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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imaculata" data-source="post: 6759979" data-attributes="member: 6801286">So does this mean that you'd rather have a player be several levels behind the rest of the party, but it making sense, than have them all be the same level and it not making sense?Frankly, I obviously lean towards the latter. "Levels" to me are simply an indication of the power curve of a character. Ideally, the players are all of a similar or equal level, or else the game becomes unbalanced. Their adventures are just an excuse to explain why they are gaining in power, but as a game master I don't really need any excuse for it. My players like to feel like their character is slowly getting stronger, and learning new abilities. Why this happens, is secondary to the game mechanic to me. All that matters, is that it happens, and that the players feel like there is progression. Because this means they can do new things, and fight stronger foes. It also means for me as a DM, that I can raise the difficulty of the challenge, and introduce stronger adversaries. This is the goal of character levels to me.Some DM's prefer to simply hand out a new level at the end of an adventure, which also totally works for me. The goal is progression, but game balance is equally important. I do not want any of my players to be stronger than another. Take a berzerker for example. They rely a lot on having lots of hit points, and outlasting their foes. So any new character level is important to them, because it gets them better saves and a large pool of hit points. But they are also front liners, which means that they are probably more likely to go down first in a tough fight. They take the most damage after all, and are right in the middle of things. If they are one level behind on the rest of the party, or two levels behind, that is a pretty big deal. The average level of the party could be two levels higher than their own, and so the monsters they'll face will be of a much higher challenge rating than they are prepared for in terms of hit points and saves. This is also why a level drain is such a big deal, especially on fighter classes. It means a big drop in hit points. I wouldn't want that as a DM. Which begs the question why you would want individual experience levels to be different in the first place. From a mechanical point of view, it seems entirely inefficient and counter productive to me.</blockquote>

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