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StoryKeeper
2010-08-17, 12:42 AM
I really love the setting for Scion, but I hear that it can be broken pretty easily (epic dexterity, among other things.) So does anyone have an recommendations for a few simple rules that can be tweaked to help keep things balanced? I was thinking of making the bonus to DV from epic dexterity cap at 3 or something for instance.

DemLep
2010-08-17, 07:46 AM
I may get yelled at for this, but I've played a lot of "broken" games/campaigns with a trope of players each with different levels of experience and goals (When they work together is when things get dangerous). I have learned that the best way to combat "broken" things without a bunch of unnecessary rules and homebrewing is to know the system and your players. Then plan for balance against your players. If you know Epic Dex is a problem and one or all your players are going to go for because of that or because of just normal character build, lessen how often the players run into situations that it will hell them or scale it. If a character with a 3 Dex isn't having enough trouble make something extra happen to make things more difficult. I try and find in game ways of fixing issues with the game instead of piling on the rules and limiting the players.

This is probably because when I first started D&D I had to DM the first game I ever play without owning any of the books and have very limited knowledge of the system, so whenever the players took advantage of this (and they did often) I fell back on my RP experience to up the challenge.

This is just my advice take or leave. Best of luck on your campaign.

Project_Mayhem
2010-08-17, 07:58 AM
Or you could do what my ST for VtM did and just accept that some options are better than others. Celerity is ludicrously powerful? Then essentially all combat characters take it. Ditto with the second level of protean

JeenLeen
2010-08-17, 01:21 PM
Another possiblity could be changing the cost.

I don't know Scion mechanics and just know the basic idea, so I don't know if you use mana or something or have some drawback if you use your god-powers. If so, more 'broken' ones could have more hit.

For example, in M:tA, Time 3 haste (like Celerity from V:tM) is very, very powerful in combat. The DM decided that you get Paradox for every round you have Time 3 haste active, while for other things (like Forces lowering gravity so you could fly) you'd only get it once per effect.
He and I figured out some metaphysical justification behind it, but both admitted that it was largely well-crafted yet irrelevant mess used just to get balance.

However, if everyone combat-focused has Epic Dex, then it mitigates, I'd imagine. And if some are better at combat than others, that should be okay.

Kylarra
2010-08-17, 02:11 PM
The easiest fix is to simply not leave the Hero level.

If that's not to your taste, then you should adjust the way epic attributes scale past 3. Epic Dex 1-3 is nice, but not overwhelming.

Untouchable opponent needs to be capped somehow otherwise it's a gimme and an always on, not an issue if not leaving Hero.

Boons need more variety than the straight set and the tiny tiny set of alternates provided in splats.

The_Snark
2010-08-17, 02:16 PM
Scion is not actually very broken at the Hero stage. Which is not to say it's perfectly balanced—some Attributes are more useful than others, Boons vary considerably in usefulness—but the game doesn't actually break until you start getting Epic Attributes up to demigod levels.

After that... well, like DemiLep said, tailor your encounters specifically to your players, or be prepared to improvise your own rules.