Heyo!

As many of you know, our combat system includes a random modifier for almost all skill checks. This modifier is curved towards only making minor changes, but in extreme cases could alter effective skill ranks by 50% or more. If, for example, we assume the range was +/- 50% (it wasn't; it could go higher, but for ease of example we'll stick with that), if you have 500 ranks in a skill, after the random it could be 250 to 750. If you are fighting someone with 500 ranks, it is easy to see how a good roll by one person (750) and a bad roll by the other (250) could result in utter annihilation in a single shot, even though both have the same skills.

In approximately 10 minutes from the time of this post, I will be releasing a modification in Prime and Platinum that will essentially cut the range of this modifier in half. It will still be curved and weighted towards the middle (ie little or no modification) just like it has always been, but the extremes will not be as severe. While this will not remove the "one shot kill" syndrome at higher levels, it should help reign it in somewhat.

This change has been live in Test for several weeks now, and hasn't produced any alarming results. TF will follow in a day or two assuming we don't need to tweak the range a bit.


- GM Dartenian


If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right. - Henry Ford