Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Pathfinder: % Chance to Hit Based on BAB

So I was working out mechanics for a character class and I came to an impasse when I was assigning it a BAB Progression. I wasn't sure, but it was POSSIBLE I had made a class that was able to be an effective melee combatant with Low* BAB Progression. I started to think... "Well then... I want to give it Medium* BAB Progression... but it might hit to often.... shit. What if I did low? No... I don't think it would EVER hit!"

*Low BAB Progression is that of a Wizard. (Ending in +10)
Medium BAB Progression is that of a Rogue. (Ending in +15)
Full BAB Progression is that of a Fighter. (Ending in +20)



So I set out to find the % chance to hit based on a character's BAB.
First I had to find AC to compare it to. I broke out my bestiary and averaged the AC at levels 1,5,10,15,and 20. It looks something like this:

Level Highest AC Avg AC Lowest AC
1 17 15 13
5 21 18 15
10 27 23 18
15 37 31 28
20 39 37 36

Then I jotted down the BAB progressions at levels 1,5,10,15, and 20.

Level Full BAB Med. BAB Low BAB
1 1 0 0
5 5 3 2
10 10 7 5
15 15 11 7
20 20 15 10


Encounters are balanced with SOME equipment and stats in mind so I decided to assign some bonuses (a LITTLE lowball.) at given levels based on my experience as a GM and Player.

Assuming
Total Bonus
1 +2 In Hit Stat 2
5
2
10 +3 In Hit Stat 3
15 +1 Weapon 4
20 +2 Weapon 5

That meant the following adjustments to my BAB Progression tables:

Level Full BAB Med. BAB Low BAB
1 3 2 2
5 7 5 4
10 13 10 8
15 19 15 11
20 25 20 15


So then I factored in dice rolls. I later used the Highest and Lowest Hits to calculate the percent chances to hit:



Full BAB
Level Highest Hit Avg Hit Lowest Hit
1 23 13 4
5 27 17 8
10 33 23 14
15 39 29 20
20 45 35 26



Med BAB
Level Highest Hit Avg Hit Lowest Hit
1 22 12 3
5 25 15 6
10 30 20 11
15 35 25 16
20 40 30 21



Low BAB
Level Highest Hit Avg Hit Lowest Hit
1 22 12 3
5 24 14 5
10 28 18 9
15 31 21 12
20 35 25 16

Though some math magic, I found the solutions.
(Basically the range of numbers that represented a successful hit over the total data range provided at a given BAB, represented as a percent)

This was the result:

Chance To Hit
Level Full BAB Med. BAB Low BAB
1 47.00% 42.00% 42.00%
5 52.00% 42.00% 36.00%
10 57.00% 42.00% 31.00%
15 47.00% 26.00% 5.00%
20 47.00% 21.00% --
Avg 50.00% 35.00% 23.00%

Notes:
-Full BAB is really a beast. It pretty much remains at a static 50% chance to hit the entire way to 20. I wouldn't expect to find any variance in the level gaps.

-Medium BAB is really pretty badass starting out... until JUST after level 10- then shit hits the fan. That's an ugly 21% at closing, so if you are GM with a melee Medium BAB character in your group (like a Rogue), remember to give them opportunities to hit things. Try presenting them with targets that play to their strengths so they don't feel left out.

-JEEZ! Even with a +2 weapon and +3 in Strength (or dex if using weapon finesse), a low BAB character CAN NOT (without a natural 20) hit a L20 creature. The lowest AC in the Pathfinder Bestiary is 6 and it's HIGHEST roll possible is a 35)

-I know characters at 15th level and above might have more than a +3 in a stat. I know they might have more than a +2 enchantment bonus from their weapon. Some skills give bonuses. I was just using a baseline for the entire party. A melee character might have a better to hit, but that was just my baseline.



Hope you guys enjoy!
(Credit me if you use this)

OOG Elements in Game

So I've always been about integrating narrative elements into my mechanics. What if we took the archetypal behavior of our character classes and made them into OOG rewards?

The idea would be that players fight over a set amount of bonus EXP per session. At the start of each session everyone has an equal share of 100% bonus exp. (4 players = 25% bonus exp per person) At the end of the session, the GM could award an amount of extra exp to the party. (Or designate a set percent of exp he would have given as bonus exp)


Examples:

-Playing a Rogue means you are allowed to cheat. Go ahead! Lie about your dice roll! If anyone calls you out on your cheating- your dice roll automatically fails! The GM must ALWAYS strive to catch the rogue cheating! For other players... it's just a suggestion. (And your out of game bribe of chips and mutual aid could help them...)

-Paladins have to watch the other players. If any players they attempts to cheat at all or use a rule incorrectly to their advantage and the paladin's player calls them out on it, they get 50% of their remaining bonus exp. (At the GMs discretion) They do not have to CORRECT the rule, just call them out on the fact that they are in error.

-Wizards need to be Rule Nazis. If they correctly correct another player on a rule works (using a book as a reference) they get 50% of their remaining bonus exp. (At the GMs discretion)

-Rangers are guides. If the table descends into OOG chatter for more than 5 minutes and the ranger alerts the GM, the Ranger gets 25% of ALL players remaining bonus EXP.


*shrug*


Just an idea.