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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Redbadge" data-source="post: 5644668" data-attributes="member: 61463">The best thing is that the world feels a bit more... something. I was going to say realistic, but that's not really it either. Let me try to explain...I did this recently, though not to the extent the OP suggests. Players didn't get the half-level scaling bonus or enhancement bonuses (though I still used my own inherent bonus system to provide a sense of progress). Monsters defenses/attacks and skill DCs advanced at half their normal rate (i.e. monster AC increased by half-level). Expertise and similar defense feats were banned (and rolled into the inherent upgrades). Monster HP was greatly reduced (something I tend to do anyways to combat grind). Note that a dragon would still have significantly more HP than a kobold. The bottom line affected very little with at-level challenges (PCs still hit 50% -65% of the time, killing an average skirmisher in 2.5 hits). However, higher and lower level encounters were tenable at a much greater range.The concept of the campaign was a battle between the PCs and a gnoll empire (one PC, Thurrg, was actually an exiled gnoll "prince"). With this system, the gnolls were able to pose a realistic challenge from level 1 all the way through mid-paragon. Now obviously, the PCs were probably fighting a gnoll ranger and his pack of hyenas at level 1 and the gnoll khan and his 4 champions at level 15, but the amount of difference in attacks/defense were not very much. For example, Kallista, the tiefling rogue, could probably have hit the gnoll khan about 40% - 50% of the time by level 6 and take him down in maybe 8 hits (assuming he wasn't fighting back, of course). By level 15, she could hit him 75% - 85% of the time, so still a challenge. Level 1 gnolls, also, could hit her with a 16 assuming CA.The main goal is to avoid the quite common scenario common with many RPGs. The PCs enter Wispy Wood at level 1 to fight boars. At level 10, there might enter the Black forest to fight Dire Boars. At level 20, its the Forgotten Forest of Flame fighting Flaming Doom Boars. At thirty, you might see the Wood of the Wayward Souls fighting Three-Headed Death Boars.In addition, you'll find that you no longer need to scale skill DCs with level to present decent challenges. A small chasm might be DC 24 to jump across. At level 1, one or two PCs might be able to make it across, but the rest of the party will have to find another way. At level 30, this jump is trivial to the same PCs who made it across before and they would be actually be able to clear something twice as wide (maybe DC 30?). However, for the poor wizard, his Athletics check has probably improved by 1 (level 11 and 21 stat bumps). So he is better than he was before, but still unlikely to make it (however, by now he probably has magic that makes it very easy to get across).Removing scaling brings it a bit closer to something you might see in Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire: The PCs get significantly more powerful as they level, but there is no longer a need to completely reinvent the world between levels (or tiers, etc.). The most basic mooks are still useful to the BBEG; he'll just need at lot more of them to challenge higher level PCs. On the same note, the PCs theoretically could have a slim hope to take down the BBEG at level 1 (except that they can't get through his army of mooks just yet).</blockquote>

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