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hammer of Moradin
Senior Scribe
USA
758 Posts |
 Posted - 25 May 2004 : 18:54:00
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Maybe its old age, or maybe I've been gaming too long, but isn't it a lot easier for characters to advance in level with the 3.0/3.5 rules? I can remember going through 2 or 3 major dungeon delves(and several weeks, even months, of play) before having the whole party gain enough experience to go up one level. Now, it seems like, if the party completes most of their objectives, it only takes one major adventure to advance.
Someone(sorry, I can't remember where or who) discussed that the crunch information on major realms characters has gone up (levels, power, etc.). With characters advancing through 20 levels quicker, and I would say easier, they are quickly becoming too powerful compared to the Realms icons despite these increases.
What do you think? Is the play balance upset when characters advance faster through levels? Would making the major Realms icons more powerful be a good solution?
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"Hurling himself upon his enemies, he terrified them with slaughter!"
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium
Candlekeep proverb: If a thing is said often enough, fools aplenty will believe it to be true. |
Edited by - hammer of Moradin on 25 May 2004 22:07:04
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Brother Ezra
Learned Scribe
USA
268 Posts |
Posted - 25 May 2004 : 19:21:36
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The level advancement mechanic definitely has changed dramatically from earlier editions of the game. To advance from 1st to 2nd level requires only 1000 XP. In earlier editions of the game you had the following to advance from 1st to 2nd:
Thieves: 1,250 XP
Clerics: 1500 XP
Fighters: 2000 XP
Magic Users: 2500 XP.
The idea behind the 3rd edition level advancement is that a party of four player characters (number of players determined by WotC market research about average number of players in a typical D&D game) should advance one level on average every 13.33 encounters.
My players were advancing very rapidly as well, even though there were between 6 and 7 PC's in the group at any given time. The third edition rules for Encounter Level force a DM to customize the number or strength of encounters to match the strength of the party. So, if your party has 8 PC's you should probably double the number of creatures encountered, or make them twice as strong.
It works fairly well, but it can become confusing at times, and there's a lot of adjustments to make if you use published adventures. |
"Suffering is the touchstone of all spiritual growth."
-St. Sollars the Twice-Martyred |
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The Black Hand of Bane
Acolyte
USA
14 Posts |
Posted - 25 May 2004 : 20:08:22
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| I don't see much of a different. Of course I also don't even use XP. Players only get levels when appropriate to the campaign. (such as at the end of storyarcs). They think they get XP though....as DM I just "keep track of it", so everyone remains happy. Just after that big bad guy it makes sense to get a level. (or if they aren't meant to be more powerful at that point...to not gain it) |
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Hymn
Senior Scribe
Sweden
514 Posts |
Posted - 25 May 2004 : 22:31:07
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| Hmm, yes the XP leap sure makes for interesting conversions from 2ed to 3ed. Since a "normal" highleved PC becomes über with the 3ed xp system. And yes perhaps the icons should be pumped up a bit more, but that I guess is up to the DM's. |
Sauro moki kara ochiro - Even monkeys falls from trees.
The path that leads to truth is littered with the bodies of the ignorant - Miyamoto Musashi |
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hammer of Moradin
Senior Scribe
USA
758 Posts |
Posted - 25 May 2004 : 23:19:23
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Is it realistic(in a fantasy setting kinda way) to have characters advancing so rapidly in game world time?
Is it too limiting to have only twenty levels before reaching epic level? |
"Hurling himself upon his enemies, he terrified them with slaughter!"
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium
Candlekeep proverb: If a thing is said often enough, fools aplenty will believe it to be true. |
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Faraer
Great Reader
3308 Posts |
Posted - 26 May 2004 : 00:01:09
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Unless the adventures are really spaced out in gameworld-time, 3E characters advance far too many levels in a space of a few years at most. This is (a) not how the Realms works -- no crowds of 15th-level 20-year-olds -- and (b) inappropriate for a long-term campaign, as opposed to the 6-month 'average campaign' 3E XP are calibrated to.
The solution is to reduce XP rewards, or to have lots of downtime between adventures, not to raise NPC levels -- level inflation has been one of the nastiest tendencies in D&D, such that 40th level now means roughly what 20th level used to. 'Only twenty levels'? I've never had an AD&D PC go past 9th. |
Edited by - Faraer on 26 May 2004 00:02:52 |
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Mystery_Man
Senior Scribe
USA
455 Posts |
Posted - 26 May 2004 : 14:40:11
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I use the XP per monster variant (it rocks!) in the Unearthed Arcana book. It's made my life much easier. Personally I don't worry about XP and levels and just let the system run itself.
But, if you wanted to slow down level growth using that system is the way to go IMHO. Just cut the XP per monster in half, thirds whatever. |
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hammer of Moradin
Senior Scribe
USA
758 Posts |
Posted - 26 May 2004 : 17:56:25
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I have Unearthed Arcana, I just never implemented the variant system. I have been modifying XP's for characters, and for a while I still used a variant XP system based on 2nd edition numbers.
Unless you want a high powered campaign, I always thought PC's going past 12th level was too much. |
"Hurling himself upon his enemies, he terrified them with slaughter!"
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium
Candlekeep proverb: If a thing is said often enough, fools aplenty will believe it to be true. |
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Advancing in levels
