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Message: <blockquote data-quote="paradox42" data-source="post: 3226449" data-attributes="member: 29746">As a longtime DM of several high-level games run in an exceptionally high-power world, I'd like to contribute a few thoughts here. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />First, regarding magic items: D&D 3E is built upon the assumption that characters will have plenty of magic, particularly in the form of items- it cannot and will not be "high power" in any meaningful sense if you skimp on magic. If the idea of the "magic Wal-Mart" that people commonly refer to when discussing modern D&D's magic-item-purchase phenomenon really galls you, then I would suggest making an NPC artificer or some other spellcaster type who can craft pretty much any type of magic item- and let the party commission custom items from this person. Thus, they can develop optimized item combinations and get all the cool toys they want, but it'll take them a while to get them if they ask for too much at once.Second:Egad! "High-level" but nothing pushing 12TH? Did you know that Dungeon magazine's three-tier system of adventures defines "high level" as starting at 13th? If you've never gone even as high as 12th, I'd advise against pushing the envelope of your standard game too much (for example, with Gestalts). I'd say, let them do 40-point-buy, or Gestalts, but not both at once. Otherwise you're probably just asking to be overwhelmed when the PCs get up to about, say, 9th level. That's when the first "game-breaker" spells begin to show up- the nasty ones like Raise Dead and Teleport that I frequently see complaints about on these boards. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> Of course, if you actually do stick it out and get up to 17th and 18th, you'll have even more fun things like Time Stop and Miracle to deal with.Third: A house-rule that I, and several other DMs I know, have adopted in regards to hit points helps to provide a decent but not overwhelming power boost to careful players. Whenever hit points are being rolled for a level-up, the player rolls the hit die for the class the character is levelling up in, and simultaneously the DM rolls the same hit die. The player then has the opportunity to play "Let's Make A Deal" with the hit points thus rolled. If the player likes the number rolled on his or her die, then that's what the character gets and you're done. However, the player may, if desired, discard the result rolled on his/her own die and take the DM's result- sight unseen. Even if the DM's result is worse than the original one, the DM's result is kept. Of course, most players quickly figure out that the way to take advantage of this rule is to only take the DM's die when the player's die result comes up under the "average result" for the die type- i.e., a 3 or lower on a d6, a 4 or lower on a d8, etc.Fourth: consider allowing characters to start the game with a free template, or something similar. For example, instead of playing just a human, the player could be a Half-Celestial Human. The "free" part comes from the fact that you don't count the Level Adjustment of the template when figuring out the character's "level" for XP-gain purposes. Thus, the character essentially gets to play with a more powerful race without paying the usual price for it. The key with using this idea is to make sure that the list of allowed templates is deliberately constructed to allow only templates with a +X adjustment- for instance, if you allow Half-Dragon, also allow natural Lycanthropes (since the level adjustment for both templates is +3), but disallow Half-Celestial (which is a +4 LA template) or Half-Elemental (also +4). Players who choose to play non-templated creatures might instead be allowed to play powerful races such as the ever-popular Drow, as long as the LA for the chosen race doesn't exceed the one for the allowed templates, or given extra bonuses on top of regular racial abilities. For an example of the latter, a regular Human character might be given a second bonus feat, or bonuses to an ability score or two without corresponding penalties.OTOH, if you're used to low-level games, option #4 may be quite confusing to you and thus a recommended "pass."</blockquote>

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