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Forked - Level-Based Systems and Non-Heroic PCs
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5665153" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>Besides Hussar's point - that this means there are parts of the game that many purchasers won't use - there is also the <em>complexity</em> issue - PCs can begin at level 1, but you are encouraged to begin at level 4 - "Why am I starting halfway down the number line?"</p><p></p><p>Neither of these may be an issue for a hardcore RPGer like most of those posting here, but I think they are issues for a commercial RPG publishing company like WotC.</p><p></p><p></p><p>This approach requires the abandonment of strong simulation in mechanics - "1st level" or "3 HD" no longer has a concrete meaning within the context of the fiction, but is instead a purely mechanical state which has to be correlated with the fiction on a case-by-case basis (per campaign, per encounter, even per creature perhaps what with minions, elites and solos hanging around).</p><p></p><p>Not everyone is going to like that.</p><p></p><p>This actually came up in my 4e game recently - the PCs ended up in a fight with a wizard much more powerful than them. Initially I had envisaged the encounter happening in 3 or 4 levels time, and had tenatively statted the wizard up as a 19th level elite. When it became clear that the fight might occur much earlier, I restatted him as a 13th level solo. In the course of the fight, I had to explain to the players that it was clear to the PCs that he was a very powerful wizard, who could obliterate any one or two of them with ease, but was being stretched to his resources trying to hold off all five of them at once. And given his 500-odd hit points, I was also having to narrate even large amounts of damage from the sorcerer and ranger as mighty blows that he nevertheless parried with his staff, though showing some strain from the effort . . . until the final blow, when I described him as worn down and unable to defend himself any longer.</p><p></p><p>Of course I'm not saying this is a deal-breaker - quite the opposite, given I'm a big 4e fan. But it's a serious issue from the point of view both of design and GM advice. (4e is good on the design, but weaker on the GM advice in my view.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 5665153, member: 42582"] Besides Hussar's point - that this means there are parts of the game that many purchasers won't use - there is also the [I]complexity[/I] issue - PCs can begin at level 1, but you are encouraged to begin at level 4 - "Why am I starting halfway down the number line?" Neither of these may be an issue for a hardcore RPGer like most of those posting here, but I think they are issues for a commercial RPG publishing company like WotC. This approach requires the abandonment of strong simulation in mechanics - "1st level" or "3 HD" no longer has a concrete meaning within the context of the fiction, but is instead a purely mechanical state which has to be correlated with the fiction on a case-by-case basis (per campaign, per encounter, even per creature perhaps what with minions, elites and solos hanging around). Not everyone is going to like that. This actually came up in my 4e game recently - the PCs ended up in a fight with a wizard much more powerful than them. Initially I had envisaged the encounter happening in 3 or 4 levels time, and had tenatively statted the wizard up as a 19th level elite. When it became clear that the fight might occur much earlier, I restatted him as a 13th level solo. In the course of the fight, I had to explain to the players that it was clear to the PCs that he was a very powerful wizard, who could obliterate any one or two of them with ease, but was being stretched to his resources trying to hold off all five of them at once. And given his 500-odd hit points, I was also having to narrate even large amounts of damage from the sorcerer and ranger as mighty blows that he nevertheless parried with his staff, though showing some strain from the effort . . . until the final blow, when I described him as worn down and unable to defend himself any longer. Of course I'm not saying this is a deal-breaker - quite the opposite, given I'm a big 4e fan. But it's a serious issue from the point of view both of design and GM advice. (4e is good on the design, but weaker on the GM advice in my view.) [/QUOTE]
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