@Baskakov_Dmitriy All the tabletop RPG systems I like make sure that doesn't matter.

@Baskakov_Dmitriy And many/most of them don't draw a line between mechanics and characterisation, instead mechanising character traits, motives, and relationships so that they're primary forces in conflicts.

@BESW Are you pushing FATE again?

Because I can't think of any d20 system that does this nicely.

The D20 System line of games is a collection of minor iterations on a single engine. The RPG world is so much more vast than that one engine.

@BESW I just think of d20 as a uniform distribution-based success system. d% is just a higher resolution d20 system with all the bonuses multiplied by 5. Any system where you're just sampling from a single uniform distribution for testing success lends itself to introducing this balance problem.

Fate, Bubblegumshoe (and to a lesser extent other Gumshoe games), Unisystem and its derivatives, Cortex Plus and its iterations, there's a ton of unique systems that mechanise characterisation as a primary tool for mechanical success.

Unisystem seems to resolve this problem by disallowing the success margin from moving. It's always 9 or higher.

Interesting.

And of course there are games like Great Ork Gods, Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple, Roll For Shoes, and A Penny For My Thoughts, where thinking about optimisation is a total misunderstanding of the system.

Everyone always has atleast a 20% chance to succeed at something.

And if you're not familiar with the Apocalypse World Engine, I strongly recommend you look into that.

About the only 20 System game I can think of which even comes close to some of these concepts is 13th Age.

Does Unisystem have progression? Like leveling? I know Dungeon World has SOMETHING

These are systems which blow up the success/failure paradigm, mechanise "role-playing" traits, change the nature of mechanical power to avoid trap or tax choices, or rely on something totally different and alien to the "traditional" D&D-like structure.

Unisystem is perhaps the most "traditional" of all of the systems I've mentioned.

Its advancement is in the form of points you spend to improve certain aspects of the character (your choice) at the end of each session.

@Axoren yeah -- normal variates work better than uniform ones

@Axoren For the most part I'm not talking at all about how the dice are read.

I'm talking about, eg, getting a bonus to an attack roll because you really care about what's at stake in the fight, so your role-play matters mechanically to the conflict. Or having every action generalised to "you help someone" or "you get in trouble" so that there's no "this feature is better than that one" optimisation choices possible. Or being guaranteed success in every action you do, because the drama lies elsewhere in the story.

In the AWE, all mechanics are triggered by role-playing.

Without engaging RP, you'll never get to the crunchy bits of the system at all.

@Shalvenay I agree. If you normally succeed, you should do more than succeed on average. Small inhibiting factors shouldn't have a uniform effect on your success margin.