Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Abbacabba 09-15-06, 11:39 AM	For background see a thread I started in the general forum : http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=10086993#post10086993 One thing I try to do when building out a campaign world is try and make it feel like a living version of the rule books. I have never felt that the levels of PCs vs NPCs felt right. A large part of that was I don't like having a ton of high level NPC's avaliable all the time. BUT the issue was that going by the rules 13.3 encounters equals a level, so why would that tenth(10) level fighter stop when in a few weeks he could be level fifteen(15)? The same thing with wizards and clerics... If I was a wizard and knew that if I just spent a few months out I could become one of the worlds most powerful spellcasters... Why would I stop at 5th or even 15th level?? I've wondered if I might find a way to work this out that some people have a special quality about them... something that lets them grow to the highest power levels. I know I don't *need* an in game explination but I really do want to try and make one. My idea: At birth or even before, it can be determined(somehow) that some people have the -potential- for greatness. This is a rare blessing that seems to have little rhyme or reason to it. Those whom are "blessed" can achieve things most can only dream about. These would be typical PC characters... PC levels 1...Epic are avaliable. There would be varing degrees of this such that some peoples natural abilities would allow them to accend to something like 10PC levels, 10NPC levels. Most people would be limited to NPC levels with the rare 1 or 2 levels in a PC class. I'd like this to improve the campaign world.. add flavor and context to it. If someone wants to help me out I would appreciate it. If someone has done something similar I would also like to hear about that.
Sereno 09-15-06, 01:29 PM	I have never felt that the levels of PCs vs NPCs felt right. A large part of that was I don't like having a ton of high level NPC's avaliable all the time. BUT the issue was that going by the rules 13.3 encounters equals a level, so why would that tenth(10) level fighter stop when in a few weeks he could be level fifteen(15)? The same thing with wizards and clerics... If I was a wizard and knew that if I just spent a few months out I could become one of the worlds most powerful spellcasters... Why would I stop at 5th or even 15th level?? One thing to consider is that the characters inside the game don't know that they're playing a game (not like OotS). To *them* it's real life. It's not just a matter of "spending a few months out" to get better; it's constantly risk of your life, living in harsh conditions, living with pain and injury, and constant stress. Each and every encounter could be your last. In a more "real" world, encounters will come along randomly ... not carefully scaled by some god-like figure so that you don't get wiped out the first time you take your rusty old sword and a torch into the nearby cave. PCs are special ... they are the heroes and the ones who go far beyond what "normal" mortals are capable of. Most NPCs are doing a job, which means they're likely doing the same job they've always done, and you don't keep gaining XP by meeting the same challenges over and over. That's one plausible reason why most NPCs don't level as high as PCs. The idea you've mentioned in the rest of the post is largely how the world of Eberron is designed; it's a good idea ... nay, a GREAT idea. :) Most NPCs are actually made with NPC classes and most top out at about level 10. There are a few, iconic "epic" NPCs who can be scaled with the party to continue to provide a challenge, but even they are only 15-18th level at the start of the campaign. Oh, and there's *one* 20th level Druid ... but he's a tree. When the PCs reach the mid-teens, level-wise, there's very few NPCs of their level to help them out; no high-level wizards to run to for advice and magical gear, no high-level clerics to run to for healing and raising of the dead ... but there's still plenty of bad guys to draw on. Eberron has it's own demographics calculations (modified from the DMG) that are available, here: Eberron Demographics Dragonshard (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20040712a).