How do I write LitRPG/leveling systems and still be consistent with the MC's leveling??

MFontana

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I've read a lot of LitRPG books, and a few of them have unique leveling styles, although most of them just level in a crazy way, and I don't mean normal level crazy, I mean the type of crazy where the MC's strength stat goes from 5 to 200 by just 4-5 chapters.
I don't wanna deal with this same situation, so could someone help me out here?
How do I write my MC's leveling in a way that he doesn't go from trash to God-like in just 4-5 chapters???

There's a few really simple ways.
1) Make the numbers matter for something tangible. (New or improved skills, abilities, spells, etc)
2) The numbers don't matter. Your depiction of them does. Write them however you want, and assign your own meaning to them, with your own scale for powers or abilities.

Ultimately, the trick here is consistency. Pick the approach that works for you, and your story, and stick with it. The numbers can mean whatever you want them to in the end. After that, it is just a matter of scale and pacing.

For example, if you like Final Fantasy, you can use stat values in the hundreds or thousands if you want to. Or, you can use much smaller ones to convey the same sense of character ability. It just depends on you and how you go about implementing it.
It all comes down to scale and where you want yours to sit.
If an average human has a strength of 5; then anyone with a strength of 10 would be insanely strong. Where if the average human strength is 100, then something with 10 is multiple magnitudes weaker, with the same exact stat value.
 

ConansWitchBaby

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This. One of my pet peeves with LitRPG is how often it feels like the numbers just don't matter. They are just some arbitrary numbers growing alongside the story, only tangentially showing the MC's growth. They are there, but they have little to no impact (and little to no comparison to what is normal for the world), and even when they are not outright ignored, the author will find a way for the character to punch above their weight class whenever it's convenient.
I think the main reason it doesn't feel relevant is the lack of damage/attack numbers and authors not giving enemy health bars. I have only seen a handful of litrpg's that have an enemy's health stat show during an analysis scan. Even then, without a reference on how much anything hurts or can dish out the pain, it feels empty.

A recently good and evolving system I have seen similar to a milestone mechanic is:
Path of the Deathless (Book 4 Completed) | Royal Road

Makes the tiers in strength clear-ish from the start. Regular people > Prime specimens that take all the roids including some only known to futuristic monkeys > Abominable freaks of nature > Pinnacle of winning against adversary > Walking demi-gods

The skills follow that formula. Once it reaches the next tier threshold it turns into something specific to the characters. Not only the MC but for everyone in the world. In-world there are encyclopedias trying to catalogue all the ways things can evolve into. Best part, getting to the higher tiers gives something special that resonates with the world itself.

Why, yes. I am stealing some of these ideas. How'd you know?
 
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