Sunday, May 29, 2016

ACKS "Epic" Levels


Preface: highly theoretical. The fact that ACKS lets you conquer an empire within the limitations of 14 levels is one of the magical features of the system, and I wouldn't change it. But, we're all about pushing boundaries here at the C&B, so.

I've been puttering around in the Dwimmermount book, looking at azoth and tying it to the 'viz' product in Blackmarsh.

ACKS Dwimmermount contains two things that are interesting in this respect - a spell progression table for casters from levels 15-18, and a little note on pg 409 describing physical immortality - if you are physically immortal, your maximum level is increased to 18th.

What's the ramifications of that, assuming you can survive the process and successfully achieve at least physical immortality?

LevelXPHitProficiencies
Attack Throw
SavesSpell Levels
ArcaneMage XPDiceP&PP&DB&BS&WSpells123456
152,120,0009d4+6*6+9+9+11+7+8+544433
164,240,0009d4+7*5+8+8+10+6+7+554443
178,480,0009d4+8*G5+8+8+10+6+7+555443
1816,960,0009d4+9*C5+8+8+10+6+7+555544

LevelXPHitProficiencies
Attack Throw
SavesSpell Levels
DivineCleric XPDiceP&PP&DB&BS&WSpells12345
151,400,0009d6+6*3+6+3+9+6+8+66654
162,800,0009d6+7*C3+6+3+9+6+8+76655
175,600,0009d6+8*G2+5+2+8+5+7+77765
1811,200,0009d6+9*2+5+2+8+5+7+87766

So there's clerics and mages; voted most likely to crave immortality in the adventurer school yearbook. I took raising the level limit to be the full level limit - not just the gaining of HD that happens when you're undead and above the 14th level limit - so proficiencies and the like are in play.

What other values-by-level does ACKS contain?

Let's start at the bottom of ACKS and work our way up. First, demographics.

Demographics of Epic Heroism
LevelBest InPossible Realm..In Empires
121,200,000Small Kingdom
133,250,000Kingdom
1410,000,000Empire
1528,000,000Small Continent3 Empires
1690,000,000Large Continent6 Empires
17275,000,000Hemisphere12+ Empires
18850,000,000Planet24+ Empires
So, somewhere I've got it in my head that an "empire" is about a million square miles.

Australia + Oceania is about 3 million square miles - call that a small continent. That leaves room for about three empires, or two empires and an empire's worth of innocent bystanding kingdoms and principalities for them to push around.

Those population numbers could probably be pushed around a bit. 1 billion people is about the population of the globe in 1800, according to Wikipedia, at least.

That planetary number - 850 million people - is 170 million families; at 300 families per hex, that's 566,666 6-mile hexes - or 17.5 million square miles. That's the size of Asia, more or less, and leaves somewhere in the ballpark of 40 million square miles of unsettled wilderness, if one is to assume Earth's total landmass size.

Funnily enough, that's about a 1/3 civilized to 2/3 wilderness ratio - about 20 million square miles vs 40 million square miles. If you treat the planet as a "region" from ACKS pg 235, that's the same ratio of points of interest between settlements and dungeons/lairs/etc.

Spooky ACKStion at a distance.

What about income? A lot of the calculations, IIRC, are based off of however henchman wages are calculated, which has something to do with relative net worth, so let's start there.

The wages are multiplied by the secret ratio (33) to get net worth. 80% of that net worth is from adventuring (on the forums somewhere, can't find it). Because we're doubling XP requirements, the progression changes a bit, and I think we come out to this as the henchmen wages:


Henchmen Monthly Fee
LevelWage
1260,000
13145,000
14350,000
151,200,000
162,400,000
174,800,000
189,500,000

Then, XP thresholds seem to be just a hair above those wages, around the 110% mark or a bit less.

XP from Domain/Mercantile Income
LevelGP Threshold
1260,000
13150,000
14425,000
151,400,000
162,600,000
175,200,000
1810,400,000

And if we punt and simply multiply out the Empire values from the Revenue By Realm Type table (ACKS pg 230):

Revenue by Realm Type
RealmDomain Income RangeUrban Income Range
Empire250,000425,000135,000700,000
3 Empires750,0001,275,000405,0002,100,000
6 Empires1,500,0002,550,000810,0004,200,000
12+ Empires3,000,0005,100,0001,620,0008,400,000
24+ Empires6,000,00010,200,0003,240,00016,800,000

You could exceed your GP Threshold for those higher levels, but it'll take work.

Troop recruitment times are already listed for continental movements; it's in year increments. Hemispherical might go up to 2 years; planetary a half decade - dunno. Very theoretical at that point, and may rely largely on geography.

Anyway. Largely a thought exercise. I'd offer higher levels to spellcasters who transform themselves, perhaps, in a Baleful Sky campaign. If you're the sort that can bring an entire globe under your heel, then you're the sort who can stand toe-to-toe with the horrors of the Outer Dark - this sort of metamorphosis is what's required to be an actor on a cosmic scale.

Fighters, thieves, and the like - well, a natural death is the privilege of those who don't sell themselves to dark forces. Don't envy the mage; immortal power is it's own punishment.

That being said:

LevelXPHitProficiencies
Attack Throw
SavesThief Skills
ThiefThief XPDiceP&PP&DB&BS&WSpellsOLFRTPPMSCWHSHNBS
151,360,0009d4+12*3+6+6+9+7+8+0+1+-7+0+0+0+0+x5
162,720,0009d4+14*C3+6+6+9+7+8+0+0+-9+0+0+-1+-1+x5
175,440,0009d4+16*G2+5+5+8+6+7+-1+0+-11+-1+-1+-2+-2+x6
1810,880,0009d4+18*2+5+5+8+6+7+-1+-1+-13+-1+-1+-3+-3+x6

LevelXPHitProficiencies
Attack Throw
Saves
Damage Bonus
FighterFighter XPDiceP&PP&DB&BS&WSpells
151,700,0009d8+12C1+6+5+7+7+8++6
163,400,0009d8+140+5+4+6+6+7++6
176,800,0009d8+16G0+5+4+6+6+7++6
1813,600,0009d8+18C-1+4+3+5+5+6++7

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.