Power Level Reform

[Furamirionind They/Any/All]

Determination can be quite powerful... Have you ever played Undertale?

[xinoehp512 he/him]

From what I understand, it basically turns you into a beserker. I think there's a limit to how much you can get out of tapping, however.

[BitBitio he/him]

To clarify, the ones specified are NOT broken, and the ones that weren't are.

[MacThorstenson he/him]

Quick question, if I could guarentee that Mac has virtually no power, can I keep him on for Era 3? This would mean no alleymatics, no channeling, nothing except for one minor power.

[Karnatheon he/him]

I'm personally ok with that. 

[Archer he/him]

Spoiler Warning: This post, and presumably the ones to follow, will contain frank discussion about the magic systems of every book and novella Brandon has written, excluding Skyward.

It’s serendipity that this is my 1500^th post. I like my milestones to be substantial messages. This, being something I’ve been working on for the last little while, qualifies. SO IT’S PARTY TIME, YEAH!

This is my attempt at creating a list that quantifies characters’ powers for comparison and approval purposes. The principle is that powers and abilities add to a character’s score, while weaknesses and limitations subtract from it. Bios can be scored, generating a numerical value for their power level. I am recommending that we cap Era Three characters at 100 points. (But my recommended approach to ‘completely passive’ or ‘non-combatant’ characters would be to permit them to exceed this.)

This list is in alphabetical order by planet name, something Ax did in his version that I thought worked well. Shout out to Ax and BB for their submissions! I’ve expanded on and stolen some of them ideas you’ve put forward for what this index should look like and include. I hope you don’t mind.

So far, I have listed the settings/name of every Sanderson book and novella I am aware of that has a magic system characters could conceivably have, and assigned arbitrary values to the powers people could get from them. But, as you’ll see from the last seven entries, it is incomplete. Some entries are marked ‘TBC’ (To Be Continued) because I do not have enough information readily available to fill them in. If you are knowledgeable about these books/magics, I would welcome your input. This is very much a work in progress, which I am sure is full of omissions and misjudgments. So please, if you see anything on here you disagree with, go ahead and post what improvements you think should be made. The caveat on that invitation is that I have tried to use numbers ending in five or zero whenever possible, to make it easier to tabulate scores. So I’d appreciate if we avoid introducing decimals or other such nitpickery.  

Also missing from the list is the powers characters innately have due to their species (eg. a kandra). This list is designed to score humans. Other beings will need to be scored on a case-by-case basis, using nearest comparisons and best judgement. The same goes for technology and tools that act like magic. A shardblade, for example, could add a fair number of points to one’s score.

And given the wide variety of weaknesses available, it will be up to the tabulator to decide how many points to subtract for them, bearing in mind the effect a weakness has on a character’s ability to use their power or otherwise function. The tabulator has to make some other judgement calls too, fudging the numbers to account for experience, resource limitations, skill level, and all manner of other potential traits a character could have.

My working title for this is The Alleyverse Roleplay Character Hecatean Endowment Range Index. Yes, I took the liberty of using ‘Hecate’ as a metonymy for magic. I just wanted to see if I could do it.  I having second thoughts about it, so the name will probably be shortened or changed altogether at a future date. For now, being lazy, I’ll just call it The Index, or something similar, when referring to it.

I invite everyone to give this a read and provide feedback. Thanks for your time.

 

THE INDEX: FIRST DRAFT

 

Detritus (Skyward)

[Redacted while the spoiler suppression period is in effect.]

Earth (Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians)

Crystin: +25

Smedry Talent: Impure, +25, Prime, +50, Dark Talent, +150

Oculator/User of Blood-Forged Lenses: +40

Alivened augmentations: +15

Earth (Defending Elysium)

Sense: +15

Mind Blades: +40

FTL transport: +40

Earth (The Reckoners)

Epic Power: Counting primary, secondary, and tertiary powers all together and subtracting the impact their weakness has on their ability, rank on scale of 1 – 10 based on power output and usefulness. Multiply score by 10 and add 20.

Additional Prime Invincibility (High Epic): +20 (or +40 if also lacking a weakness)

Post-Calamity Epic (no Epic weakness): +5

Examples: Donny ‘Curveball’ Harrison = 30, Knoxx = 40, Refractionary = 70, Obliteration = 160

Earth (The Rithmatist)

Rithmatist: +30

Melody-level ability: +30

First of the Sun (Sixth of the Dusk)

Aviar: +10 per

Imperium (Aether of Night)

Amberite Bond: +35

Verdant Bond: +30

Bestarian Bond: +10

Ferrous Bond: +10

Luminous Bond: +25

Lukarvia (I Hate Dragons)

Knack: Rank each knack’s power on a scale of 1 – 3. Multiply by five.

