Post originally by Kobold Lord at 2003-03-21 01:22:06
Converted from Phorums BB System

"While this might or might not be true (I don't know as I don't have the d20 book)
if this is the case, why not just "re-adjust" the d20 scale and give a 1st level character in d20 more skills, etc. so that I can start at the same footing as a BRP character? This is sort of an after the fact question as the game is already designed...

It seems like the BRP character may be equivalent to a 4-5th level char in regards to skills but in regards to hit points might be eqv. to a 1st level character, so by making the character 4th level you sort of 'get more than you bargained for' with the increase in hitpoints."

I haven't done the math myself, so I can't swear to the results, but from what I've heard the "starter BRP character == L5 D20 character" equation is referring to the combat survivability of the character, not the general knowledge of the character. If you throw in some Dodge munchkinary, the 12hp a starting BRP character has balloons up quite a bit (inversely proportional), letting it match the raw hit points of the L4-5 D20 character. Also, both die in one hit from almost anything if they botch their Dodge Roll/Fortitude Save.

As for the general knowledge of the character... The problem is probably intractable, since there are fewer benchmarks available (in contrast to combat, which has the number of characters a Shoggoth will typically kill in a round and the like) that make logical sense when ported from one system to another. Remembering obscure bits of lore, for instance, is inherently arbitrarily set in difficulty by the Keeper, so you can't really figure out which system has smarter starting characters.