Post by Heart on Jun 9, 2018 16:47:53 GMT -5
Power Level Guide
So, there's always a bit of confusion when it comes down to the concept of "just how strong is my character"? Of course, we don't want anyone doing everything just purely to be strong, the entire point is to nurture a story after all. But consistency is key to a story, and the level of someone's power remaining consistent through their storytelling, similarly, is incredibly important. As such, we've designed a basic guide to help you understand what the numbers we use in NWN actually means. Keep in mind this is a guide and not a law, we don't want to roleplay police too hard, but we'd like you to keep these things in mind.
Level
The most fundamental number attached to a character, their level is a measurement of the characters experience, their skill, and understanding of whatever it is that they're doing. This is why it plays such an important role in any roll or check, as certainly (with an SCC) a character could be an untrained Berserker that was only a level 10 yet held a 25 Strength Modifier. However, that doesn't mean that the well-seasoned war veteran that's a level 40 with a 10 mod would have an issue with them due to their clumsy lack of skill.
Level 1-3: A Commoner or Average Citizen, Perhaps they have some experience and combat ability but nothing impressive.
Level 4-5: A New Adventurer, a Young Guard or Squire, the scribe (not even official apprentice) of a Mage.
Level 6-10: An Adept Adventurer, Standard Guard, Young Knight, or Apprentice Mage.
Level 11-15: A Seasoned Adventurer, Guard Captain, Knight, or Assistant Mage.
Level 16-20: An Expert Adventurer, Commander of a Capitals Guard, Head Knight, or Mage.
Level 21-30: The grey area of what is generally qualified as a "Master", these are incredibly rare individuals that are usually seen as the most skilled in their fields of their Kingdoms. "The most skilled elven swordsman of the land", and so forth.
Level 31-40: You've reached the point beyond "of the land", and are instead in those few that are known as the top tier in the world of their area. "One of the top ten most skilled swordsmen in the world" for instance.
Modifiers
The second most important number, the modifiers of your ability scores. This measures the raw limit of your power, speed, and stamina that the energy itself is able to manifest in whatever the ability score itself represents. This has little to nothing involving skill in it beyond the basic skill to increase your upper limits and understanding of how the ability score itself works in-character. A character with high mods but low levels would be a character with tremendous natural talent in those ability scores, but has little to no actual skill and experience using them in battle. Keep in mind these mods are after all enchantment boosts, buffs, powers, and so forth.
-3 to -1: Crippled
0 to 3: Average
4 to 7: Above-Average
8 to 11: Pinnacle
12 to 17: Supernatural
18 to 20: Overwhelming
21 to 25: Divine
So, there's always a bit of confusion when it comes down to the concept of "just how strong is my character"? Of course, we don't want anyone doing everything just purely to be strong, the entire point is to nurture a story after all. But consistency is key to a story, and the level of someone's power remaining consistent through their storytelling, similarly, is incredibly important. As such, we've designed a basic guide to help you understand what the numbers we use in NWN actually means. Keep in mind this is a guide and not a law, we don't want to roleplay police too hard, but we'd like you to keep these things in mind.
Level
The most fundamental number attached to a character, their level is a measurement of the characters experience, their skill, and understanding of whatever it is that they're doing. This is why it plays such an important role in any roll or check, as certainly (with an SCC) a character could be an untrained Berserker that was only a level 10 yet held a 25 Strength Modifier. However, that doesn't mean that the well-seasoned war veteran that's a level 40 with a 10 mod would have an issue with them due to their clumsy lack of skill.
Level 1-3: A Commoner or Average Citizen, Perhaps they have some experience and combat ability but nothing impressive.
Level 4-5: A New Adventurer, a Young Guard or Squire, the scribe (not even official apprentice) of a Mage.
Level 6-10: An Adept Adventurer, Standard Guard, Young Knight, or Apprentice Mage.
Level 11-15: A Seasoned Adventurer, Guard Captain, Knight, or Assistant Mage.
Level 16-20: An Expert Adventurer, Commander of a Capitals Guard, Head Knight, or Mage.
Level 21-30: The grey area of what is generally qualified as a "Master", these are incredibly rare individuals that are usually seen as the most skilled in their fields of their Kingdoms. "The most skilled elven swordsman of the land", and so forth.
Level 31-40: You've reached the point beyond "of the land", and are instead in those few that are known as the top tier in the world of their area. "One of the top ten most skilled swordsmen in the world" for instance.
Modifiers
The second most important number, the modifiers of your ability scores. This measures the raw limit of your power, speed, and stamina that the energy itself is able to manifest in whatever the ability score itself represents. This has little to nothing involving skill in it beyond the basic skill to increase your upper limits and understanding of how the ability score itself works in-character. A character with high mods but low levels would be a character with tremendous natural talent in those ability scores, but has little to no actual skill and experience using them in battle. Keep in mind these mods are after all enchantment boosts, buffs, powers, and so forth.
