256 PPV
This allows for a whole lot of character development, and it fits in better with our size scale. This would be with a recommended starting character PPV of 20 to 25.
Yes, I forgot 15.5 on that scale, which would be 232 PPV.
You made levels 4.5 through 8 THREE times as much as levels .5 through 4 instead of being FOUR times as much. This list should be correct:
0.5 is 0.5 PPV
1.0 is 1.0
1.5 is 1.5
2.0 is 2.0
2.5 is 2.5
3.0 is 3.0
3.5 is 3.5
4 is 4 PPV
4.5 is 6 PPV
5.0 is 8
5.5 is 10
6.0 is 12
6.5 is 14
7.0 is 16
7.5 is 18
8 is 20 PPV
8.5 is 28 PPV
9.0 is 36
9.5 is 44
10.0 is 52
10.5 is 60
11.0 is 68
11.5 is 76
12 is 84 PPV
12.5 is 100 PPV
13.0 is 116
13.5 is 132
14.0 is 148
14.5 is 164
15.0 is 180
16 is 196 PPV
The current exponential PPV scale we are playtesting (1/2 PPV = 1/2 ability level,) is very popular and pretty much unchangeable right now. So I believe the secret will be to not change the PPV ability scale, but the expectation of the PPV character scale.
So currently, an "Normal" character is 20-25 PPV. An experienced heroic character would be 40 to 50 PPV, and super hero characters would start around 80 PPV.
What I'm suggesting instead, is still 20-25 PPV for "normal characters," but "experienced, Heroic characters" could range all the way up to about 90 PPV, and classic super hero type character would be in the 100-1000 PPV range. So the low end stays the same, but the high end has much more PPV then what we've anticipated before.