Going above 5?

Discuss rule quandaries, supplements, or anything else OVA related here.

Moderators: Clay, Jade

Post Reply
Happy McGigglepants
Shelled Plebeian
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2015 10:01 am

Going above 5?

Post by Happy McGigglepants »

Can/should stats go above 5 dice? Here I'm thinking about superhero-esque anime, with superheroes in the cosmic range. I know you shouldn't START above 5, but can it go over without borking the die pool?
Chris Brady
Exalted Amphibian
Posts: 204
Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:12 am
Location: Somewhere out there...

Re: Going above 5?

Post by Chris Brady »

The main reason why it's not suggested is twofold. First, it then needs buckets to roll the dice. Secondly, the average of the bell curve becomes even larger and it creates odd and less reliable results.

Why not just use the Scale system?
"And now my friends, a Dragon's Toast! To life's little blessings; wars, plagues and all forms of evil. Their presence keeps us alert-- And their absence keeps us grateful!" - T.A. Barron
S'drolion
Shelled Plebeian
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2014 8:24 am

Re: Going above 5?

Post by S'drolion »

Scale is a good suggestion.

Additionally, you might just consider redefining "normal" for your game. In a universe like DBZ, for instance, all characters who matter in a fight scene generally have astronomical abilities...so rather than making higher and higher ability levels, just define levels 1-5 as appropriate for a mega-powered fighter. So the level where you can lift a car or what-have-you normally is now the level where you can lift a planet or what-have-you.

(Effectively, this is also scale...just that you're not even dealing with the question of a difference in abilities between the normal scale and the super scale. If someone of normal scale goes up against one of these guys, they're just so much cosmic dust.)
Clay
Dangerously Sane
Posts: 1282
Joined: Sun Jun 27, 2004 4:32 pm
Location: Nowhere-land
Contact:

Re: Going above 5?

Post by Clay »

Scale would be my recommendation also. Inventing increased ranges for Abilities (e.g. +6–+10) results in a lot of dice being thrown around. Which might be cute for DBZ (It’s over NINE THOUSSAAAAANDD....dice), but with scale, you can achieve the same purpose without quite as many number cubes bouncing about.

As pointed out by S’drolion, characters are very unlikely to fight people from outside of their scale anyway, and when they do, it’s often thematically appropriate just to squish them like bugs instead of rolling dice. Just give your Krillins +1 or +2 and your Gokus +5 and you should be golden.
Post Reply