What resolution systems have diminishing returns?

[Marcus Amakar]

What resolution systems have diminishing returns?

In what way can I engineer a system so increasing ranks/level/ability in a skill/capability/score gives diminishing returns? Also, maybe with increased consistency?

Rough example, a level 1 jump score gives a minimum distance of 1.5m and a max of 3m, level 2 gives 2.5 min, max 4m, level 3 gives 3 min, 4.5 max, level 4 gives 3.25 min, 4.75 max etc.

Thanks in advance.

[TuggyNE]

Dice pool with number set by skill? (Possibly also a cap on number of best dice kept.)

[Devils_Advocate]

Hmm. Maybe roll a number of d20s equal to your skill level, keep best result? Possibly plus a constant times your skill level, and/or to a minimum of your skill level? Something like that.

Diminishing returns is also something that can be accomplished on a setting/campaign level, rather than on a system level. A standard task resolution system lets sufficiently skilled characters reliably succeed at normal challenges. The benefit to increasing your skill beyond that level is that it allows you to succeed at increasingly exceptionally difficult challenges.

So, in a game where challenges are indeed exceptional in proportion to their difficulty -- where the more difficult a task is, the less likely it is that the characters will ever need to accomplish it -- then being exceptionally skilled at something gives diminishing returns by default, since the better you are at something, the more likely that 1 more point won't make a difference, because you almost certainly would have succeeded anyway.

[137beth]

The other option I can think of off the top of my head is to just make raising a skill/ability increasingly more expensive.