User:Oportet/An Alternate Same Game Test

     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?

An Alternative Same Game Test

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

     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.