An interesting FC pattern

[Finarvyn]

I'm not sure if I've discovered this before or not, but I was tinkering with the Fighting Capability tables for M&M this AM and found something interesting. What it does is mix together some ideas about the FC and the "alternate" combat system.

First, consider AC and AAC (ascending AC) and versus the "to hit" number from M&M p.19:

AC, AAC, Hit Number
9, 10, 10
8, 11, 11
7, 12, 12
6, 13, 13
5, 14, 14
4, 15, 15
3, 16, 16
2, 17, 17

Nothing earth-shattering so far. Just the observation that you can use the AAC number as the "to hit" number for 1st level characters.

Now, "Fighting Capability" has two entries for many characters: the "XX men" entry for fighting mook monsters (1 HD or less) and the entry (Hero, Superhero, Wizard) for fighting supernatural baddies of greater than 1 HD. I'd like to ignore the first one for a moment, as it has various interpretations and would derail my main point. Let's focus instead on the second entry.

The combat matrix of p.19 indicates the following:
Fighter 1-3 needs a 10 to hit AAC 10; e.g. +0 to hit
Fighter 4-6 needs an 8 to hit AAC 10; e.g. +2 to hit
Fighter 7-8 needs a 5 to hit AAC 10; e.g. +5 to hit
Cleric 1-4 needs a 10 to hit AAC 10; e.g. +0 to hit
Cleric 5-8 needs an 8 to hit AAC 10; e.g. +2 to hit
Cleric 9-12 needs a 5 to hit AAC 10; e.g. +5 to hit
Magic-user 1-5 needs a 10 to hit AAC 10; e.g. +0 to hit
Magic-user 6-10 needs an 8 to hit AAC 10; e.g. +2 to hit
Magic-user 11-15 needs a 5 to hit AAC 10; e.g. +5 to hit
and so on.

To summorize the above, a flunky would be at +0 while a Hero (Fighter 4-6) would be at +2 and a Super Hero (Fighter 7-9) would be at +5. A Wizard (MU level 11) would appear to have the same +5 to hit as does the Super Hero.

Now apply this to the FC charts.

Figher = FC = math = to-hit
Veteran = none = none = cannot hit
Warror = none = none = cannot hit
Swordsman = Hero-1 = 2 - 1 = +1 to hit
Hero = Hero = 2 = +2 to hit
Swashbuckler = Hero+1 = 2 + 1 = +3 to hit
Myrmadon = Hero+1 = 2 + 1 = +3 to hit
Champion = Superhero-1 = 5 - 1 = +4 to hit
Super Hero = Superhero = 5 = +5 to hit
Lord = Superhero+1 = 5 + 1 = +6 to hit

I highlighted the interesting part in red. The fact that the transition from Hero+1 to Superhero-1 is so smooth is a really neat pattern.

What do you think? As I mentioned earlier, it seemed really new and significant to me somehow, but maybe it's just common knowledge that I've misplaced somehow.

[Stormcrow]

I think the resolution of these numbers is too low to draw any conclusions. Superheroes are associated with the number 8, Heroes with 4, and Veterans with 1. The attack table starts at level 1 with 10, 8, 5, 2. These numbers are all similar, but apparently not derived from each other.

[Deleted]

I think Gary diddled around with numbers until he came up with something that played the way he wanted.

We have to be careful looking at things that were created in the days before even simple electronic calculators, because manual probability calculations get long, tedious, and error-prone. Also, as my statistics prof used to say, "If you crunch the numbers long enough, anything will correlate."

[Finarvyn]

May 11, 2013 11:07:20 GMT -6 @gronanofsimmerya said:

I think Gary diddled around with numbers until he came up with something that played the way he wanted.

Oh, I certainly understand that. When I tinker with game systems I often "wing it" and go by intuition rather than by mathematics.

I was just intriqued when I tried to "reverse engineer" the system and found a pattern where I hadn't expected to find one.

[Deleted]

Oh, okay. That makes sense.

The human brain is incredibly good at pattern matching, I wonder if the pattern got put in without Gary even realizing it. Patterns are something our brains just do.

[mordrene]

not to hijack the thread but here's someing that has always bothered me with the alternate to attack tables. the 4 hd hero gets a +2 to hit but a 4 hd monster gets a +4 to hit.

say i have a 5 hd hobgoblin warrior attacking a fighter with ac 2. if i treat him as a 5hd monster he needs a 13 to hit him. however,if i treat him as a 5 hd fighter he needs a 15. so i have decited to use the monster attack matrix for fighters as well. think the pattern weakens the fighting man when he uses the alternate, men attacking table.

[Finarvyn]

My thought is that PCs often travel in packs but high-HD monsters often travel alone. Those monsters need all of the extra help they can get!