Post by klamath on Jul 3, 2008 10:20:06 GMT -6
One thing I find myself wanting for E.P.T. is a table that would show how many spells of which groups an N.P.C. mage or priest would have at any given level. Given the E.P.T. system, this is much more variable than in OD&D--you roll at each level to see how many spells of which group you gain. So generating higher-level NPCs means making repeated rolls against the appropriate tables. That's pretty time-consuming, given that you can meet higher level NPC mages or priests as random encounters.
So, I've been working on such a table, using straightforward brute-force methods. The spell-gain table in E.P.T. already gives you the results for 2nd level. I've taken those and the probabilities assigned to them, created a matrix with all the possible results of the level-up to third level, and computed the probabilities of each. Those then become one axis for a new matrix for the 4th-level gain, etc.
I've carried the process to 6th level so far. I'm thinking of simplifying my procedure to deal only with the results that have higher probabilities. At fifth level, for example, there are 55 different outcomes, 19 of them with probabilities of less than 1/10 of 1% and a number with probabilities of 1/100 of 1%. I think I can safely prune the very unlikely results and only continue the process for the more likely ones without affecting the final results appreciably. Otherwise by 10th level I could end up with a maxtrix of 100+ results x 6 possible outcomes--and that's a lot of math I don't want to do.
Once I'm done with the calculations, I want to put the information into a single table (percentile, naturally), so that when your players encounter, say, a 5th level magician you could roll on the table and find out how many bonus spells of each group the NPC mage has. Obviously, the table can't list all of the possibilities and given the granularity of 1% it will distort the probabilities somewhat. But I don't think that is a big deal.
Anyway, would anyone else be interested in such a table? What would be the best way to make it available? Would it work as a contribution to Fight On!?
So, I've been working on such a table, using straightforward brute-force methods. The spell-gain table in E.P.T. already gives you the results for 2nd level. I've taken those and the probabilities assigned to them, created a matrix with all the possible results of the level-up to third level, and computed the probabilities of each. Those then become one axis for a new matrix for the 4th-level gain, etc.
I've carried the process to 6th level so far. I'm thinking of simplifying my procedure to deal only with the results that have higher probabilities. At fifth level, for example, there are 55 different outcomes, 19 of them with probabilities of less than 1/10 of 1% and a number with probabilities of 1/100 of 1%. I think I can safely prune the very unlikely results and only continue the process for the more likely ones without affecting the final results appreciably. Otherwise by 10th level I could end up with a maxtrix of 100+ results x 6 possible outcomes--and that's a lot of math I don't want to do.
Once I'm done with the calculations, I want to put the information into a single table (percentile, naturally), so that when your players encounter, say, a 5th level magician you could roll on the table and find out how many bonus spells of each group the NPC mage has. Obviously, the table can't list all of the possibilities and given the granularity of 1% it will distort the probabilities somewhat. But I don't think that is a big deal.
Anyway, would anyone else be interested in such a table? What would be the best way to make it available? Would it work as a contribution to Fight On!?
