Long term system where players don't get over powered?

[zoah666]

I want a system that I can play for a long time, perhaps a year or more, where there is a feeling of interesting character development, but where the overall power level and hit points of the characters don't actually change that much.

I am playing Pathfinder 2e, and Wahammer Fantasy 4e right now, and like both of them, but the characters quickly out class low level enemies. I have a few systems in my library that seem to fix this by having a relatively short anticipated play time ie 20 sessions or less. But none that are designed to run for a longer campaign but don't really feel like an escalating arms race, as I have to respond to new PC abilities, skills, and powers.

I know that for players, not advancing and getting cool "new toys" will be unappealing, and boring. But hopefully there is a happy medium where there are cool new things the players can do that don't get crazy strong combat/magic-wise.

[Saelethil]

I think 5e with reduced PC HP growth might work for you. You may need to ban spells above a certain level (or simply remove full casters).
Maybe take the average HP -4 + Con mod after level 1 or so.
d6 = +0
d8 = +1
d10 = +2
d12 = +3

A big part of out scaling low CR enemies is PC HP bloat (and some spells) so if you cut full casters and reduce HP bloat you should be good.

I’m sure there are other table top RPG‘s that would work without needing homebrew but I thought this might just work

[Catullus64]

Maybe the older editions of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay? I've never played 4th Edition, but I have read its rulebook, and it does seem like the power curve is steeper than my preferred 2nd Edition. 1st Edition WFRP definitely has restricted character power, but has the slight drawback of being borderline unplayable.

The most Wounds a character could possible start with is 16 (Dwarf who rolls well, starts with the Hardy talent from a career, and buys +1 Wound with his free starting advance). The same Dwarf, if he follows a maximally tough career progression, can end up with a maximum of 24 Wounds.

Progression in raw power, as measured by Characteristic increases, actually slows as you get higher in XP, because the careers with increased allowances for Characteristic increases, are gated behind two things. First, you have to finish the intermediate careers which serve as prerequisites for the really high-end ones, and that involves buying a lot of low-intensity skill upgrades and niche talents. Characters at the upper bound of their power in WFRP are probably analogous to 5e D&D heroes at 9th or 10th level.

Magic bends this a little bit; a mid-tier Wizard or Priest changes the game significantly. But even their most powerful spells don't approach some of the D&D silliness. No Clone, Simulacrum, or Wish-type stuff here; the most powerful spells of each magical lore are more like 5th-level spells from D&D.

Our current WFRP group consists of characters at around 3500 XP, in our late second and early third careers. We have a White Wizard, two combat specialist characters, and two non-combat focused characters who are still decently tough. And we recently almost got our faces stomped by eight Skaven Clanrats who managed to ambush us from behind. Tactics, equipment, and especially numbers are much more meaningful than raw character power. Really high-end stuff, like Dragons, Vampire Lords, and Greater Daemons, will probably wreck even the most powerful characters unless you bring a small army to help deal with them.