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I've been musing over a list of power tiers as sort of a recommendation regarding how powerful characters are, so that GMs have a shorthand on how many Ability points to determine how powerful they want their game to be, or for players to decide how strong they want to be.

Ineffective characters have 0 to 4 total points in Abilities. They just do not have the power to affect the world.

Minor characters would have 5 to 9 points, and are generally notable NPCs, who might have some skill and strength, but generally cannot do what protagonists do.

Average characters have 10 to 14 points. While not superhuman, these characters are still good at what they can do, and in a low power setting can be the main heroes.

Heroic characters have 15 to 19 points, and is recommended for most action or high power settings. These characters are the adventurers in guild, or the party of pirates that take center stage.

Major characters have 20 to 24 points, and will be, well, major players in the world. The kings, guild masters, high wizards, generals, and the like.

Supreme characters have 25 or more points. These would be the gods or the Big Bad of the setting, and occasionally the heroes that rise up to the insurmountable challenge.

I figure it's better to base on the total points of Abilities, since that is primarily what the characters can do. Base Zero, that is, having Weaknesses within + or - 5 points of the Ability total, is more of a character creation balance, so that doesn't really apply to the character's power level.

I am basing this off My own observation of a character with 15 points in Abilities makes a good starting hero, and a character with 10 makes a good low power hero.

I haven't tried it, but I am thinking that a group could use the range for a bit more variety in points. For example, if the GM wants a Heroic game, one player could have 15 points in Abilities, another with 16, and another with 18 points, and still be about balanced with each other.

How does these tiers look? Is there a nuance I am missing? Anything I should add or take away? This is a rough draft of the idea, so everything here is up for discussion.

It's a nice tiers list. Maybe a bit too much diverses tiers in my opinion.

Well at first glance, it certainly helps with designing NPCs worth noting.

Julian Manson wrote:It's a nice tiers list. Maybe a bit too much diverses tiers in my opinion.

What would you rather see?

I was initially thinking of doing a level 1 through 5 tiers, since that's the levels of OVA abilities, but in the end it being six groups- two low tiers, two player character tiers, and two high tiers. I think it came out pretty well.

Well I don't see the point of the "Ineffective" tiers.

I would go like this:

-Normal people ( can be used for ennemies minions)->Can be useful for seinen approach

-Above Average ( can be used for ennemies right arms)

-Heroic ( can be used for bosses )

-Titan ( can be used for demi-god and such)

and no "god" tiers ever.

Julian Manson wrote:I would go like this:

-Normal people ( can be used for ennemies minions)->Can be useful for seinen approach

-Above Average ( can be used for ennemies right arms)

-Heroic ( can be used for bosses )

-Titan ( can be used for demi-god and such)

Sounds a bit like the NPC types described in p.123 under "Creating NPCs"

As for the "god" tiers, probably ideal to not give proper stats to divine beings. They're more like environmental hazards or even nigh-impossible obstacles than characters that must be defeated head-on.

Unless you're going for the whole "punching Cthulhu" route, then have at it. Just make sure that there's a backup.

"God" might have been a poor choice of words. Maybe Epic would be more in line.

IIRC, D&D4E had three tiers: Heroic was levels 1 through 10, Paragon was levels 11 through 20, and Epic was levels 21 to 30. That would roughly be equal to Average through Major of what I described, and Supreme would be levels 31+.

I haven't touched D&D5E, but a quick search does suggest this:
1-4 - Local heroes
5-10 - Regional heroes
11-16 - National heroes
16-20 - Planar heroes

Which again corresponds with Minor to Major tiers, with Ineffective being level 0 or NPCs, and Supreme being 20+ Epic levels.

Now, that's not to say either the D&D or My lists are definitive. But Supreme characters are going to be the higher power stuff, which could run the gamut from the evil emperor to the benevolent goddess to Eldritch abominations. Final disc stuff.

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