When Do Skill Ratings Become Unwieldy?

[Stan Shinn]

As a GM, what’s the highest die code rating for peak skills your players can get to before it becomes unwieldy? 8D as a peak skill maybe? Something higher?

I'm thinking about long-running campaigns (50-100 games) and I want to be mindful of awarding XP and how fast characters level, so we don't get into those higher dice code ratings where things are swingy, PCs seem invulnerable, or dice rolling take way too long.

[thedemonapostle]

my groups never had any skill die caps. it was generally understood in my groups that the higher your skill ratings the more widely known you were, for better or for worse.

several gm's would throw lesser npc's at the combat based pc's with the idea that small time gangsters or similar were looking to make a name for themselves by taking out well known personalities.

there was always someone willing to use their skills to force someone very skilled in another skill(s) to do their bidding.

ive played some awesome games where the gm's whole purpose was to outmaneuver the highly skilled pc's
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[garhkal]

[Whill]

[pakman]

TLDR: Yes, 8D gets tricky, and I limit to XP awards at the end of an adventure, about 12-14 points...

LONGER VERSION:
Before I start ...let me say..

This is a highly subjective topic - and many folks may have very differing views - as wide ranging as the groups themselves.
The experiences and opinions of a group that playing infrequently or only for a short game (less than a year or two) is going to be different than a group that plays regularly for many years...

[Mamatried]

To me the "dice cap" if we will is based on how the GM (and player group) decides on what task is "how" difficult.

an easy task is usually in the difficulty range of 3-7 and some examiles are given.
here you do not need a lot of dice and will do fairly well with 3D or 4D.

However we all value diffently the difficulties of the actions taken by players.

Some tables will say that the basic "flying" of a any starship is no more than a moderately difficult taks.... making it in the 10-15 range of difficulty. still someone with a 3D or 4 D will do ok but 5D and 6D will now be more realistic
as experience grows.

Now on another table, a different group of players and GM may decide that the above task of "basic flyong" is diffuclt to do, now we MUST have a minimum og 3D to 4D to even attemt the task. with a 5D or 6D beng a new "normal" in order to pull things off.

This is what increases the dice or dice pool, much more than the #D ice in the individual skill/attribute.

Anyone with 4D will have huge problems rolling 3
anyone with 8D will have the same difficulty rolling a 7

So how we define difficulties and what tasks should require rolls at all and allowing "negative" rolls is what to me determines the cap.

I will say that at a table where flying a fighter is a "heroic level" task then 12D in piloting is reasobale and mybe a little "low" as to the number of dice

[garhkal]

[Whill]

[garhkal]

It wasn't sparks, as that's generally 5-7 CP a module, each played in a 3.5 hr session. Which i've always seen as WAY more than should be awarded..
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[Whill]

[Stan Shinn]

Thanks for everyone's feedback!

Here's a house rule I'm considering to minimize getting skills in the 8D or higher range.

If your skill die is 1-6D, increase any skill by one pip by spending CP equal to its current number of dice.

If your skill die is 7D or higher, increase any skill by one pip by spending CP equal to TWICE the current number of dice.

So, leveling up skills will be much harder once you reach the 7D+ tier. I'd then made some similar adjustments to leveling up attributes.

You still have the freedom to min-max your character but if you do (pouring all of your CP into 2 or 3 skills), you'll noticeably lag in most skills compared to the other players who spend CP on lower ranked skills.

Thoughts?

[garhkal]

[FVBonura]

13D is probably the maximum I would allow.

I like 8D, when players roll that high, I don't have to consult rulebooks as much for bonuses and penalties. I just have to mind opposed rolls and fumbles (critical failures). This may be the only RPG system that gets easier to adjudicate as players advance.

The trick is finding creative ways of getting those players to burn Character Points and Force Points, in play, and not on boosting skills. I learned a trick from the FATE RPG. If a player rolls bad, ask them if they want to spend Character Points AFTER the roll not before. The result is the players burn more CPs and skill advancement is slower. This benefits long-term campaigns a great deal.

I also grandfathered and expanded the 1 Force Point = 3 Character Points rule from Second Edition. I allow my players to make change whenever they want. Need a FP and have none? Spend 3 CP as a FP. Don't want to spend a whole FP, break it up and spend a CP with 2 CP left over. Its like a casino get your players to waste CPs and FPs, its more fun and it ultimately slows down advancement.
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[fogger1138]

[garhkal]