Ability scores

Should have decent customizability at level 1, and advance slowly but surely. 7.5 does this fine.

General skills

Should be able to specify a few skills you're good at, maybe a couple you're kinda good at, and sod the rest. The relative numeric differences should scale linearly with level. It should be possible to add a few more skills over your career, but not many.

7.5 actually does this pretty well for low-magic types, if slightly on the anemic side. For high magic types, it's hopeless. You'll be making some hard compromises.

Powers

This is probably the most sensitive one. You should have a very small number of core powers at level 1. Over time, you should be able to spread out somewhat, but this should come at a cost: a level 20 specialist needs to be head-and-shoulders above a level 20 generalist in his special area.

No version of System 7 has been particularly good at this. Most scale linearly and cap fast; the longest scenario for "instant mastery" is 5 levels (7.5 at rank 5+), but in practice, it's usually possible to master a brand new power in 1-2 levels. Thus, generalists win.

This would seem to be because BP/SP investment in powers only factors into gating, not raw power. If you want more Mana, more damage, etc, that's a totally different kind of investment--which, of course, factors into all powers equally, so chalk up another win for generalists.

An obvious solution might be to transfer most of the raw numbers into the power skill, and let the player invest however much they want. If it's only possible to max out 4-5 skills as you level, and you have 2-3 general skills you need maxed (e.g. Spellcraft and Willpower), then you could only max out 2-3 powers. Any more than that, and you'll be making compromises.

The immediate counter-argument is that we can't let numeric balance slip across the levels. In other words, if the specialists are rolling +17 at level 11, then the monsters are balanced against that, and so the generalists will suck if they're rolling +12. This is the logic of post-TBC WoW or System 6: hybrids shouldn't have a raw numeric penalty. Then again, that kind of logic is really hurting specialists in both WoW and System 7. The former has no easy solution, but we do: Focus.

Focus has made it possible to close the gap in numeric contests. So yeah, the generalist can match the specialist's DC and damage figures...occasionally, and with great effort. The rest of the time, he's going to lag behind, and that's the cost of being a generalist.

So how would this work? The current skill formula doesn't work anymore, since all levels of investment have the same flat +5. So, back to direct investment. But, should it be 5 ranks? 5 ranks tends to be too many for gating purposes (3 works better), while obviously too few to map to a d20. If we defer gating for a moment, suppose we go back to 1 SP = +1 to the check. Then we just need to decide how many skill points is the right amount per level, and we're pretty much good to go.

So what happens to built-in abilities? Well, for general skills, anything at level 1 that scales with rank ought to be able to scale with skill points; for example, Agility could grant Jump 1 per 2 SP (formerly 2 per rank), Tumble 1 per 5 SP (formerly 1 per rank), and ignore one die of falling damage per SP (formely 2/5/10/25/50 by rank). As for other abilities, that falls under "gating".

Gating

This one is tricky. You can't give PCs too much at level 1, or there's no reason to level, but if you give too little, they just won't want to play at that level.

From my own experience, the effect of gating seems to be:

• There exists some ideal power level. Very roughly, this corresponds to D&D 3.5 level 7-13.
• The further a PC is beneath this level:
  • The more unsatisfied the PC is with their current power level.
  • The more motivated the PC is to gain levels.
  • The less motivated the PC is to perform activities that don't grant levels.
  • This varies by PC play style, naturally. Those who are less unsatisfied with low power also tend to be less motivated to gain levels; the two seem linked.
• If the PC is at that level, they are generally content, meaning:
  • No dissatisfaction with power level
  • No motivation to gain levels
• Above that level, two possibilities exist:
  • Same contentment as being ideal level, i.e. neither dissatisfied, nor motivated to advance
  • Discontent, feeling "too powerful". This can happen if the either the character concept or their growth in-game does not adequately explain power growth.
    • Note: this can probably happen at any level after 1, and may not be related to "ideal level".

This is a problem, because every intuitive solution to gating is basically about distributing the total array of all possible powers across the expected leveling spectrum (i.e. 1-20), which fails to take into account that the ideal power level may not actually be level 20.

