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Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Eliminating the 1/2 level bonus
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<blockquote data-quote="77IM" data-source="post: 4875972" data-attributes="member: 12377"><p>Two main reasons appeal to me.</p><p></p><p><strong>1. Monster Reuse.</strong> Monsters are only a viable threat for a very narrow range of levels. For example, if your group is level 12 (like mine), you can disregard most monsters of level 8 or less, or level 16 or more, based purely on the hit rate. So something like 2/3 of the Monster Manual is worthless.</p><p></p><p>Removing level-bonuses to hit and AC means that damage vs. hit points is now the main difficulty factor in monsters -- essentially, a high-level monster counts like a "solo" and a low level monster counts as a "minion". (If you adjust saving throws and save DCs to account for level, you could remove the special elite/solo rules altogether -- a solo is mostly just a higher-level monster who therefore has more hit points.)</p><p></p><p>A secondary difficulty factor is special abilities; high-level monsters tend to have stuff like flying and invisibility that require high-level powers to counter. Thus, while it may <em>seem</em> like PCs aren't growing over time, they really are -- by getting qualitatively better rather than quantitatively.</p><p></p><p>Many video games -- which use player skill to determine whether an attack hits or misses -- use this model. For example, the <em>Zelda</em> series, in which you get more damaging swords and fight guys with more hit points -- but your accuracy does not improve. Plus, you get cool new abilities as the game progresses, not just bigger stat numbers.</p><p></p><p><strong>2. World-Based rather than Party-Focussed challenges (i.e. "simulationism").</strong> I run a "sandbox" campaign where there are dungeons all over the place, and the party can go wherever they want, whenever they want. But, if the 12th-level group goes to the 1st-level dungeon, it will be a big waste of time -- why did I even bother creating the 1st-level dungeon? If they wander into the 18th-level dungeon, they will get stomped.</p><p></p><p>Removing the level-based adjustments to monsters and hazards means that the 1st-level dungeon is still relevant enough to be fun (although it will definitely be on the easy side for 12th-level damage-dealers), and the 18th-level dungeon is very difficult but not an insta-wipe (clever tactics could get them through it).</p><p></p><p></p><p>A previous thread on this topic got badly derailed by people arguing against the idea. Please, don't do that; I want to see where this thread ends up.</p><p></p><p> -- 77IM</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="77IM, post: 4875972, member: 12377"] Two main reasons appeal to me. [b]1. Monster Reuse.[/b] Monsters are only a viable threat for a very narrow range of levels. For example, if your group is level 12 (like mine), you can disregard most monsters of level 8 or less, or level 16 or more, based purely on the hit rate. So something like 2/3 of the Monster Manual is worthless. Removing level-bonuses to hit and AC means that damage vs. hit points is now the main difficulty factor in monsters -- essentially, a high-level monster counts like a "solo" and a low level monster counts as a "minion". (If you adjust saving throws and save DCs to account for level, you could remove the special elite/solo rules altogether -- a solo is mostly just a higher-level monster who therefore has more hit points.) A secondary difficulty factor is special abilities; high-level monsters tend to have stuff like flying and invisibility that require high-level powers to counter. Thus, while it may [i]seem[/i] like PCs aren't growing over time, they really are -- by getting qualitatively better rather than quantitatively. Many video games -- which use player skill to determine whether an attack hits or misses -- use this model. For example, the [i]Zelda[/i] series, in which you get more damaging swords and fight guys with more hit points -- but your accuracy does not improve. Plus, you get cool new abilities as the game progresses, not just bigger stat numbers. [b]2. World-Based rather than Party-Focussed challenges (i.e. "simulationism").[/b] I run a "sandbox" campaign where there are dungeons all over the place, and the party can go wherever they want, whenever they want. But, if the 12th-level group goes to the 1st-level dungeon, it will be a big waste of time -- why did I even bother creating the 1st-level dungeon? If they wander into the 18th-level dungeon, they will get stomped. Removing the level-based adjustments to monsters and hazards means that the 1st-level dungeon is still relevant enough to be fun (although it will definitely be on the easy side for 12th-level damage-dealers), and the 18th-level dungeon is very difficult but not an insta-wipe (clever tactics could get them through it). A previous thread on this topic got badly derailed by people arguing against the idea. Please, don't do that; I want to see where this thread ends up. -- 77IM [/QUOTE]
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Eliminating the 1/2 level bonus
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