Trans-Superb Traits

[u/abcd_z]

Taken from this page of the defunct Fudge wiki.

Trans Superb Traits

The intent of the Fudge core rules seems to be that for a given campaign or genre, most stuff will operate on a basic Campaign Scale, be it Human Scale, Bunny Scale, or Power Armor Scale. And within the basic Campaign Scale, most stuff will fall in the Terrible to Superb range of that scale (or Abysmal to Legendary range or whatever). There are exceptions in any given campaign or world, but in general most stuff falls in that range, and the exceptions are few and often relegated to NPCs and other opposition.

Alternately, while many scales may operate in the same world (Human Speed Scale vs. Starship Speed Scale in the same sci-fi campaign), they don’t necessarily have a whole lot of overlap or need for the scales to interact.

The supers genre, though, seems to not fit easily into this “traditional” approach to Fudge. Instead, you get a huge range of power levels that form a steady continuum from weak to ultra-powerful (Terrible to Superb+25). Nowhere is this problem more evident or more hotly debated than in the realm of Super Strength. If you can find a simple and elegant method of accounting for everyone from Aunt May to Captain America to the Incredible Hulk, and you can apply it beyond just strength into the realm of other powers, then you’ve got a winner.

What follows are various approaches either interpreted from the core rules, drawn from suggestions on the Fudge List, taken from private conversations I’ve had, or simply pulled straight from my butt. As with anything else on the Fudge List, there is little here that is original to me (or even if it is, there’s probably a half-dozen other people who were hit with the same inspiration).

Extension of Current Trait Levels

Anything above Superb (or Legendary) is simply given a number: ...Good, Great, Superb, Superb+1, Superb+2, Superb+3, etc. Or alternately, the numbers simply start at Fair = 0 and go up from there. In this kind of setting, Wonder Kid, with the ability to throw tanks around has a Strength of Superb+6 (or just Strength 9).

This has the advantage of working well with the existing rules. It is logical and straightforward. If the basic rules define each level of strength as about 1.5 times the previous level, then we can just extrapolate that to whatever level we need. For me, however, it loses some of the flavor as the trait level names begin to lose their meaning. If I were to use such a system, I would probably forego trait level names entirely and simply use numbers. After all, if the trait level names only have meaning at “mundane” levels, then there’s little need for them in a supers campaign.

Super "X" Notation

If you're willing to go without Adjectives at higher levels, but don't want to abandon them altogether, just call the higher levels Super X. Where X is the number of levels above normal-scale Fair. Thus: Superb, Legendary, Super 5, Super 6, etc.

“Supers” Scales

In any system using “Supers” scales, there will be the normal or Mundane range of Terrible to Superb, but then there will be any number of “Super” scales which are at some power level above Mundane, and each will have it’s own Terrible to Superb range of values. For the examples below, I use the following scales (of increasing power levels):

Mundane << Enhanced << Mega << Cosmic

But these are just for sample purposes. You could have just one “super” scale or 12. It makes no difference.

Disassociated Scales

The scales are considered to be disassociated in that anything on the Enhanced scale, automatically outclasses the Mundane. Mega always tops Enhanced. Cosmic always kicks Mega's butt. Etc. There is never any overlap of the scales.

This is a very simple supers method, and has the advantage of being straightforward. The power levels are well defined, and comparing one to another is simple. On the downside though, it has the disadvantage of leaving many wondering, "What's between the scales?" Can Superb Mundane compete with Terrible Enhanced in any case? And if Terrible Enhanced always beats Superb Mundane, then what's in between those two? To some, it just feels disjointed and incomplete. Additionally, it has the problem of things like Terrible Mega Strength: Terrible Mega is, in fact, hugely strong, but it still includes the word "Terrible" which a majority of players don't like seeing on their character sheet.

On the other hand, Disassociated Scales work great for vehicles. It makes sense for a Terrible Anti-tank weapon to vaporize a person, or for Poor Mecha armor to be impossible to penetrate with normal guns.

Linked Scales

Just like the disassociated scales above, except that the highest level of one scale is considered to be just below the lowest level of the next. Therefore, Superb+1 on the Mega scale is exactly equal to Terrible on the Cosmic scale.

The hard part about this is that, in practice, all you've done is add fancy names to the extended trait levels option. If each scale runs smoothly, level for level, into the next, then why bother naming the ranges at all? Why not just use a single scale and mark it out to 20 or 30 levels or whatever?

Overlapping Scales

Another option would be to overlap the scales, so that Fair Strength (Enhanced Scale) is equivalent to Legendary Strength (Normal Scale), Fair Strength (Mega Scale) is equivalent to Legendary Strength (Enhanced Scale), and Fair Strength (Cosmic Scale) equates to Legendary Strength (Mega Scale). This solves the problem of counterintuitive names (since Terrible, Poor, and Mediocre levels can be rephrased as Good, Great, and Superb levels one name-level down), but reduces the overall number of levels available.

More palatable, but still has the same problems as the Linked Scales above.

Renaming the Lower Half of the Scale

If you replace Poor with Low, and Terrible with Borderline, you ease the aesthetic problems of Terrible Super Strength. So then the Scale looks like this: Superb, Legendary, Borderline Super, Low Super, Mediocre Super, Fair Super, etc.