Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gothmog" data-source="post: 722926" data-attributes="member: 317">Wow navriin, you have hit the 4 major things I disliked about D&D and changed.  I should say my group doesn't match the core demographic in any way, shape or form- the game we are playing now started in 2E 11 years ago, and is still going strong (PCs about 10-11th level).Experience: As has been said before, don't use the DMG values for XP per CR.  Yes, 3E characters level WAY too quickly for my tastes, so reduce XP gains from the table by 1/2 or 2/3.  Or, do what I do and don't give XP for killing things, but for solving story objectives and accomplishing goals.  It does help- there isn't as much incentive to go hack-n-slashing about on the PCs part.  I give about 1/3 the normal XP the DMG says to, so it takes about 3-5 adventures to level up.Wealth & magic:  I use a silver standard, and I don't use the suggested wealth by level info in the DMG.  I run a low-magic game, and having hordes of wealth in the pocket of ever kobold is just silly.  3E assumes an untra-high magic setting, but there is nothing wrong with scaling the wealth down.  I give about 1/3 to 1/4 the suggested wealth.  True, PCs won't have as many magical goodies this way, but its not much harder on the DM at all- he just needs to take into account that he won't be using too many iron golems or high powered critters in a game with lower magic levels.  I think a lot of people feel magic is mundane in 3E, which IMO is a change for the worse.  Restrict item creation feats, require very rare components to make an item (not just x gold and XP), and you solve a lot of the problem.  Also, don't let players read through the magic item lists in the DMG or you are going to end up with no end of twinkery- the "but I want a +2 holy flaming burst greataxe of speed, and it says in the DMG that it only costs 200,000 gp- no problem!!"  Bah.Suggestions for a lower magic game that I have found work well.  1)  Require a spellcraft check for every spell cast equal to 10 + 2(spell level +1).  If the check fails, no spell goes off- and only lost the slot on a natural 1, or if the check fails by 10 or more.2) In order to cast spells, the character MUST take a feat called positive magical aptitude.  In addition, it is a feat that can only be taken at 1st level, or after EXTREMELY unusual circumstances might infuse a character with arcane/divine energy.CR:  I had some players complain about the same thing at one point- and I told them CR is a guideline for the DM to determine the power level of an encounter, not a hard and fast rule of what the players should face.  As the DM, if I want to give the 8th level PCs 15 orcs because it makes sense for the story, I will.  On the other hand, if I put in 6 mind flayers against the same PCs, they had better not try hack-n-slash.  The game world exists apart from the game stats- use whatever makes sense for the situation and not what would always be the most appropriate for the PCs to kill.</blockquote>

Verification