-3 to -1: Crippled
- Strength: Unable to stand.
- Dexterity: Too clumsy to physically function.
- Constitution: Always sick, can't breathe properly.
- Wisdom: Complete lack of willpower, inability to focus.
- Intelligence: Struggle with memory and proper energy control.
- Charisma: Completely unable to connect or feel other forms of energy.
0 to 3: Average
- Strength: Capable of lifting one's own weight.
- Dexterity: Capable of basic functions.
- Constitution: Average health and standard stamina.
- Wisdom: Average willpower, standard pain tolerance and ability to focus.
- Intelligence: Normal memory and basic energy control.
- Charisma: Able to barely sense the energy of others as well as connect to it.
4 to 7: Above-Average
- Strength: Capable of lifting twice one's own weight. Bare-hand strikes break wood.
- Dexterity: Agile and Flexible, capable of splits, basic backflips, balancing along ledges, etc.
- Constitution: Quite healthy, sickness is rare and has an athletic amount of stamina.
- Wisdom: Strong will, high pain tolerance and focusing ability.
- Intelligence: Superior memory and skilled energy control.
- Charisma: Strong energy sensory and able to output one's own personality forward strongly.
8 to 11: Pinnacle
- Strength: Capable of lifting four times ones own weight. Bare-hand strikes break stone.
- Dexterity: Catlike agility and flexibility, casual backflips, walking along tightropes as casually as the ground, etc.
- Constitution: Incredibly healthy, rarely sick, near superhuman levels of stamina.
- Wisdom: Iron Will, tremendous pain tolerance and near unbreakable focus.
- Intelligence: Abnormal memory and extensive energy control.
- Charisma: Force of personality is tremendous comparable to the great speakers of history, substantial energy sensory and connection.
12 to 17: Supernatural
- Strength: Capable of minor superhuman feats such as throwing a carriage at someone or a massive boulder, uprooting a tree, etc.
- Dexterity: Superhuman agility and flexibility, abnormal sense of balance, inhumanly graceful movement.
- Constitution: Tremendous stamina, a body like stone, never naturally sick, near immune to alcohols effects.
- Wisdom: Tremendous Willpower, nearly immune to pains effects, an unbreakable raw mental force and focus that is unbreakable.
- Intelligence: Near perfect memory, inhumanly fast learner and such refined energy control that advanced forms of magical substances compared to technology is feasible.
- Charisma: Inhuman force of personality that can change the world views of even some of the most stubborn, immense ability to sense and connect with raw energies and bond with them at tremendous speeds.
18 to 20: Overwhelming
- Strength: Overwhelming superhuman feats such as punching a giant and knocking them through a hill, throwing an entire house at someone, holding up a caved-in mine, etc.
- Dexterity: Tremendous superhuman flexibility, matrix-esc feats that completely defy the laws of normal physics such as perfectly balancing your entire body on the tip of a finger, then dodging an attack by launching yourself off that fingertip, etc.
- Constitution: Overwhelming raw physical endurance, a body like steel that can shrug off attacks that would be fatal to a normal person, tremendous immunity to poisons and disease of supernatural origin, etc.
- Wisdom: Nearly the definition of mind over matter, only the divine can hope to ever break the mind of the individual, like a mental fortress of pure steel.
- Intelligence: Eidetic, the closest the real world has to a photographic memory. Capable of mystical control that is now in the realm of supernatural science such as instead of forming fire, forming plasma, etc.
- Charisma: Tremendous personality strength that only the greatest mythological leaders can compare too. Ability to sense, connect, and produce energy from leylines and other beings is now capable of rivaling even the Celestials and Daemons.
21 to 25: Divine
- Strength: Divine strength capable of clashing with Daemon, Dragons, Celestials, and more. Raw power that defies all logic,
- Dexterity: The pinnacle of grace, of mobility, speed, reaction time, balance, and flexibility. A being that can quite literally appear to perform an elegant dance across a battlefield, not even their clothing being damaged no matter how many arrows are fired or blades try to bite their flesh.
- Constitution: Unwavering, unmatched, a body like that of a god of war-- capable of being hit by a giants axe in the chest, and the axe breaking on their chest. Beings that hold such tremendous durability, infinite physical stamina, and unwavering health and immunity.
- Wisdom: If the previous force of will was a fortress of steel in one's mind, this is a mind of diamond, if they do not wish it-- nothing can change their focus, effect them with pain, and they will never talk if they don't want to no matter the torture.
- Intelligence: A true, perfected memory that recalls everything to a supernatural near unexplainable reason, a mind comparable to a God of knowledge and history for instance. Complete and utter control of energy for feats that combine high-end science, chemistry and more with mystical control.
- Charisma: Force of personality only matched by Divines that specialize in such things, beings like a goddess of beauty or war tactics. Divine levels of sensory and connection beyond any other.