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<blockquote data-quote="Ilbranteloth" data-source="post: 7399020" data-attributes="member: 6778044"><p>Agreed, which is why I've been tweaking rules like these for decades. The campaign could be considered a weird blend of Middle Earth and the published Forgotten Realms (it's set in the Realms). But in part because my impression of the Realms was set by Greenwood's Dragon articles and the original campaign set, where things were scaled down quite a bit. Even when you get to his Volo's Guides, things are magical and interesting, but largely within reason. </p><p></p><p>Rituals in my campaign (which include things like resurrection) are a separate type of magic from regular spellcasting. It's mostly relegated to temple priests, rather than adventuring clerics, and not all temple will have the ability. Divine Rituals are a type of faith magic, based on the size of the congregation (not present, just total), and all rituals in my campaign are generally cast using multiple spellcasters. There are risks, both short term and long term (the possibility of permanent Constitution or Strength loss), so even those temples that can resurrect somebody do so only when necessary. That usually means that they see some purpose that will benefit their deity to do so. That can be payment, but it's going to be a lot. And I still have a resurrection survival percentage, although the chance of success is lower than AD&D. So while it's a mix of setting and rules, I prefer the rules to support the setting as much as possible.</p><p></p><p>Suffice to say, the PCs don't rely on resurrection much. </p><p></p><p>Other high level stuff we generally avoid because PCs rarely reach 10th level, much less 17th in the campaign. We prefer slower advancement within the context of the passage of time in the campaign. We also have some fairly severe level limits based on ability scores (and maximum ability scores too). So for the most part, the maximum PCs can reach without magical assistance is 13th level. Having said that, NPCs follow the same basic rules. So while there are some high level wizards, most of them tend to be something other than just human. Liches are particularly common, and considering most of them in our campaign have been around for thousands of years and primarily studying and collecting magic, I'd expect them to be of a significantly higher level than the PCs.</p><p></p><p>Most of the time, the "BBEG" is more along the lines of a Bond villain, or mob boss. Soft and squishy when they don't have their organization and other defenses to protect them. Because they are, after all, only human. Liches, beholders, dragons, demons, and the like, however, are truly terrifying for the PCs, in part because they are significantly higher level than them. In those cases, a frontal assault is usually suicide. Spells, special abilities, and magic items definitely play their part, but they really have to come up with creative and well thought out plans to defeat them. Success more often than not equals survival, rather than defeating the BBEG, and requires multiple attempts.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ilbranteloth, post: 7399020, member: 6778044"] Agreed, which is why I've been tweaking rules like these for decades. The campaign could be considered a weird blend of Middle Earth and the published Forgotten Realms (it's set in the Realms). But in part because my impression of the Realms was set by Greenwood's Dragon articles and the original campaign set, where things were scaled down quite a bit. Even when you get to his Volo's Guides, things are magical and interesting, but largely within reason. Rituals in my campaign (which include things like resurrection) are a separate type of magic from regular spellcasting. It's mostly relegated to temple priests, rather than adventuring clerics, and not all temple will have the ability. Divine Rituals are a type of faith magic, based on the size of the congregation (not present, just total), and all rituals in my campaign are generally cast using multiple spellcasters. There are risks, both short term and long term (the possibility of permanent Constitution or Strength loss), so even those temples that can resurrect somebody do so only when necessary. That usually means that they see some purpose that will benefit their deity to do so. That can be payment, but it's going to be a lot. And I still have a resurrection survival percentage, although the chance of success is lower than AD&D. So while it's a mix of setting and rules, I prefer the rules to support the setting as much as possible. Suffice to say, the PCs don't rely on resurrection much. Other high level stuff we generally avoid because PCs rarely reach 10th level, much less 17th in the campaign. We prefer slower advancement within the context of the passage of time in the campaign. We also have some fairly severe level limits based on ability scores (and maximum ability scores too). So for the most part, the maximum PCs can reach without magical assistance is 13th level. Having said that, NPCs follow the same basic rules. So while there are some high level wizards, most of them tend to be something other than just human. Liches are particularly common, and considering most of them in our campaign have been around for thousands of years and primarily studying and collecting magic, I'd expect them to be of a significantly higher level than the PCs. Most of the time, the "BBEG" is more along the lines of a Bond villain, or mob boss. Soft and squishy when they don't have their organization and other defenses to protect them. Because they are, after all, only human. Liches, beholders, dragons, demons, and the like, however, are truly terrifying for the PCs, in part because they are significantly higher level than them. In those cases, a frontal assault is usually suicide. Spells, special abilities, and magic items definitely play their part, but they really have to come up with creative and well thought out plans to defeat them. Success more often than not equals survival, rather than defeating the BBEG, and requires multiple attempts. [/QUOTE]
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