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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kae'Yoss" data-source="post: 3442209" data-attributes="member: 4134">I know that. I call that time "always"  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> The DM is supposed to do it however he likes it best. Do what's best for the game.You could always indisciminately scale everything (including monsters - you can advance them to increase their challenge rating - it works more or less how you advance normal characters), you could create everything up front and let the players figure out who they can take on at any moment, and so on.My favourite way of playing is just like that - and completely different: Yes, the characters will usually encounter something more or less appropriate for their level - the 10th-level party might have an adventure part that consists of a couple of EL 8 encounters, a EL 10 encounter, and an EL 13 boss. But those particular guys aren't exactly scaled to their power level - I write up all the enemies they will fight, and whenever they encounter one, I'll give him the appropriate level.It's rather that this Guy X is supposed to be level 13 all along, and I'll sic him on the party when they're 13ish. Or I make something up altogether when I start the adventure.But should they leave out an encouter - circumvent a fight or something - and later take on that guy, I won't magically boost him up to be still as difficult as before. There will probably some advancement (the guy hasn't been sitting on his fingers the whole time), but how much that is depends on the guy himself, and on what he's been up to in the meantime.Some examples:There's an evil adventuring party who was hired to attack them as soon as they enter the Kingdom of Examplia. The heroes' original plan was to go there right away, but due to some unforeseen events (read: some players pulling off something completely unexpected), they first have to go to Otheria for a spell, where they advance 4 levels. In the meantime, that anti-party looted some dungeons, made other jobs, all the while waiting for their informants to tell them that their prey has entered Examplia. So when they finally arrive, that other party (who was roughly on par with the heroes) will also have increased 4ish levels.Another example has the heroes (5th level) being thrashed by a 12th-level fighter, who then leaves them to die in some death trap (in best Evil Overlord Tradition) - only they escape (of course), and flee the country - vowing revenge. They encounter that Overlords agents in a different part of the world, where they take out all his operations there (and advance 10 levels while doing so), until the Overlord himself is forced to take care of those nuisances. He was not entirely idle during that time, and has advanced 4 levels (to level 16) by the time the heroes confront him. The last example (true story) is the party being humiliated when they seek a sorcerer (for information) and encounter a dragon instead, who lets them pay dearly for the information they seek - oh, and for their life. That dragon would have obliterated that party, so they had no choice but to give that dragon quite a large sum for his services (sparing their lives and giving them the information they need). But much later, after the party advanced from smallfry to near-epic champions of their races and faiths (and, in one case, the hero himself, and maybe Filthy Lucre), they decide to pay another visit to said dragon. The heroes have advanced considerably in the months that have passed, but the dragon his still essentially the same.I don't quite think that status and level have to be related all the time. It's often appropriate, of course, but not always:The barbarian chieftain is probably the most powerful barbarian in his outfit, because the strongest warrior rules the clan. A king could be a first-level aristocrat who inherited the throne. He might not remain first-level for long (if he takes ruling seriously, that is, because that will give him a lot experience), but King is no PrC that has some entry requirements like "Character Level 10+"Well, ultimately, they're a game thing, but they do represent experience. If you have X experience points, you're level Y. You can't get experience points without some experience (in the D&D core rules, that means mostly combat encounters, but that's not exclusive, of course)</blockquote>

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