Skipping a whole lot of transitional explanation, here is my conclusion on that:

• Every character has a certain "horizon" at creation, which represents a normal, dramatically-appropriate growth of the character. This horizon will marry in-game accomplishments with numeric rewards such as level.
• The distance to that horizon varies widely with play style, but is (very roughly) 10 levels. This determines the "ideal power level", and corresponds with the average number of levels gained in a campaign of average length. Thus:
  • A character starting at level 1 will encounter their horizon in the low teens.
  • A character starting at level 5 will encounter their horizon in the mid teens.
  • A character starting at level 10 will encounter theirs around level 20.
  • etc...

This contradicts the previous (unexamined) assumption that all characters have their eye on level 20, regardless of when they start, and might further explain the statistical anomaly that games starting at level 10 are more likely to succeed than those starting at any other level. Naturally, it goes a long way toward explaining the common scenario of games starting at level 1-5 petering out at level 11-15 despite the campaign not being over.

The Ten Level Horizon makes a lot of sense. By the time a PC creates their first character, they've absorbed hundreds or thousands of hero's journeys from books, video games, movies, etc. We know how much growth feels right. Luke Skywalker starts as a farm boy, and rises to become a Jedi Knight capable of (barely) defeating his father. Even then, he's no match for the Emperor. Lina Inverse starts her story casting the most powerful black magic spell known to mortals just to kill one lousy dragon. She's obviously headed for epic territory.

The Saga form of gameplay embraces (however unwittingly) this phenomenon. The first chapter spans one ten-level horizon, culminating in a major victory. In order to move on, there must first be a break: some time passes, during which the characters have time to digest their experience and emerge fundamentally different, and also during which some new conflict emerges, thus leading to the next chapter. Rinse and repeat, and it's off to epic-land we go!

So what does this imply for gating? Something similar to 7.6 Gating perhaps. TBD

Purchased just like powers or skills, but non-magical.

Fighter

• Stance: (5 SP) At-will, free; you may assume one of the following stances.
  • Offensive stance: gain +2 to melee attack rolls, critical threat range, and movement.
  • Defensive stance: gain +2 to all defense rolls, +5 to DR, and +1 Wound Tolerance.
  • Group stance: reduce defense penalties in side/rear arcs by 5, enemies gain no flanking bonus, and all of your melee attacks become a chain 1.

• Shout: (5 SP) At-will, free (once/rd); you shout, causing one of the following effects in a close burst 10 for 5 rounds. This costs 1 Stamina (can augment radius or duration by spending more Stamina).
  • Battlecry: allies gain +2 to hit and +2/die of damage.
  • Fight On: allies gain 20% max hp as temporary hp.
  • Charge!: allies gain +3 movement and initiative.

• Rage: (5 SP) You gain a Rage attribute:
  • Each time you inflict damage, gain 1 Rage (max once/rd, or 3/rd in offensive stance).
  • Each time you suffer damage, gain 1 Rage (max once/rd, or 3/rd in defensive stance).
  • If in group stance, gain +1 Rage per round for each 2 enemies threatening you.
  • Gain bonus to saves against fear equal to current Rage.
  • On turn start, if Rage > Wis, pass Willpower check each round (DC = 10 + Rage) to avoid flying into a berserker rage, attacking all targets until Rage is expended.
  • Ignore Pain: at-will, immediate; spend X Rage to temporarily suppress the effects of X Wound Points or an Injury worth the same amount. Effects are ignored until the end of combat (max 1 minute per Con).
  • Furious Blow: at-will, augment; melee attack inflicts +100% damage per Rage point spent.
  • Intimidating Shout: at-will, swift, close burst 1/Rage; enemies are frightened (Will ends).

Sneak Attack

• Sneak Attack: (5 SP) When you attack an unalert or unaware target, you inflict critical damage. Applies to melee attacks, or ranged attacks within 1 square per point of Ranged skill.

Feats are more rare and powerful, combining a bundle of abilities and traits. Most 7.5 power feats are rolled into their respective powers. Feats can also be used to establish core combat styles.

See 7.6 Feats