Nalthis (Warbreaker)

First Heightening: +30

Second Heightening: +40

Third Heightening: +70

Fourth Heightening: +100

Fifth Heightening: +150

Returned: +135

Roshar (The Stormlight Archive)

Surgebinder: First Ideal, +60, Second Ideal, +80, Third Ideal, +100, Fourth Ideal, +120

Knight Radiant Squire: +50

Old Magic Boon/Bane: Treat like an Epic Power [see: Earth (The Reckoners)], but the minimum is 5 instead.

Scadrial (Mistborn)

Misting: Aluminum and duralumin, +5, Lerasium, +145, Level One, +35, Level Two, +45, Level Three, +55. [Note: Level distinctions are non-canon.]

            Level One: Brass, Bronze, Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, Electrum, Gold, Nicrosil, Tin, Zinc.

            Level Two: Bendalloy, Iron, Steel, Pewter, Malatium

            Level Three: Atium

Mistborn: +160

Ferring: Level One, +30, Level Two, +40, Level Three, +50.

            Level One: Aluminum, Atium, Brass, Bendalloy, Bronze, Cadmium, Copper, Electrum, Duralumin, Nicrosil, Tin, Zinc

            Level Two: Iron, Pewter, Malatium

            Level Three: Chromium, Gold, Steel

Feruchemist: +150

Complimentary Twinborn Combination: +10

Compounder: Level One, +100, Level Two, +120, Level Three, +140

            Level One: Aluminum, Brass, Bronze, Cadmium, Copper, Duralumin, Electrum, Tin, Zinc

            Level Two: Bendalloy, Iron, Pewter

            Level Three: Atium, Chromium, Gold, Nicrosil, Steel

Fullborn: +1000

Hemalurgist: Level One, +25, Level Two, +35, Level Three, +45

Level One: Brass, Bronze, Copper, Duralumin, Tin, Zinc

Level Two: Gold, Iron, Pewter, Steel,

Level Three: Aluminum, Atium

Sel (Elantris, The Emperor’s Soul)

Elantrian: +90

Dakhor user: +80 for full monk, +30 for single limb mutation.

ChayShan user: +40

Forger: +60

Bloodsealer: +50

Taldain (White Sand)

Sand master: Rank their ability from 1 - 5. Multiply by 5 and add 35.

The Westlands (The Wheel of Time)

Channeler: Rank their power on a scale of 1 – 10. Multiply by five and add 80.

Blademaster: +15

*****

Earth (Centrifugal)

TBC

Earth (Dreamer from Games Creatures Play)

TBC

Earth (Heuristic Algorithm and Reasoning Response Engine from Armored)

TBC

(Firstborn)

TBC

(Infinity Blade)

TBC

*****

Alleymatics

TBC

(Warhammer 40k)

TBC

[old man moomba he/him]

*jumps up and down* Ooh oooh. Can I do WoT. I already have an incmplete list of channeler Talents and other varous things. I'd have to restructure it to fit this new scale, though.

[I think I am here. he/him]

19 minutes ago, Archer said:

The Alleyverse Roleplay Character Hecatean Endowment Range Index.

If you shorten it you get The A.R.C.H.E.R. Index

Clever.  

[Voidus]

3 minutes ago, I think I am here. said:

If you shorten it you get The A.R.C.H.E.R. Index

Clever.  

I knew there was something there but I was trying to break TARCHERI into words. Tar Cheri? T' Archer?
Now my brain hurts.

[Archer he/him]

3 minutes ago, Dr. Dapper said:

*jumps up and down* Ooh oooh. Can I do WoT. I already have an incmplete list of channeler Talents and other varous things. I'd have to restructure it to fit this new scale, though.

I tricked my brother into reading the first three WoT books in hopes that he would be able to fill me in on this stuff, but for some reason he hasn't been very helpful on that front. And wikis just aren't the same as first hand knowledge. So if you want to beef up the WoT section, that'd be fantastic. 

4 minutes ago, I think I am here. said:

If you shorten it you get The A.R.C.H.E.R. Index. Clever.  

Or maybe Voidus' first guess was right, and I was asking my darling if she'd like some road making material. 

