'Positive' Static Advancement: Best with low values of 'A'.[spoiler]
All attacks and defenses scale at a rate equal to Character Level (or half that) with bonuses depending on class, as follows:
Good: +A
Moderate: +A/2
Poor: 0
Good: +10
Moderate: +5
Poor: 0
MulticlassingGestalt:
Average the bonuses of each side of the gestalt before rounding.
Multiclassing GestaltPros:
- Easy to calculate.
- Perfectly smooth progression at all levels.
Cons:
- Difficult to use with multiclassing.
- Everything needs to be recalculated every level when multiclassing.
- Difficult to balance at low levels with the current abilities available and prerequisite structure within D&D 3.x (unless 'A' is very low).
[/spoiler]
Differential Advancement:[spoiler]
All attacks and defenses scale based on class as follows:
Good: Class level
Moderate: Class level x (Character Level)/(Character Level + A/2)
Poor: Class level x (Character Level)/(Character Level + A)
Good: Class Level
Moderate: Class Level x (Character Level)/(Character Level + 5)
Poor: Class Level x (Character Level)/(Character Level + 10)
This creates the following progression:[spoiler]
Level Good Moderate Poor
1 1 0 0
2 2 0 0
3 3 1 0
4 4 1 1
5 5 2 1
6 6 3 2
7 7 4 2
8 8 4 3
9 9 5 4
10 10 6 5
11 11 7 5
12 12 8 6
13 13 9 7
14 14 10 8
15 15 11 9
16 16 12 9
17 17 13 10
18 18 14 11
19 19 15 12
20 20 16 13
40 40 35 32
60 60 55 51
80 80 75 71
100 100 95 90
1000 1000 995 990
10000 10000 9995 9990
[/spoiler]
Multiclassing:
Add the bonuses from each class before rounding.
Gestalt:
Average the bonuses of each side of the gestalt before rounding.
Multiclassing Gestalt:
First, on each side of the gestalt, add the bonuses from each class. Then average the bonuses of each side of the gestalt before rounding.
Pros:
- Easy to use with multiclassing.
- Easy to use with gestalt.
- Quick differentiation at low levels. (Though you can slow differentiation by replacing all instances of "Character Level" with "Character Level + X", if you desire a smoother progression.)
Cons:
- Everything needs to be re-calculated every level.
[/spoiler]
Fractional Advancement with Feat Adjustment: Best with high values of 'A'.[spoiler]
All attacks and defenses scale based on class as follows:
Good: Class Level
Moderate: 3/4 Class Level
Poor: 1/2 Class Level
Heroism (Placeholder)Benefit: Increase the numerator and denominator of all attack and defense bonuses that would normally scale at 1/2 level by +1 and those that would normally scale at 3/4 level by +2.
Special: This feat can be taken multiple times. Its effects stack.
This creates the following progression:[spoiler]
Level Good Moderate Poor
1 1 0 0
2 2 1 1
3 3 2 1
4 4 3 2
5 5 3 2
6 6 4 3
7 7 5 3
8 8 6 4
9 9 6 4
10 10 8 6
11 11 9 7
12 12 10 8
13 13 10 8
14 14 11 9
15 15 12 10
16 16 13 10
17 17 14 11
18 18 15 12
19 19 15 12
20 20 17 15
40 40 36 33
60 60 56 52
80 80 76 72
100 100 95 91
1000 1000 995 990
10000 10000 9995 9990
[/spoiler]
Multiclassing:
Add the bonuses from each class before rounding.
Gestalt:
Average the bonuses of each side of the gestalt before rounding.
Multiclassing Gestalt:
First, on each side of the gestalt, add the bonuses from each class. Then average the bonuses of each side of the gestalt before rounding.
Pros:
- Easy to use with multiclassing.
- Easy to use with gestalt.
Cons:
- Everything needs to be re-calaulated once every 'A' levels.
- Sudden jumps in effectiveness every 'A' levels.
[/spoiler]
Notes:These methods are intended to be applied to all saves/defenses, base attack bonus, and any other numerical measure of relative power such as caster, initiator, manifester and meldshaper levels. The power of options available to a given character and their prerequisites are to be based on such values, but not the flavor or number of those options (as that is what classes are for).
The "Good", "Moderate" and "Poor" designations are provided above as examples of the upper limit, lower limit and mean respectively for a given value of 'A', though any values between 'A' and 0 are acceptable.
Where a class normally would not advance a scaling value under the current ruleset, it now advances the value at a rate of "Poor" as demonstrated above.
For classes that partially advance a scaling value under the current ruleset, on levels where it would normally advance the value it does so at a rate of "Good"; and on levels where it wouldn't it does so at a rate of "Poor", as demonstrated above (feel free to instead determine a value between 'A' and 0 that would make this advancement smooth if you so desire).
The higher the value of 'A', the closer to rocket tag the game becomes.
The lower the value of 'A', the less differentiation is possible between characters.
What do you think are reasonable values for 'A'?