How do games decide on their scaling? For example, how high

bumping for a dummy

You literally just decide how capable someone should be able to be, and what a nice comfy way to represent that would be. Then you decide how capable the average person would be, and rate them using the same metric. Add some consideration for the mechanics of the system, regarding probability, and you're done.

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>>49008610
this is a very important mechanical consideration for establishing the "feel" of your game

do you want a zero to hero progression where rat-slayers move on to challenge gods?

do you want capable folks who become more capable but are always mortal?

do you want peasant quest where anything and everything has a more than fair chance of outright killing you?

these considerations are really what should determine the intensity of character progression

>>49008610
That's really too broad of a question. It depends on factors that arise while designing the system and are usually honed by trial and error.

>>49009523
I get that, but I mean like coming upon specific numbers. Like if you're rolling 3d6 and want an average powered game, what range of negative to positive modifiers is reasonable?

>>49009914
>>49009830
let's use my above example

The task roll is 3d6. the characters will be more skilled than the average person, but will never reach godhood. They may be the best in the land eventually.

If I rolled 3d6 to climb a wall, say, and I was an endgame character, what's the lowest bonus I should get without it being too much?

In other words, what's the low-high range of modifiers where rolling still matters?

>>49010135
Do you know what the average result is on a 3d6 roll?

>>49010203
a 10 or 11, right?

>>49010135
Go on Anydice, put in your dice pool plus modifiers, look at statistical distributions. For 3d6 you're looking at average 10 with a fairly low chance to get too extreme, so someone with a +5 bonus will have a rather good chance of beating someone with no modifier.

>>49010345
I was already on anydice, I didn't know I could add modifiers to the calculation. I'll play around with this a little

>>49008610
Usually the stats / modifier limits are chosen first with just some semblance of an idea, and then target numbers are tailored to match those modifiers.

For example, my system uses dual-stat system with ascending dice type (think Ryuutama but with more stats). That pretty much settles the stat limit to d12 on default (I've made it possible to get d14 on games that have magics).

To those, I needed to tailor modifiers, and I decided to go with +1-6. It gives enough space to make the modifiers matter but not disregard the roll.

Then, I decided a "standard" target number for rolls, which happens to be 8. I just came to the conclusion by fiddling with the numbers and making broad strokes. And unlike many games with pretty flowing target numbers, I just tried to simplify it to 4 for easy, 8 for regular, 12 for challenging, 16 for difficult, 20 for legendary, 24 for impossible, working with multiples of 4. I do understand that the jump from 8 to 12 is gargantuan, but it is what I finally decided to go with.

The final number on the calculations came to this: I wanted to have that characters that have maximum modifier on a thing, not being able to fail a regular task with the modifier (Because my regular tasks are, by definition, everything that isn't either really easy or outright difficult).

But my system is my system, the general architecture of the system is dependent on myriads of factors, such as how target numbers are divided, can you take 10, can you 'push' or 'concentrate' against some metacurrency and how the skills and attributes are presented.

No system works in a vacuum. To create a modifier / target number system you either build other things from it or you base it on foundations found elsewhere.

(I suggest the latter way simply because modifiers and target numbers are just that, numbers. Really easy to change and modify to your needs)

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