I am sitting here playing around with a RPG character generation class and can''t help but think that someone has a good system for balacing spieces in rpgs. What I mean by balance is keeping the odds at 50/50 for an elf to beat a human in a one on one fight. I know play testing is required for any system, but a rule of thumb to start is nice.

Traditionally a human was standard in all the stat areas making him all-round okay, nothing special.

The elves were often taller, faster with increased stealth, but not as strong and with less stamina.

Basically if you increase one stat, you have to decrease another. Try and keep the total stat points assigned at the same value.

This is very dull and generic, but it works, so it''s a good place to start.


"NPCs will be inherited from the basic Entity class. They will be fully independent, and carry out their own lives oblivious to the world around them ... that is, until you set them on fire ..."
"When you are willing to do that which others are ashamed to do, therein lies an advantage."

More importantly, if an elf and a human are equally competent (balanced) in all areas, then why bother with a difference?

I mean, just replace the graphics and you''re done.

I was thinking of using a total point system, but how do you factor in HP with that?

Look at your game systems, such as hand-to-hand combat, spellcasting, and so on. Decide on relative weightings for the stats. (For example, in AD+D, I would say that Strength and Dexterity are more important than Wisdom and Constitution, which in turn are more important than Intelligence and Charisma, although it does vary a little depending on your class). You should be able to see, roughly, where you need to do more than keep the scores equivalent. For example, you might decide Str/Dex are worth 10pts, while Wis/Con are worth 8 or 9. And so on. If your system has a lot of hit points, they might be worth 1 or 2 points.

You really have to look at your game with a statistical eye. The only ''good'' system for balancing is going to depend on the game system that those stats fit into. Personally, I know my game system well enough to just arbitrarily pick some stats, as I know their relative importance.

That is a good point. I should stop writing the character generation system and document the characters. I am thinking of giving experience modifiers for wisdom and intelligence points. From some of the formulas I have for calculating other stats, wisdom and intelligence shouldn''t be overlooked.

Another way is to give each race a unique ability that makes you feel like your playing an elf instead of a fast-tall-weak human.

Also give the races a makeover, e.g. have your dwarfs fast and weak, with slow but sturdy elves...

Why should an elf "beat" a human ? I know it''s just an example, but why should a specie be measured to another in *combat*
Elves, in the games I played, were better thinkers than fighters, while dwarves were better fighters but had a slight problem with being social, and humans, as usual, were Jack-of-all-trades.
Maybe you should think *balance* rather than everybody equal.
I guess it also depends whether you prefer a team game, in which case emphasizing on individuals that complement each other is better, or single player, in which case weaknesses of an individual are much more important.

I jsut ant forget this thing about AD&D where a mage just cant do anything like climbing a tree, or fighting with a two handed sword. At first I thought this was useless. Then I realised that the game wasnt about one guy against the rest of the world, but rather a TEAM of people. That does make a huge difference.

youpla :-P

If an elf were to fight a human, the human would be well rounded while an elf would be slightly weaker, but make up for it with speed. A human would have to try a mix of different attacks, while an elf would be free to use his speed while avoiding strength based attacks. I am planning on using spieces attributes to add to the challenge of using a class'' attributes. It allows for unique combat between two fighters of different spiecies and not just grog the human fighter vs groh the elf fighter standing toe to toe because that is how fighters fight. I want to bring in each spieces unique self defense abilities simular to that of a US boxer fighting a Japanesse karate expert. The boxer would use his muscle mass and speed to fight while the karate expert would use his speed and smaller size to fight. More apple and oranges than apples and apples.

You could give human and other races, innate abilities that are not stats based. I mean abilities that would make you want to play a different race for the novelty factor, and not the cold-hard stats. This would allow good replay value and some originiality on the old formulas .