That being said, I don't think that it is necessarilly a good idea to advance the class levels all the way to 20 levels. The most obvious reasons for this should be those talents that allow you to add class levels to checks to achieve results (e.g the Savant talent) or to set a save DC.
For example, a level 20 Smart Hero could have 23 ranks in ten fully developed skills, plus 20 for having the Savant talent applied to that skill.
A level 20 charismatic Hero can Taunt a subject by making a Charisma check (DC 15) with a +20 bonus, forcing the target to take a DC 30+ Will save or become dazed. As this is merely an attack and can be repeated every round... Well, you get the drift.
Most of the class talents work because they fit into the common framework of advancing DCs and bonus by roughly half the character level. This is partially achieved by capping the class levels at 10, half the expected maximum character level. It works ok for characters that advance along two classes, but even single-class characters do not break the "magical" +10 limit.
-K
That being said, I don't think that it is necessarilly a good idea to advance the class levels all the way to 20 levels. The most obvious reasons for this should be those talents that allow you to add class levels to checks to achieve results (e.g the Savant talent) or to set a save DC.
Oh, I have already addressed this by changing any bonus from a base class origionally equal to class level to be equal to 1/2 class level, rounded up.
I'd also think your going in the right direction with changing bonuses to 1/2 class level rounded up, except for the fact that you look at a character thats 10th level and he's only performing as if he's 5th level... not a HUGE deal but when you compare classes that rely more on those abilities such as charismatic, dedicated and smart, to the classes who dont really have those kinds of abilities... ex. all the physical classes, you basically just cut down one of the other classes key abilities. I'd suggest to make the progression the same.. +1 bonus per level, just cap the ability at 10 levels so you dont have crazy bonuses running rampant.
On a side note, do you even need to make the classes lvls 1-20? The way the system was built was to MAKE people multiclass... honestly how many well rounded characters can you make with JUST the base class? Not only is it not realistic (to me at least) but is it practical? Is it smart to "put all your eggs in one basket?" Just a thought and my two cents...
First is the fact the game is going to be gestalt, and one side is going to be only base classes. This means someone may in fact take 20 levels of Fast Hero on one side of the build. I want to have the options for a player to do so.
The second is my universe in general. After having played Star Wars Saga Edition, I found that my entire group loved the way classes were set up. They have talent trees every other level, and advance/prest classes all can choose talents from base classes in addition to their own. I am designing 12-20 advance classes, as well as 10-15 PrC's that are going to follow this form. Because of this, I need a bunch of talent trees Adv & PrC's can use and pick from in addition to the 1-3 talent trees that are going to be specific to them.
Also, those books were great. Even the talents I am not using gave me plenty of inspiration for future trees, as well as my own unique hybred SWSE Force/magic system which I am posting for PEACH later this night.
I want to turn base classes into 1-20 classes for a few reasons.
First is the fact the game is going to be gestalt, and one side is going to be only base classes. This means someone may in fact take 20 levels of Fast Hero on one side of the build. I want to have the options for a player to do so.
The second is my universe in general. After having played Star Wars Saga Edition, I found that my entire group loved the way classes were set up. They have talent trees every other level, and advance/prest classes all can choose talents from base classes in addition to their own. I am designing 12-20 advance classes, as well as 10-15 PrC's that are going to follow this form. Because of this, I need a bunch of talent trees Adv & PrC's can use and pick from in addition to the 1-3 talent trees that are going to be specific to them.
Also, those books were great. Even the talents I am not using gave me plenty of inspiration for future trees, as well as my own unique hybred SWSE Force/magic system which I am posting for PEACH later this night.
Well you have the format to set up 11-20 of the basic classes, from levels 1-20. Some of these base classes are weaker than others straight over the 10 level progression namely Smart, dedicated, and charismatic. Some would argue tough as well, depending on house rules. So you will want to balance the build up to 20. An upside of this is the balancing of fast over 20 levels, though I would definitely just jump into it to grab that first level defense booster myself. SAGA being what it is the base classes fill a niche in what we see in the movies and other media there, with modern you almost have to multiclass to survive in the modern world. I tried running a d20M game with gestalt similar to what you have right now without extending the base classes by 10 and it worked out alright.
Then again I only use one base class to get to that advanced class as quick as I can. There are a LOT of great combos you can make with just the base classes in only 10 levels or so (try looking at d20 future compendium at your local FLGS).Anyways it has groundpounder (soldier basic classes of mostly strong and a few tough, with 1 or 2 levels of charismatic). Marshal (one of my favorites (and not the one in d20 Past either) mostly Tough IIRC with a couple of levels of dedicated and fast).
Well thats my
hope its worth something to you.