User:Oportet/An Alternate Same Game Test

An Alternative Same Game Test

Because we already have too many competing standards, why not add another?

     Thanks to this wiki, I've been introduced to the Same Game Test for the first time. While I was aware of Character Tier systems for other games, I didn't know D&D had such a well-established and objective rating system. Unfortunately, it is deeply flawed. The tests are designed to gauge power, and in that respect, they do a good job. The problem is the premise: what makes a character powerful?

     To demonstrate what I mean, I've designed my own Same Game Test. Which characters can overcome (or avoid) the following challenges?

• An anonymous blackmail letter with no identifying marks.
• An untrue, yet persistent rumor that the party is responsible for a murder.
• A common bandit holding a knife to a loved one's throat.
• A politically connected, stubborn authority figure that hates the party, and thus will do everything in *their power to make the party's lives miserable.
• Depression.
• A government-backed conspiracy against the party with popular support.
• A betrayal by a trusted friend or close confidant, such as another member of the party.
• Paranoia.
• A virulent disease resistant to magical healing.
• A well-known and gossipy beggar (single parent to five children) asking the party for a donation to their Lawful Neutral church.
• Self doubt.
• An arrest warrant in the party's name.
• Old age.
• The party's skilled hireling refusing to work until given a percentage share of the treasure.
• An author writing a tell-all book of the party's exploits, good or bad.

     My point? If the DM know what they're doing, your top-tier character can be bested by a peasant. Don't put too much stock in character tiers, or it might come back to bite you.