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Face The Brutality Of The Dark Sun Campaign Setting
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<blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 7731612" data-attributes="member: 907"><p>Game balance wasn't really a thing in 2e, at least not to the formalized degree it was in 3e and beyond. There's no concept of a "fair" encounter.</p><p></p><p>But still, there were a few things that somewhat made up for higher stats and such. One was crappier gear. The best armor commonly available would be scale or hide - better armor than that required metal, which effectively multiplied the price by 100 (and could also cause problems if wearing it in the desert heat). Similarly with weapons - some weapons could be effectively made without metal, but for most of them you would get a penalty and risk breakage if using weapons made of wood, stone, or bone.</p><p></p><p>Wizards don't have as much trouble with gear, but all the city-states outlaw arcane magic except for that specifically sanctioned by the state (which mainly means the sorcerer-monarch themself and a handful of more-or-less trusted wizards). That means that components and new spells are hard to come by, and you need to take care not to be noticed as a caster. Wizards in 2e also benefit less from having a high Intelligence - it will mostly determine their peak power level many levels down the road, as well as how easy it is for them to learn new spells, but there's pretty much no difference between a <em>fireball</em> cast by a 7th level wizard with Int 12 and one cast by a 7th level wizard with Int 21.</p><p></p><p>You also needed to take care when venturing out of the relative safety of the city-states. You needed to account for water: about 10 lbs for a day's consumption (1 gallon). Going from one city to the nearest one is about a 10-day trip (with the exception of the neighboring cities of Gulg and Nibenay), so food and water for the trip takes about 100 lbs, and that's before actually carrying any adventuring gear, or accounting for delays. And the random encounter tables are fairly harsh.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Staffan, post: 7731612, member: 907"] Game balance wasn't really a thing in 2e, at least not to the formalized degree it was in 3e and beyond. There's no concept of a "fair" encounter. But still, there were a few things that somewhat made up for higher stats and such. One was crappier gear. The best armor commonly available would be scale or hide - better armor than that required metal, which effectively multiplied the price by 100 (and could also cause problems if wearing it in the desert heat). Similarly with weapons - some weapons could be effectively made without metal, but for most of them you would get a penalty and risk breakage if using weapons made of wood, stone, or bone. Wizards don't have as much trouble with gear, but all the city-states outlaw arcane magic except for that specifically sanctioned by the state (which mainly means the sorcerer-monarch themself and a handful of more-or-less trusted wizards). That means that components and new spells are hard to come by, and you need to take care not to be noticed as a caster. Wizards in 2e also benefit less from having a high Intelligence - it will mostly determine their peak power level many levels down the road, as well as how easy it is for them to learn new spells, but there's pretty much no difference between a [I]fireball[/I] cast by a 7th level wizard with Int 12 and one cast by a 7th level wizard with Int 21. You also needed to take care when venturing out of the relative safety of the city-states. You needed to account for water: about 10 lbs for a day's consumption (1 gallon). Going from one city to the nearest one is about a 10-day trip (with the exception of the neighboring cities of Gulg and Nibenay), so food and water for the trip takes about 100 lbs, and that's before actually carrying any adventuring gear, or accounting for delays. And the random encounter tables are fairly harsh. [/QUOTE]
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