Campaign Power Levels

[Baron Opal]

Be Careful...

die Kluge said-

Power is relative, money is relative.

For example, I can hand out 100 +1 swords to my party, and if they're all wielding +2 swords, it's rubbish to them.

Heh, if I did that with my old group I would soon be facing a couple squads of 1st level fighters with +1 swords lead by the PCs.

Baron Opal

 

[Zhnov]

Power is relative, money is relative.

Agreed. "Power Level" (measured as "above-" or "below-" average treasure) can change the speed of character progression, depending on the level of challenge offered to the players. Too much treasure or magic, and the next challenge may not be so much of a challenge.

Balancing power can be difficult in some campaigns, like mine. About 90% of encounters and activity are ad hoc, since the storyline development strongly follows the motives of the players. Only 10% or so is "forced plot".

Based on this, I occasionally need to re-balance power by breaking strong PC magic items (fumble-checks or NPCs targeting PC items), or having a dragon sit on a PC's fortress (quick way to drain their bank accounts).