4.2.08

Character Balance

I think that Mr. Shadowwire has done a great job balancing the different races and other character issues in MOAG. Whether he came up with them all or had help is immaterial.

However, last friday night, some players and I discussed the human race and Moag and noticed that they seem to be somewhat lacking. I understand why Shadowwire set them up the way he did, but I and others think they need to have something that embodies the human spirit or will.
The idea we came up with is giving the humans a higher add roll. The reasoning is that humans, to survive, would have to be really good at something. By giving them a higher add roll, they have the possibility of being higher than average. And that would make sense since only the strongest, smartest humans survived the nerve gas attack deployed by the Conar.

The other idea that has been discussed between Bot and Shadowwire was making comeliness rolls all the same for each race. This would of course make sense because the only appeal a characters looks would be with a member of its own race.
Another idea would be to remove comeliness altogether. Reasoning being that there isn't any skill rolls or abilities that calculate comeliness into the base.

So to recap.
1. Humans need higher add roll for better game balance.
2. Comeliness rolls same across all races.
3. Comeliness roll removed due to uselessness.

So discuss away.

12 comments:

Shadowwire said...

In "pre-MOAG" 2004 - 2020, humans had an average of 9 across the boards. Now the human average is ten. Therfore the humans who survived are better than the ones who didnt.
Humans were never intended to be on the same level as a Conar or Gargonan. However they have a higher total than some of the other species and are fairly average.
Comliness averages are all ten as of about one month ago. Comliness is used only in cases where someone might be attracted to annother person, and should probably factor into some skills. Comliness is mostly there so people can know how good their charactor looks to someone else of the same species.
Good stuff. Im open to Discussion on either.

Salvaggio said...

I agree with Pablo in that there seems to be a distinct advantage to being a Klisk, Conar, or Gargonan. While I don't exactly know how to make the gap a little more even (I don't think it should be done on the skill-level), maybe the advantage is somewhere else. Perhaps, and this is just an idea, certain races require less XP to get new skills. Using this example, let's say that a Human is obviously not as strong as a Klisk, but it will only cost the human half as much to get to a level 3 in rifle skill as opposed to the klisk. That's probably a bit too much of an advantage, but I think that there needs to be something. And maybe it's broken down even more. A Macaneon gets a bonus on computer like skills, or something like that. I don't have the answer, but I think we can come up with something that will maybe not make each race equal, but will at least give each race a reason to play them.

Pablo Diablo said...

Thanks for the responses.
I like where you were going Salvaggio with the skills. Some if not all races should have a some skill bonus or add. Now I know that Shaddowire has balanced the races by attributes and left the skills alone so that any character could learn any skill. But I think that a skill enhancement would further individulize each race and give the "weaker" species something to match the stronger ones.
For example, Humans could have a higher add roll for attributes or be able to choose one skill that they pay half of the cost to upgrade.
Since I have only played a human and a gargonan I don't know how the other races play. So any suggestions on what other races could have is welcome.
Sorry to use D&D as an example, but their races are almost perfectly balanced and I think we need to reach that level.

So to recap.
1. Skill add for each race.
2. Humans choose one skill to level at half cost.
3. All races need a perk like the one above.

Pablo Diablo said...

And thanks for the clarification on the comeliness issue Shadowwire.

Bot said...

If we are making this game to be like D&D I want off the boat right now.

Pablo Diablo said...

Now wait a minute, I didn't say make it like D&D.
I said that their character balance is great. And that we should try to make our character balance as good as the other rpg's out there.
Now after chatting with Shadowwire in person, I believe that there isn't much more we need to do to balance the races out.

Tikar Ack said...

Hello everybody I'm new here and have only played MOAG 3 or 4 times so I'm coming with newbie look at this. The race balance comes down to this. If I make a beginning character of any race can he stand up to any other race in a battle, because combat is the basis of any rpg. If a starting human will be stepped on by a Conar and not have any chance of fighting back, then humans need to be stronger, Conars need weaker, or humans should be removed as a player race, because if you want to market this product you need to sell to "me" not each other. I have seen dozens of rpg's come and go and if you want to make it you need to be like D&D because D&D sells books. I hope I didn't offend I'm just trying to come from the side of the people you want to make money from, and sometimes you have to make changes you may not like but may be for the good of the product. Thanx

Bot said...

Well... I guess M.O.A.G. will never sell then.

Kang said...

Come on guys, if we have nothing nice to say. Please say nothing at all.

Shadowwire said...

I concur with Bot. I dont care if MOAG ever "sells" Im not Selling out on the Ideas. MOAG has developed from years of playing with Lots of people. D&D was way cooler before they "sold out". I personally think the new rules stink. MOAG has never been and never will be "Ballanced" in the ways some people think it should be. Life isnt ballanced like that. If you want to play a "Powerfull" Charactor, play as a Conar. After all, there are litteraly a million times more Conar in the MOAG Universe as Humans. Or play as a Gargonan, there are tons of them also.
Im not saying that im not open to Idias, but im not going to change the basis of the MOAG universe. Humans Dont need "Special skills" or "Amazing attributes" to survive. If anything, survival would be easier. Food is plentiful, as are jobs and money. As Technoledgy increases, things dont get more difficult, they get easier.
So... Lets move ahead increasing what we have, not changing it all.
Thank you, and Good night.

Shadowwire said...

Further more, I dont think Kang has much "nice" to say about certain people anyway.
You know who you are...

West said...

Wait, What!?