Small Upsetters's page

Forgive me if this has already been brought up, but I think 5th edition D&D handled this really well. The proficiency bonus essentially adds a +1 to Attack after every 4 levels, and is not applied to Defense. Provides for some advancement so that you properly clean house against those level 1 goblins when you are 6th level but there is still a number of shitty 1st level goblins where you can say "oh, we may have a problem".

Attribute Bonuses, bonuses from Feats and Magic Equipment provide all the progression you need from a numbers standpoint, and since the with a +level system the monsters essentially level up with you, those bonuses are the only ones that actually even matter.

Please remove +level number inflation. Specifically from Attack Values and Defense Values.

The number inflation caused by this creates a needless problem with monsters and requires the world to in essence level up at the same rate as the Heroes.

5th edition dnd does an excellent job of this, slight progression in attack value as you level, essentially +1 after every 5th level, and no proficiency bonus to AC.

Removing this inflation make monsters work much better.

With inflation: at 1st lvl 4 adventures fight 3-5 1st lvl goblins. At 10th level 4 adventures fight 3-5 10th lvl goblins, (lucky those adventurers didn't encounter these badass goblins the first time their 1st lvl asses went exploring the cave.)

Without: at 1st lvl 4 adventures fight 3-5 1st lvl goblins. At 10th level 4 adventures fight 10-15 1st level goblins.

With the inflation: 10th level adventurers could fight 100 1st level goblins and they would never be able to hit.

Just remove +level from any combat math. Characters still get bigger numbers at higher level with item bonuses, higher attributes and bonuses granted by feats. And these bonus are the only ones that mean anything anyway, because the +level is added to monsters too it becomes a wash. It wont change the game a bit to remove except to allow DMs to utilize more of the Monsters throughout the game.

So this isn't to disparage what you built in any way. Its a great solve for the problem, and the only one available to users. However I would much rather see a solve for the problem from a design standpoint.

I just don't understand why there is so much number inflation in this game. Specifically with To Hit and AC values. If those stay more in line (5th edition DnD actually does a great job of this) then instead of having to fight 1st level goblins at 1st level and 10th level goblins at 10th (luck for us these badass goblins who still seem to be lowly cave dwellers were nowhere to be found when we were 1st level btw). At 1st level your party of 4 can fight about 3 or 4 1st level goblins, at 10th level you are fighting 12 or more 1st level goblins at a time. This becomes impossible if you needlessly add LVL to attack values and AC, it makes it impossible for the goblin to ever hit, with too high of AC a 10th level party could fight 200 1st level goblins and never have to worry.

Remove the needless inflation and the game allows the player to see how far they have come because nothing in the monster manual is ever "too low of level", every orc, goblin, kobald and skeleton doesn't haven't to level up at the same rate as the heroes just to keep fights interesting.

Is there anything in Pathfinder or Starfinder like the D&D 4e Fighters Mark?

It's a mechanic I really liked. I'm just curious if there is anything like it in PF, or even a way to recreate any of its effects such as with the use of skills like intimidation.