Scaling 1 - 10

[Calthropstu]

If we were to create scales for villains and heroes, what would that scale look like?

Going from 1 - 10, what criteria would such a scale require? Let's see if we can rate some of our favorites, and see what others think.

Now a hero that is a 1 for a hero is still a hero, while a villain who is a 1 is still a villain. But a 10 should be a truly epic hero and a 10 villain should be an amazing bad guy.

So let's get to rating and see if we can come up with the best of the best and the worst of the worst.

To start I shall propose some standard heroes who I think should be a 5 or 6.

Monkey D Luffey from One Piece
The Flash from DC comics
Iron Man from Marvel

I pick these three because they seem to be middle of the heap in terms of ability. They aren't overwhelmingly inspiring, their general plans are lackluster, but their popularity is all quite high. In short, they seem to embody the true average of heroes.

Agree, disagree, propose some of your own, propose a bottom of the heap and a top of the heap... let's discuss.

[InvisibleBison]

What is this scale supposed to measure? You seem to be using several different attributes in your example characters, but I don't think a scale that evaluates characters based on several independent variables makes much sense. It would be better, I think, to have several different scales for each relevant attribute. If you wanted to have an overall value you could combine them in some way, though i don't think that would be very meaningful.

[BeerMug Paladin]

Since you've not really specified what these numbers are supposed to rate, here's a scaling I think fits into how awesome villains end up being.

1 - Villain who does evil because it's evil.
10 - Clear villain goal with believable personal stakes.
5 - World domination.

Actual power, ability or whatnot has little to no relevance according to this scale. The scale is effectively only just whether the villain's goal has a believable motivation and can be sensibly accomplished according to whatever abilities they have.

This is primarily how I rank villain awesomeness, at least.

I'm not sure what a hero-equivalent of this scale might look like.

[Calthropstu]

What is this scale supposed to measure? You seem to be using several different attributes in your example characters, but I don't think a scale that evaluates characters based on several independent variables makes much sense. It would be better, I think, to have several different scales for each relevant attribute. If you wanted to have an overall value you could combine them in some way, though i don't think that would be very meaningful.

A fair point. I feel the criteria should probably be discussed as well. I was bored so I made the thread, but I genuinely have an interest of seeing a scale made. We can call it the playground hero scale/villain scale.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I pick these three because they seem to be middle of the heap in terms of ability. They aren't overwhelmingly inspiring, their general plans are lackluster, but their popularity is all quite high. In short, they seem to embody the true average of heroes.


What is this scale supposed to measure? You seem to be using several different attributes in your example characters, but I don't think a scale that evaluates characters based on several independent variables makes much sense. It would be better, I think, to have several different scales for each relevant attribute. If you wanted to have an overall value you could combine them in some way, though i don't think that would be very meaningful.

The different attributes thing could work. We rate different attributes from 0-3, where 0 is no different from an average human and 3 is out of this world tier. So let's say we rate 1) general power level, 2) how well, how effectively and how intelligently they use those powers (independent on whether they choose goals worth working towards), 3) leadership and inspirational prowess and 4) goodness/evilness. Neutral characters and anti-heroes/villains who's thing is not being good or evil score 0 or sometimes 1 on that last one even if they're larger than life personalities, only larger than life morality counts.

So your typical Batman version would be around 1 in power, 2 or 3 in use of power, 1 or 2 in inspiration, because he's hardly a leader but he does typically get the city to side with him against crime, and anywhere between 0 and 2 in goodness, depending on whether this is is a more straight up heroic version or a batman who enjoys killing criminals. Batman's composite hero rating would be between 4 and 8 out of 12, but that's maybe not the most useful number.

The most idealized representations of someone like Superman would get top marks or close. God level power, always knows how to apply it, leader to all the other superheroes, a force for incorruptible good. But the more typical versions who keep falling for Kryptonite traps are closer to a 0 or 1 on the application scale, and several of them drop a point or more in either power, leadership or goodness as well, coming to a composite score of around 8 out of 12.

As a model for a more down to earth hero a ninja turtle might score around 1.1.0.2=4.

[Calthropstu]

The different attributes thing could work. We rate different attributes from 0-3, where 0 is no different from an average human and 3 is out of this world tier. So let's say we rate 1) general power level, how well, 2) how effectively and how intelligently they use those powers (independent on whether they choose goals would working towards), 3) leadership and inspirational prowess and 4) goodness/evilness. Neutral characters and anti-heroes/villains who's thing is not being good or evil score 0 or sometimes 1 on that last one even if they're larger than life personalities, only larger than life morality counts.

So your typical Batman version would be around 1 in power, 2 or 3 in use of power, 1 or 2 in inspiration, because he's hardly a leader but he does typically get the city to side with him against crime, and anywhere between 0 and 2 in goodness, depending on whether this is is a more straight up heroic version or a batman who enjoys killing criminals. Batman's composite hero rating would be between 4 and 8 out of 12, but that's maybe not the most useful number.

The most idealized representations of someone like Superman would get top marks or close. God level power, always knows how to apply it, leader to all the other superheroes, a force for incorruptible good. But the more typical versions who keep falling for Kryptonite traps are closer to a 0 or 1 on the application scale, and several of them drop a point or more in either power, leadership or goodness as well, coming to a composite score of around 8 out of 12.

As a model for a more down to earth hero a ninja turtle might score around 1.1.0.2=4.

More or less what I am looking for.

So let's do a 1-12 instead of a 1-10.

[Aotrs Commander]

Trying to put a scale on capability is likely to be unproductive outside of a very specific purpose (which you haven't suggested - and I can tell you know "for verses arguement" is on a hidig to nothing), since it is just going to lead to endless debates on what the numbers mean (and will likely be derided or ignored by people in general arguements, especially if they don't agree with your scaling.)

What you are most likely to achive even in the best case is this (https://xkcd.com/927/).