Balancing out low- vs. high-level characters? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Balancing out low- vs. high-level characters? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
johniemi
10-30-07, 08:28 AM On our next campaign I would like the player levels to be more equal, i.e., a level 5 fighter should still be able to melee with a level 10 fighter (but of course should be an underdog) instead of it being over in one or two rounds as the level 10 fighter mops the floor with the level 5 ftr.

Any ideas how to do this? I DON'T need to balance monsters vs. player characters as I will deal out XP in an ad hoc way so it really doesn't matter whether they defeat an Ogre Brb10 or a basic Ogre as I will deal out XP more for solving quests and roleplaying. Also the solution is not "well just don't deal out too much xp... or don't let them level up so fast" as levelling up and character improvement is what makes a nice game. I just want there to be minimal improvement between levels while the level advancement rate stays the same. I'm hoping to see that the characters would achieve epic levels and still would have some sort of problems facing, say, a 10-man strong bandit group of lvl10 rogues.

My idea was to stop rolling hit points after level 5 but that would make CON a very important stat... but would it matter as we have a point buy so everyone can put up their CON where they want it.

Or what about giving half hit points per level except full + CON on 1st level? That would also balance out monsters if need be. Every character or monster has 1/2 it's "normal" hit points?

What do you think? It would make deadly attacks like criticals even more deadly but on the other hand it would balance out differences between characters of different levels. It would also speed up combat :)

I'm serious, so please comment. Thanks.
Lokathor
10-30-07, 10:03 AM Well everything would be more deadly that way...

I dunno, the underlying idea of DnD is that a 10th level should be able to mop the floor with a 5th level, so everything in the game leans in that direction. Half-HP might work. You'd also need to slash apart the spell progressions or the individual spells power to keep things all even.
Bahumut
10-30-07, 11:53 AM i recommend using the Vitality/Wounds system in Unearthed Arcana. basically you translate hit points into "vitality points", which are the players ability to turn deadly blows into near misses, and their Con score becomes their "wound points", which is their actual ability to take damage.

the thing that makes it deadly is when someone rolls a crit, the damage is applied directly to wounds, bypassing vitality. to make it a little less deadly, i'd say normal crits deal half vitality, half wounds; and nat 20 crits deal all wounds.

there are also penalties if you've taken wound damage, like reduced movement, minuses to skills and attacks, etc. so if the level 5 fighter gets a crit with his Greatsword and deals a lot of wound damage, that level 10 may be running like a little *****.

anyone else used the vitality/wounds system and liked it?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
johniemi 10-30-07, 08:28 AM	On our next campaign I would like the player levels to be more equal, i.e., a level 5 fighter should still be able to melee with a level 10 fighter (but of course should be an underdog) instead of it being over in one or two rounds as the level 10 fighter mops the floor with the level 5 ftr. Any ideas how to do this? I DON'T need to balance monsters vs. player characters as I will deal out XP in an ad hoc way so it really doesn't matter whether they defeat an Ogre Brb10 or a basic Ogre as I will deal out XP more for solving quests and roleplaying. Also the solution is not "well just don't deal out too much xp... or don't let them level up so fast" as levelling up and character improvement is what makes a nice game. I just want there to be minimal improvement between levels while the level advancement rate stays the same. I'm hoping to see that the characters would achieve epic levels and still would have some sort of problems facing, say, a 10-man strong bandit group of lvl10 rogues. My idea was to stop rolling hit points after level 5 but that would make CON a very important stat... but would it matter as we have a point buy so everyone can put up their CON where they want it. Or what about giving half hit points per level except full + CON on 1st level? That would also balance out monsters if need be. Every character or monster has 1/2 it's "normal" hit points? What do you think? It would make deadly attacks like criticals even more deadly but on the other hand it would balance out differences between characters of different levels. It would also speed up combat :) I'm serious, so please comment. Thanks.
Lokathor 10-30-07, 10:03 AM	Well everything would be more deadly that way... I dunno, the underlying idea of DnD is that a 10th level should be able to mop the floor with a 5th level, so everything in the game leans in that direction. Half-HP might work. You'd also need to slash apart the spell progressions or the individual spells power to keep things all even.
Bahumut 10-30-07, 11:53 AM	i recommend using the Vitality/Wounds system in Unearthed Arcana. basically you translate hit points into "vitality points", which are the players ability to turn deadly blows into near misses, and their Con score becomes their "wound points", which is their actual ability to take damage. the thing that makes it deadly is when someone rolls a crit, the damage is applied directly to wounds, bypassing vitality. to make it a little less deadly, i'd say normal crits deal half vitality, half wounds; and nat 20 crits deal all wounds. there are also penalties if you've taken wound damage, like reduced movement, minuses to skills and attacks, etc. so if the level 5 fighter gets a crit with his Greatsword and deals a lot of wound damage, that level 10 may be running like a little *****. anyone else used the vitality/wounds system and liked it?