Wulf Ratbane said:
If monsters have both a level and an XP value, you can assume that the level indicates the baseline "safe" level at which you should use it.
I'm kind of assuming that most monsters at the same level will be worth the same XP..... or at least within a range of XPs. I mean, what does level of a monster mean if it's not related to how hard it is to kill? And if it's harder to kill, it should be worth more XP, right?
Wulf Ratbane said:
It will probably also serve as in indicator of when the monster stops being worth any XP at all (i.e., 8 or more levels less than the average PC level).
I don't think they'll do that anymore. That was a remnant of the CR system, and didn't happen in earlier editions. In earlier editions (and probably 4e), at higher levels you need *so much* XP compared to low levels, the low level monsters are worth effectively zero. If you need 40,000xp to level, and 1st level guys are worth 50 xp each.... they might as well be worth zero.
Wulf Ratbane said:
I'm not sure where you're getting the 10 encounters to level up figure, though. In 3e, that number is 40/3 (or 13.33333333...). Certainly, they could change this.
The reason I think this number will go down, is because that was 13.333 *really easy* fights. Fights of your CR were a breeze, and boring to boot. So I expect them to gauge the average encounter as being more difficult in 4e, to better simulate what most people play anyway, and therefore the number of encounters per level will go down, they'll just each be harder. This goes with the whole encounter-based abilities as well. The only reason a CR of your level fight was so easy was because after three of them your wizard and cleric had expended most of their resources, so the last one would actually be hard. That will no longer be the case in 4e, so they can make all of the encounters harder.
Then again, maybe they'll make all the encounters harder and *not* lower the encounters per level. I don't remember where they came up with the 40/3 number, but it seemed like a progression they liked.... it just didn't work, because no one used easy fights, they used hard fights, which gave a lot more XP and were a lot more fun.
So, assuming they still want 13.33 fights per level, I'd say that we'll see levelling slow down some, since the average "hard and fun" fight will be worth relatively less XP. (before it would be a CR+2 fight, and now, that'll be an "average" fight)
They also said that a single 1st level monster is not going to be a suitable challenge for a party of 5 characters. They said it'll be more like 5 1st level monsters vs. 5 party members (one orc was never a challenge in the firstplace). So I think it'll be more like 13.33 encounters with 5 1st level orcs will be enough to get to 2nd level. So, in order to do it in one fight, that would be about 67 orcs. heh.
That's why 4e will have slower levelling... 1 orc isn't considered an average encounter anymore.... 5 are.
-Nate