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Message: <blockquote data-quote="plavi" data-source="post: 515886" data-attributes="member: 8795">I like the idea, but it has some flaws IMHO.First, the truly epic scale of PC's versus the world (like you see in the movies) is unattainable. At 12th level I really do not have any problem with the PC's singlehandedly ripping the heart out of any city-population. Just compare them to what they are to be: heroes. Whether you consider heroes like Bruce Willis in Die Hard, James Bond, Colonel Braddock in the Delte Force movies.... they have one thing in common: they dispatch the low level footsoldiers with ease. There is always the boss, and his righthand aide that pose more threat, and the boss himself that almost defeats the hero(es) but is finally vanquished. In a world where everybody is high level, this is quite impossible. Not that it matters, it depends on your style of play, but it is something to think about.Secondly, the scale of magic spells. A 5th level mage casting the dreaded fireball into a soldiers barracks deserves to be rewarded by screaming piles of bodies rushing out, staggering a few paces, dropping dead while the nightly sky is alight with terrible flames licking on charred bodies and.... well, you get the picture. In the world you propose, this same mage (doing an average of say 12 points damage, or at 10th level maybe 15 provided everybody makes his saving throw) is rewarded by a few soldiers casually strolling out, calling for buckets of water and start hosing the place with only their moustaches singed.... a bit.Thirdly, what is so special about the characters? If a few 8th level guards (of which there are an abundance in any moderately large city) can do the trick, why let the heroic PC's do it? And making the monsters/kobolds/goblins the usual low level won't help either, because then either the humans have long since eradicated all humanoids and aforesaid monsters, or at the least there already are a load of heroes in town (capable of defeating the low level baddies with one hand on their back) so why should the players become 'heroes'?Fourthly, if you upscale anything and everything, why do so, there will be no difference.. Everything will just be 6 levels higher but that's about it. Fifth, where to start? If you want a well-built world where everything is higher level, including the monsters so even a lowly kobold is level 4 or 5, how can the characters ever start adventuring if they (the party) are slaughtered at level one by just one such kobold. Now there's a twist. And if you do start them at higher level, why bother upping the entire world.Concluding: in the DnD game, which I have played and DMed for about 14 years now, the most challenging and rewarding levels are between 3 and 8. The risks are really great then, the characters still developing and the party is not yet overpowering. I am now, finally after so many years, DMing a campaign where I expect the characters to rise to level 17 (give or take a few) without major problems to my world. Why? Because I keep two things very firmly in check: magic items, and money (with which they could make such). In all these years, I have seen about 90% of all campaigns crash on just one thing: overpowered PC's that could take on the greatest of dragons at level 12 and archdemons at level 14. The imagination and min-maxing of the players with the help of a lot of time, money and items is incredible.So, to keep things exciting for all (including me) I use a few simple ingrediënts:- very few very special monsters- very low magic (why have a magical weapon/sword/whatever if a MW item is much cheaper and can do the same)- very little money (who ever has 100s of goldpieces? everybody spends them with very few exceptions)- keep up the pace. the characters are now lvl 11 avg and in time they have spent maybe 10 months of time. This just doesn't give them the time to think, invent impossible spells that give horrible bonusses and such- keep things mysterious. Keep the baddies scary, in the shadows and horrible, their minds will make your favorite baddie much worse than he is on paper- finally: dare to say no if a spell or item is unbalancing or doesn't fit your world. I said no to Teleport, just plain no. No. No!*gasps for air*Good luckChristiaan Lam<a href="mailto:evil-dm@plavi.nl">evil-dm@plavi.nl</a><a href="http://www.plavi.nl/evil-dm" target="_blank">www.plavi.nl/evil-dm</a></blockquote>

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