Skill redesign

This is probably the biggest change in the new design, which will significantly change the importance of items. Most of the difference is behind the scenes math/design stuff, but it's still worth posting.

The first design used a 20-sided die for skill checks, and relied on players obtaining a lot of bonuses from items to be able to succeed at tougher checks. I think this was the weakest part of my first design - there's too much range here, the bonuses quickly become more important than the die roll, and players would need to stack multiple items to have a reasonable chance at hard checks for a single skill. Instead I'm switching to a simpler system with less variability and less reliance on racking up a huge bonus.

Now on a skill check you roll 2 six-sided dice (by default). An easy check requires a result of 6, medium requires 9, and hard requires 12. If you've played games that use 2d6 before, the medium and hard might sound a little steep; that's because items and abilities will still award bonuses, but on an easier-to-manage scale. The range of numerical bonuses will be +1 to +3 (ie, it's capped, even if you have more). At +3, you're virtually guaranteed to pass an easy check, it's quite easy to pass a medium check, and a hard check is still hard, but more manageable. There will also be another rare bonus: an extra die to your roll. An extra die is stronger than a +3, but hard checks are still hard unless you have +3 and an extra die - and even then, success isn't a guarantee.

This isn't the kind of change to make on a whim. I looked at probability and distribution charts to help me decide what kind of difficulty to look at and how items and abilities would provide bonuses. The main goal was to flatten the curve a bit, so that players don't have to accumulate a +10 bonus through five or six different items just to get a decent chance at passing a hard check.

Of course, I'll also have to re-work most of the items to fit this new system. A +5 bonus is now too big, so I'll have to flatten some of those. On the other hand, I can probably cut a lot of items now, and even make them a bit rarer, because the players won't have to collect as many bonuses just to survive. This will also simplify the decision of which items to equip - you still won't be able to have bonuses to everything, but you won't have to worry as much about what specific combination will optimize your combat bonus.

The skill system is what I'll have to look at most closely during playtesting. Getting the balance just right is important: if it's too hard to pass a skill check, the players will never get to do anything, but if skill checks are too easy they'll sweep through everything. But I do feel a lot more confident about this system than the last one!

Tomorrow will be my last post on the redesign, featuring a change to the win condition.