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Immortals Handbook - Grimoire (Artifacts, Epic Magic discussion)
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<blockquote data-quote="paradox42" data-source="post: 3051669" data-attributes="member: 29746"><p>I'll throw in my two cents on what I think Kerrick's side is here- there may be worlds where the base assumption, that everything starts at 1st level and the number of people at each higher level is half the previous, doesn't hold. That assumption is a basis for the game's structure, but that structure is built around an assumed world which may not precisely match the one the characters are currently in. In other words, some worlds may have environmental factors (not necessarily having anything to do with magic) which actively reduce the number of low-level individuals and force things to a higher level average.</p><p></p><p>Dark Sun is a perfect example of this. The world was designed to be harsh and brutal in the extreme; characters must be tough to survive- and even then the attrition rate is quite high. Back in AD&D 2nd Edition, PCs rolled scores using 5d4 instead of 3d6, resulting in potential ranges 2 points higher than the standard (though forcing things to be average much more often as well, so not often resulting in stellar scores). In addition to that, PCs were started not at 1st level, but at 3rd; the rationale (as given in the setting rulebooks) was that the world was so harsh that 1st and 2nd level characters simply wouldn't have a reasonable chance to survive.</p><p></p><p>Now, 3rd Edition has a quicker level curve- characters really don't tend to spend very long at a given level compared to how long they spent at a level in earlier editions of the game. And in game time, if the campaign is run in what I've seen called the "24 style" (meaning, hardly any down time, the PCs are always doing something- refers to the style of the Fox TV series "24"), it's quite possible for PCs to go from 1st to 20th level in only a year or two. That said, yes, the game still seems to assume the averages you quoted for your numbers above- the number of people at a given level is assumed to be half that of the previous one. But what if we take a world like Dark Sun into account? If most of the 1st and 2nd level people simply die, and active adventurers are assumed to be at least 3rd, doesn't that mean that the number of 3rd-level characters is going to be higher than the number of 1st or 2nd level? The lower-level characters simply aren't around long enough to register in the count, one way or another- they either die or gain levels to reach a survivable status (that being 3rd). There are some there of course, but since their position is unstable, there won't be as many as there will at the "survival point" of 3rd. Thus, the count isn't a pure logarithmic progression anymore- there's a clear "spike" at the equilibrium point of 3rd level, with falloffs to either side.</p><p></p><p>If worlds like that exist, it may change how the "highest level" thing works out- characters from such places will be more likely to reach higher levels more quickly. The curve gets skewed. Does that make sense?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="paradox42, post: 3051669, member: 29746"] I'll throw in my two cents on what I think Kerrick's side is here- there may be worlds where the base assumption, that everything starts at 1st level and the number of people at each higher level is half the previous, doesn't hold. That assumption is a basis for the game's structure, but that structure is built around an assumed world which may not precisely match the one the characters are currently in. In other words, some worlds may have environmental factors (not necessarily having anything to do with magic) which actively reduce the number of low-level individuals and force things to a higher level average. Dark Sun is a perfect example of this. The world was designed to be harsh and brutal in the extreme; characters must be tough to survive- and even then the attrition rate is quite high. Back in AD&D 2nd Edition, PCs rolled scores using 5d4 instead of 3d6, resulting in potential ranges 2 points higher than the standard (though forcing things to be average much more often as well, so not often resulting in stellar scores). In addition to that, PCs were started not at 1st level, but at 3rd; the rationale (as given in the setting rulebooks) was that the world was so harsh that 1st and 2nd level characters simply wouldn't have a reasonable chance to survive. Now, 3rd Edition has a quicker level curve- characters really don't tend to spend very long at a given level compared to how long they spent at a level in earlier editions of the game. And in game time, if the campaign is run in what I've seen called the "24 style" (meaning, hardly any down time, the PCs are always doing something- refers to the style of the Fox TV series "24"), it's quite possible for PCs to go from 1st to 20th level in only a year or two. That said, yes, the game still seems to assume the averages you quoted for your numbers above- the number of people at a given level is assumed to be half that of the previous one. But what if we take a world like Dark Sun into account? If most of the 1st and 2nd level people simply die, and active adventurers are assumed to be at least 3rd, doesn't that mean that the number of 3rd-level characters is going to be higher than the number of 1st or 2nd level? The lower-level characters simply aren't around long enough to register in the count, one way or another- they either die or gain levels to reach a survivable status (that being 3rd). There are some there of course, but since their position is unstable, there won't be as many as there will at the "survival point" of 3rd. Thus, the count isn't a pure logarithmic progression anymore- there's a clear "spike" at the equilibrium point of 3rd level, with falloffs to either side. If worlds like that exist, it may change how the "highest level" thing works out- characters from such places will be more likely to reach higher levels more quickly. The curve gets skewed. Does that make sense? [/QUOTE]
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