Post/Author/DateTime	Post
BlueFlames 04-01-08, 03:08 PM	WORK IN PROGRESS It hit me a while back that there is a balancing device, presently not being utilized by D&D, that could level the playing field for the various classes. In previous editions of D&D, each major class had its own experience table. An eighteenth-level fighter was still no match for an eighteenth-level mage, but a fighter with 1,200,000 experience points wouldn't have quite as difficult a time fighting a mage with 1,200,000 experience points. (Okay, it probably still wouldn't end well for the fighter, but that leads into criticisms beyond the scope of this thread. The point is, there was less of a gap in their power levels.) What I'm working on at the moment is shoehorning the concept of different classes advancing at different rates into the 3.5 rules. As the header suggests, this is still a work-in-progress. In fact, right now, I'm still hammering out the concept, and setting aside the finer points until later. Here's what I have so far.... Rewards and Levels Party EL XP Reward Level Low LowMid std. MidHi High 1 800 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 1600 2 2000 2500 2700 3000 3600 3 2400 3 6000 7000 8000 9000 11000 4 3200 4 12000 14000 16000 18000 22000 5 4000 5 20000 24000 27000 30000 36000 6 4800 6 30000 36000 40000 45000 54000 7 5600 7 42000 50000 56000 63000 76000 8 6400 8 56000 67000 75000 84000 101000 9 7200 9 72000 86000 96000 108000 130000 10 8000 10 90000 108000 120000 135000 162000 11 8800 11 110000 132000 147000 165000 198000 12 9600 12 132000 158000 176000 198000 238000 13 10400 13 156000 187000 208000 234000 281000 14 11200 14 182000 218000 243000 273000 328000 15 12000 15 210000 252000 280000 315000 378000 16 12800 16 240000 288000 320000 360000 432000 17 13600 17 272000 326000 363000 408000 490000 18 14400 18 306000 367000 408000 459000 551000 19 15200 19 342000 410000 456000 513000 616000 20 16000 20 380000 456000 507000 570000 684000 21 420000 504000 560000 630000 756000 Column Classes Low Fighter, Ranger LowMid Bard, Monk, Ninja, Paladin, Soulborn Standard Barbarian, Dragon Shaman, Incarnate, Knight, Rogue, Scout, Spellthief MidHigh Sorcerer, Totemist, Warlock, Warmage High Artificer, Beguiler, Cleric, Druid, Wizard, Wu Jen The two tables above replace/override Table 2-6 in the 3.5 DMG and Table 3-2 in the 3.5 PHB. Notes -- I've not yet chosen what classes will follow each column in the right-hand table, but the current headers indicate the number of level-appropriate encounters to expect before leveling up, with "std." representing the current standard of thirteen-and-a-third. The overall pace of the game should not change all that much, in a balanced party, since some members will be running characters using one of the left-hand columns, and some will be running characters using the right-hand columns. The characters will merely be at slightly different levels to restore some balance of power. Single Class Characters -- Determine which column your character class uses, and when you meet the threshold for a new level, follow the normal leveling procedure, outlined on page 58 of the 3.5 PHB. Multiclassing -- The threshold to attain the next level corrisponds to the next level's entry in the column for the class in which you most recently took a level. Levels from classes that use the same column are cumulative. (See examples 1 and 2, below.) Crafting* -- Multiply by three all experience point costs incurred by crafting. Challenge Rating -- This system requires a slight change to calculating the CR of monsters with class levels. Once the number of class levels exceeds the monster's total racial hit dice, instead of changing its CR to its ECL, determine the amount of experience it would need to achieve that class level, and set its CR to the ECL it would have achieved if it had been using a class following the standard progression (left-hand table, center column). [Will provide an example, once I lock down which classes go where.] Examples 1 -- Kursk is a second-level Barbarian, who just acquired his 7000th experience point and decides to take his next level in Fighter. He will need 2000 more experience (for a total of 9000) to reach his next level. 2 -- A Wizard 3/Druid 3 needs a total of 76,000 experience (that is 22,000 beyond the 54,000 necessary to reach sixth level) to advance to seventh level. Looming Issues * -- I may remove this multiplier, due to the problem of falling behind, noted below. • Falling Behind I've intentionally gutted the mechanism by which resurrected and level-drained characters catch up to the rest of the party. I'm unsure whether I want to reintroduce such a device because it would allow casters to jump back up to the same level as noncasters, which would eliminate the whole point of the exercise. • Level Adjustment/Racial Hit Dice I'm open to suggestions. The way the system is coming together at the moment, I feel like I've been eliminating solutions just slightly faster than I can come up with them. • Prestige Classes The leading idea is still to have a prestige class stack with the most demanding base class a character has taken. At issue, however, are the dual-caster classes and the fact that all of the base casting classes don't fit into the same column. There's a lot of potential cheese that needs to be dealt with. • Tweaks Just the usual balancing stuff. Right now, I'm particularly interested in which column some of the classes belong. I've not had too many dealings with some of them, such as the Spellthief or Dragon Shaman, so I don't know (and honestly doubt) that I've placed them properly. • Epic Nope, I'm not planning on extending this into epic rules, but I need a new place to draw the line.
mplindustries 04-01-08, 03:41 PM	I think one major question I have is: "Why change the standard XP per level?" As it is, it costs your current level x 1,000 to get to the next level. Its a very simple and elegant system. In truth, for ease of bookeeping, in my games, I just have people "Spend" their XP to get to the next level, so for example, once you collect 1,000XP, you spend it to get to 2nd, so you have 0 again. Then when you get 2,000XP, you can spend it to get 3rd level, and so forth. Anyway, the point is this, rather than rebalancing CR, why not just alter the amount per level people need and then give the entire party the average party's level in reward. So if you ended up in a party with a level 10 fighter, a level 10 rogue, a level 8 wizard, and a level 8 cleric, the whole party would get XP as if they were 9th level. The only issue to consider would be what to do with no-show players, but admittedly, thats not addressed by your current system either. I'd suggest just giving them XP anyway, since its not really any fun to have XP taken by someone too low a level to contribute anyway. So about the prices for levels. You just need to determine how far apart you want the classes to get. Oh, and I don't think its a good idea to give anyone levels faster than normal. If you want to do that, just give out more XP per encounter. I'd say the fastest level classes should still be Level x 1,000 as standard, then the next tier can be Level x 1,250, Level x 1,500, Level x 1,750, and Level x 2,000. The x2,000 is probably much too harsh though. I'd stick with the lower ones. This also kind of solves the multiclassing issue, as you'd need XP based on your current class to get the next one.