Difficulty Level vs Character Level

[howandwhy99]

Do you increase the difficulty level of the game for the players as their characters go up in level?
Yes, No, Other (answer below)

Also, how does your group decide on the difficulty level for the game?

Edit: Poll question was chopped off.

Edit2 (more clarity): Does the game get harder for the players as the game goes on? Lots of computer games do this and they didn't start the idea. Players progress from beginner level up to expert. They become more skilled at playing. I'm wondering if anyone still does this in RPGs.

 

[jeffh]

Do you increase the difficulty level of the game for the players as their characters go up in level?
Yes, No, Other (answer below)

Also, how does your group decide on the difficulty level for the game?

What you mean by "difficulty level" is too ambigious for me to offer an answer.

 

[howandwhy99]

What you mean by "difficulty level" is too ambigious for me to offer an answer.

How difficult is it for the players to succeed at each level? I'm assuming 1st level is the easiest and 20th is the most difficult. Some groups might remain at an even difficulty throughout. By success I mean whatever goals the PCs have that are commensurate with their level. Commensurate challenges are going to vary by campaign, of course.

 

[airwalkrr]

Well the only criteria you could really use that isn't subjective is the ELs, and even that can be a little subjective. I typically have a rule of now encounters more than two ELs above the party's average level at 1st level, and I gradually relax that to add for the possibility of EL +3 or EL +4 encounters occassionally. But I often throw EL +5 or EL +6 challenges at my players just to show them that not everything is meant to be fought. The vast majority of their battles are equal to their EL or lower however, regardless of level.

 

[Kelleris]

If you mean in terms of overall challenge to the players - how well they have to play the game to keep their characters alive and accomplishing their goals - I typically try to keep it steady as they gain levels. At higher levels they have fewer and fewer overwhelming individual challenges or opponents to deal with and even get a few easy encounters with which to demonstrate their insane skills, as a way of reinforcing verisimilitude, but that's generally balanced by the fact that they also have more sweeping goals and more important responsibilities in the setting and storyline of the campaign.

 

[BlueBlackRed]

As the group gets higher in level their teamwork and tactics develop for their new characters, which makes them more capable of taking on tougher obstacles.

I've also been told that in epic levels the CR system can break down a bit, making it harder to gauge the difficulty.

 

[shilsen]

I keep the difficulty level about the same, though at least one of my players claims they get beat up way more now that they're 12th lvl (and, considering it's an Eberron campaign, very high-powered by the campaign world's standards) than back when they were 5th-6th level.

 

[sirwmholder]

It varies... the challenge can be as easy or hard as the party makes it.

I do increase the difficulty of the challenges presented to the players. However, the level of the challenge varies greatly per encounter depending mainly on the party's objectives. We have a lot of puzzles and riddles in our games along with a lot of combat.

For example a small band of Kobolds may be found on the outer edges of a dungeon. They could be fodder or a resource for either the party or the BBEG... it all depends on the party's actions toward them when they are first encountered. It could be they know a clue on how to enter the compound undetected or it could be they are scouts for the BBEG leading them into a trap.

Paranoid PC's usually kill first and later puzzle out the clues later... Killing level 1/3 Kobold... Challenge 0.

Diplomatic PC's usually have a chance of getting something useful out of the lesser races without threatening them... Challenge 5... if used bribes... Challenge 3.

Though I will say all of the PC's have a good chance to die at the hands of the BBEG equally. That is the one fight were I leave their fate up to the dice.

 

[hong]

At 1st level, you might fight a couple of kobolds. Dumb kobolds. No levels, no Tucker, no nothing.

If at 20th level you're still fighting a couple of kobolds with no levels and no Tucker and no nothing, something's wrong.

 

[Wombat]

Some aspects of my worlds are static -- they remain the same "difficulty" no matter what happens in the game. This may start way above the character "level" (most games that I have dealt with thankfully don't use actual levels), eventually reach parity, and then fade into the background as a source of difficulty.

The direct confrontations that the characters face, however, tend to go up, as well as becoming further afield. We don't end up with Uberelder dragons right next door to simple fishing communities, for example, on a regular basis.

So, yes, there are challenges for all "levels" of characters, though they usually move to the challenge rather than having the challenge regularly move to them.