[Voidus]

There is already a power scale for the WoT series in terms of pure power, should be able to adjust that pretty easily.

[old man moomba he/him]

I'll do it tomorrow. 

I have stuff for blademasters, Warder bonds, being an Aes Sedi or an Asha'man and a boatload of various Talents.

Edited January 3, 2019 by Dr. Dapper

[I think I am here. he/him]

One thing I am a little confused about is the Epic Powers.

32 minutes ago, Archer said:

Counting primary, secondary, and tertiary powers all together and subtracting the impact their weakness has on their ability, rank on scale of 1 – 10 based on power output and usefulness.

I’m not sure what this means, but maybe it’s because I’m hungry and I can’t stop thinking of food   

[+Sorana she/her]

At first: wow great job!

What about non investiture related knowledge/ skills? Like how to handle a weapon for example?

[old man moomba he/him]

1 minute ago, I think I am here. said:

I'm not sure what this means, but maybe it’s because I’m hungry and I can’t stop thinking of food   

I'm also hungry, weird.

[Voidus]

I'll work on something for Epics, I have a somewhat convoluted system I use for categorizing my Epic files for Reckoners RP so I'll make some adjustments to that.
EDIT:
 

1 minute ago, Dr. Dapper said:

I'm also hungry, weird.

Hi also hungry, I'm Voidus!
(Sorry not sorry)

[Archer he/him]

I'll leave Epic categorization to Dad then. 

15 minutes ago, Sorana said:

What about non investiture related knowledge/ skills? Like how to handle a weapon for example?

I agree, those need to be factored in. There a few ways of going about it. 

1. Assume everyone's going to have some level of skill, and just try to keep them even across the board. 

2. Give the common ones point values and include them in the tally. Weapons proficiency, dexterity, encyclopedic knowledge of local fungi etc. all set at a range to account for varying degrees of skill. 

3. Compare each skill to an established value. For example, a strong character has a quarter of the ability as a Pewterarm, so they get a quarter of whatever the points for that is. I think for exceptional skills we'll need to do something like this. 

Same goes for tech. If you've got armour that makes you as observant as a Tineye, you should get some points for that. The problem is there's a lot of tech and skills out there to catalogue. 

[old man moomba he/him]

The Father (Voidus) and the 2 Sons (Archer and Meeker).

[+Sorana she/her]

9 minutes ago, Archer said:

1. Assume everyone's going to have some level of skill, and just try to keep them even across the board. 

I'm not sure that would work. Especially with low/ non investiture characters around the skills become important.

9 minutes ago, Archer said:

2. Give the common ones point values and include them in the tally. Weapons proficiency, dexterity, encyclopedic knowledge of local fungi etc. all set at a range to account for varying degrees of skill.

We could set three levels. "Beginner/ advanced/skilled". The better you want to be, the more points you need to invest. I realize it will be a lot of work and in my opinion it's over the top to list everything, but maybe weapon skills, or something like Lena's poisons (skills that definitly not everybody has) could be ranked like this. Especially if we expect them to give an advantage in rp.

Edited January 3, 2019 by Sorana

[old man moomba he/him]

So you know how I said I was hungry earlier. I accidentally Soulcast my pillow into chocolate, so I could eat it and now I can't sleep. On the bright side, I'm not hungry anymore.

[Voidus]

Hi not hungry anymore. I'm Voidus.

Still.

[MacThorstenson he/him]

10 hours ago, Archer said:

Misting: Aluminum and duralumin, +5, Lerasium, +145, Level One, +35, Level Two, +45, Level Three, +55. [Note: Level distinctions are non-canon.]

I like the scale, but I have a few questions/suggestions. 

First, why is there a lerasium misting? There isn’t really any lerasium left, and anyone can burn it. 

Second, I think that hemalurgy needs to be a general rule, instead of specific values, because you can conceivably spike any trait. 

Finally, could elantrian be a scale as well? My reasoning is that even though he can’t draw Aons in combat, because of the prep time he has had Mack can have incredibly powerful tools. Another elantrian who never learned anything beyond the base Aons would be weaker. 

[kenod]

I think lerasium misting means a misting/mistborn who got their powers through lerasium, instead of through genetics.

[MacThorstenson he/him]

8 minutes ago, kenod said:

I think lerasium misting means a misting/mistborn who got their powers through lerasium, instead of through genetics.

Then they should be more than mistborn? Not less than mistborn. 

[kenod]

True. I'm still trying to figure out why malatium is ranked as more powerful than electrum.