Upper end "cap" to attributes?

[Finarvyn]

I'm curious as to whether GMs put an upper end "cap" on attributes or just let them happen?

1. It would be possible to define Benedict as maximum Warfare or Gerard as maximum Strength, so if anyone puts a zillion points into those attriutes the NPC in question automatically gets a "zillion plus one". This is consistent with Zelazny's characters but might be unsatisfying to players.

2. It could also happen that the NPCs are defined in advance and with enough effort maybe a PC could actually surpass the top NPCs in the campaign. If so, at what general level do you place the top attributes in the game? (I was thinking that 150 would be a nice number to cap attributes, which is pretty untouchable and also very arbitrary. Anyone have thoughts on this?)

[nihilisticmind]

I dunno why, but I feel like first rank for a PC should be only slightly weaker than the First Generation rank equivalent. Even if a Player pays 30 points for first rank in Psyche in his generation, I'd say that it is a known fact that PC X is "almost" as good as Fiona, and many Elder Amberites (who may have scores higher than 30) don't necessarily beat the PC when it comes to Psyche... It may be a perception thing, from the elders' point of view, but PCs still don't get too thingyy when it comes to confronting elders, which works great for me (I usually build Elder Amberites with 150-200 points, plus powers. Oberon maxes out at a staggering 350 points!)

Players are none the wiser.

Let me also point this out: Remember when Corwin bests Eric (clearly superior with a sword, according to Corwin), then goes on and defeats Benedict with a dirty trick (if Benedict was such hot stuff, he would have anticipated the 'possibility' of the trap).

Bottom line: I say let the players surpass the Elders when it comes to stats. Not always, but once in a while, a prodigy will come along... You know what I mean? Someone will beat an elder amberite and the players will go berserk... Besides, the revenge of a defeated amberite is much scarier than being outclassed to begin with

[Dilvish]

I set the Elder stats high enough that no one ever bothers to beat them, but it should be okay if they want.

Note also that the rulebook says that players should avoid one-dimensional characters with all of their points in one attribute, so maybe it won't matter.

[ed]

I'd say that it would be better to stat out the elders after the players have generated their characters. The decide on the PCs rank against the elders. So if after the auction Warfare went for 40 points and you envision the best PC would be able to fight evenly with Julian, then maybe you'd put Corwin's War at 50, Eric at 60, Benedict at 70. Or if you want the new characters to be weaker add Caine or Random head of them on the ladder.

So basically for every ability, the GM creates a list from best to worst of the elders and other important NPCs then decides where the best PC ranks on the list. The elder ability scores can then be generated after the auction. The lower-ranked PCs and elders can become difficult to figure out but some sort of alternating ranking could be done.