What is your favorite character advancement system?

[Acaroid]

I'm an amateur Game Master/developer here with plans on getting into game development in the future after I'm finished with college. Lately though I have developed two (though never published) paper RPGs as a means of practicing game design but also to build small adventures through. So far I think the two I have here are pretty cool, though each one has made me think of something about RPGs I rarely see discussed: Character advancement mechanics.

The two most common forms of "character advancement" I seen would be a "Point-Based" (PB) and a "Level-Up" (LU) system. The PB system is where a character is given points that they spend to upgrade skills, abilities and statistics. Where as an LU system is where a character earns a number of points that triggers an "upgrade" event for the character. From my experience, the paper RPG "Shadowrun" and "GURPS", along with "Fable" or "Prototype" have a PB system. Where as common RPGs from Japan and most western games (KOTOR, Fallout, Diablo) use a LU system.

Personally I prefer a PB system as I think it gives more options to the player in customizing their character, like how a player could choose to develop their character into a mage/rogue/warrior build in a "Fable" game (though I also recognize that a character in those games could be good in all three with no penalty to the other fields). However some LU systems like "Diablo" offer choices to players as well in modifying their character, where as some don't (like some JRPGs).

What do you think is the best character advancement system you found in games, and why?

I think it will be interesting a Pnp putting in place a system like elderscrolls, where you gain abilities in things you do.
e.g. Everytime you get a sword based succesful attack, you get a point, and those points can go into a group of sword based skills.

I play a few PnP games and I wouldnt mind a system like that.

 

[kawaiiamethist]

I thoroughly enjoyed the points based system in FFX, but I prefer a mix of the two systems, as seen in FFXII with the license board and Enchanted Arms with the parameters.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

You probably forgot (or decided it wasn't big enough) the third option. That of progressional advancement. Where you use your skills to increase them and become more proficient. The latest game I can think off with a system like this is Borderlands and the gun proficiencies, it is also used in the Elder Scrolls Games for skill advancement. I personally prefer it over both point based and Level-based systems because it becomes more fluid and intuitive (No more "I kill people and thus I become an awesome doctor"). The downside is that once you reach a certain point, it becomes hard to pick up new skills.

 

[Mr.Black]

SPHERE GRID

 

[Flour]

I like fallout 3's system but I dislike that you can't max out everthing with it.
So I like level up systems in general.

You can max out everything, but it requires finding most skill books(24 skill ups in every skill without the comprehension perk, 48 with), the bobbleheads(another 10 skill points in every skill) and reaching level 30(almost perfect perk) before finding the SPECIAL bobbleheads.

On-Topic: Personally I'm a fan of the old RPG system of "hit things with stick > level up > get larger stick and hit things harder". Point based systems means the player has one or more Marios [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheMario], and the game either becomes too easy with a 'perfect' build or too hard with a 'poor' build since content is balanced for the average. So your 'mighty' group of heroes either has massive problems with a simple orc or they're all powerful enough to instakill Sauron.

 

[MintyNinja]

You probably forgot (or decided it wasn't big enough) the third option. That of progressional advancement. Where you use your skills to increase them and become more proficient. The latest game I can think off with a system like this is Borderlands and the gun proficiencies, it is also used in the Elder Scrolls Games for skill advancement. I personally prefer it over both point based and Level-based systems because it becomes more fluid and intuitive (No more "I kill people and thus I become an awesome doctor"). The downside is that once you reach a certain point, it becomes hard to pick up new skills.

Gonna have to say this. But when everyone's busy mentioning TES:IV, I personally didn't like the leveling system. It was great that the skills we used would increase, but leveling up after 10 increases in 7 of said skills? I felt that some skills like Alchemy would force you to level way too quickly at the lower levels, leaving you behind the NPC's and Monsters for the rest of the game.

 

[WolfThomas]

STALKER you the player get better in playing skill, not the character.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

-snip-

Gonna have to say this. But when everyone's busy mentioning TES:IV, I personally didn't like the leveling system. It was great that the skills we used would increase, but leveling up after 10 increases in 7 of said skills? I felt that some skills like Alchemy would force you to level way too quickly at the lower levels, leaving you behind the NPC's and Monsters for the rest of the game.

I myself didn't particularly enjoy the leveling aspect of the Elder Scrolls series. And that is obviously a level up based system. I was merely pointing out that the skill advancement in TES is an example of progessional advancement, even if it is just a sub-system in a great level up system.

Dungeon Siege is a better example of pure Progressional Advancement, in that you had four major "fields" (Melee, Range, Nature Magic, Arcane Magic) and by using either you gained skill in that field alone.

 

[Voltano]

I never thought of a hybrid between a "Level up" (LU) and a "Point Based" (PB) system before, but it would be fun to try here. No game that is currently out (Does Borderland use this? I'm not sure as I haven't played it) to my knowledge that uses a combination of the two, though I'm sure a mixture of the two could work well. The only game I could think that works like this would be "Dark Spire" for the Nintendo DS.

As for the "Elder Scroll" games, I am aware of their "progression" system where a character uses a skill multiple times to make it reach a level. Honestly I could see this work for a video game, but not a paper RPG as the player would have to keep track of all the actions they did in the game. The player would have to probably keep notes on how many times they used X skill, then tally them up to determine how many levels that one skill raised toward the end. "Dungeon Siege" is another game that I think used this idea a bit better than what "Elder Scroll" does, though I like a PB system over this as a player could just acquire a number of points (Like XP in an LU system), then choose what skill to develop.