ON BONUS SIZING

Matt Miller

More stuff per level helps; a new ability changes how you play the character, while a +1 makes a minor difference; a statistically significant different, but not a perceptible difference. (Using odds ratio rule, of 4:4 vs 5:4, the actual perceptible difference is just over 5.555%, so players won't actually NOTICE the effects of a +1, on a 1d20, even if they know it intellectually). This suggests that we should package abilities in a way they are equivalent to a +2 bonus.

Rob Hicks

...In Mayhem all of the ability bonuses were mostly set up in +2 and +4 increments....our dice mechanics we focused on 1-12 for most common result, with the upper range of 13-16 being super-extreme and outside of human limits. I MUCH prefer the d12 to the d20 for standard rolls.

Matt Miller

+2/+4: +2 is suitable for a d20. On a d12, even a +1 is perceptable, changing the odds ratio by about ~8%. On a d4, a +1 shifts it 25%.....At some point, I need to make a blog about the balance between fixed effect and random variation in rolls.