How do you "power up" the PCs?
- Thread starter Li Shenron
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HeapThaumaturgist
First Post
I like restricted feats and skills, myself. For my SWd20 game I made everybody take a feat called "Academy Training" at 1st level, which in turn gave them a choice of bonus feat and a bunch of extra skill points that had to be put into a group of skills (mostly Knowledges and Crafts). It was a little extra flavor, for the most part, but everybody ended up with more total skill points from it.
I'm going to run Shackled City soon, and am trying to decide how to add a little umph. I'm not a fan of running for more than 5 people, so I think I'll give everybody a character trait or something small like that. It's a tough campaign, as well, so I'm thinking of giving everybody a free Toughness feat at 1st level ... it's 3hp, and 3hp is really only THAT important at 1st level. It might help a dwarf get into Dwarven Defender, but DD has absurd entry requirements anyway.
--fje
I'm going to run Shackled City soon, and am trying to decide how to add a little umph. I'm not a fan of running for more than 5 people, so I think I'll give everybody a character trait or something small like that. It's a tough campaign, as well, so I'm thinking of giving everybody a free Toughness feat at 1st level ... it's 3hp, and 3hp is really only THAT important at 1st level. It might help a dwarf get into Dwarven Defender, but DD has absurd entry requirements anyway.
--fje
Luthien Greyspear
First Post
I've found the best way to power up PC's is with an in-game event that suitably explains a sudden leap in abilities or resources across the board. My players tend to be diplomatically inclined, so they frequently walk out of a situation with more allies than most parties would. Sometimes, I just use that to provide everyone in the party with a cool magic item of their choosing, or perhaps the granting of a single feat (obtained via ritual or something like that). It's rarely done, and the players haven't come to expect it (because they generally don't trust me when my mouth is open and words are coming out of it), so it hasn't been abused or overpowering.
Recently, I realized that my players will be woe-fully underpowered when they face the BBEG. I intend to end the campaign when the players are in the 20-25th level range, and the BBEG is currently 40th level. The party is 10th. While it's true that the BBEG is unlikely to gain nearly as many levels as the party, if any, they are still a TPK waiting to happen, and I don't want to have a campaign climax on such a down note. Fortunately, the gestalt rules provide the perfect way to handle two problems in the campaign at once: powering up the party so they have a fighting chance, and fixing a curse of which the party is the collective victim.
The BBEG in question caused most of the party to be inflicted with amnesia, and then polymorphed them into slightly different bodies and dumped them on another planet (originally, they were from Oerth; now, they're on Toril). The party has figured out that everything before the last five years was taken away from them, and that they're crawling back up to something approximating their original power levels (they used to be 15th level characters in 2E; they started this campaign as 5th level characters).
So, the gestalt rules are now in effect from 11th level on. Everytime they gain a level, one of the class levels they choose MUST be from one of the classes they had before they had amnesia. This will give the players more options at higher levels and a better feel of 'regaining what they lost'. (Those character that don't have amnesia are going to have a similarly narrow list of classes that must be advanced along with the gestalt level.)
I think the gestalt rules are a great way to handle power-ups, and give players a bit more range. This is particularly useful in campaigns that add new prestige classes, spells, and the like whenever a new supplement is published. The players will find it less difficult to meet the purely mechanical requirements for these classes, and will therefore feel less 'cheated' because they made their characters before these new classes were available.
BTW, I've kind of been assessing every gestalt level as the equivalent of about 1 1/2 ordinary character levels. Anyone else out there feel that's about right, or would you actually say that gestalt levels are twice as valuable?
Recently, I realized that my players will be woe-fully underpowered when they face the BBEG. I intend to end the campaign when the players are in the 20-25th level range, and the BBEG is currently 40th level. The party is 10th. While it's true that the BBEG is unlikely to gain nearly as many levels as the party, if any, they are still a TPK waiting to happen, and I don't want to have a campaign climax on such a down note. Fortunately, the gestalt rules provide the perfect way to handle two problems in the campaign at once: powering up the party so they have a fighting chance, and fixing a curse of which the party is the collective victim.
The BBEG in question caused most of the party to be inflicted with amnesia, and then polymorphed them into slightly different bodies and dumped them on another planet (originally, they were from Oerth; now, they're on Toril). The party has figured out that everything before the last five years was taken away from them, and that they're crawling back up to something approximating their original power levels (they used to be 15th level characters in 2E; they started this campaign as 5th level characters).
So, the gestalt rules are now in effect from 11th level on. Everytime they gain a level, one of the class levels they choose MUST be from one of the classes they had before they had amnesia. This will give the players more options at higher levels and a better feel of 'regaining what they lost'. (Those character that don't have amnesia are going to have a similarly narrow list of classes that must be advanced along with the gestalt level.)
I think the gestalt rules are a great way to handle power-ups, and give players a bit more range. This is particularly useful in campaigns that add new prestige classes, spells, and the like whenever a new supplement is published. The players will find it less difficult to meet the purely mechanical requirements for these classes, and will therefore feel less 'cheated' because they made their characters before these new classes were available.
BTW, I've kind of been assessing every gestalt level as the equivalent of about 1 1/2 ordinary character levels. Anyone else out there feel that's about right, or would you actually say that gestalt levels are twice as valuable?
MonsterMash
First Post
Fate points like the Conan RPG to reduce the number of low level deaths otherwise power level is normal for a pc of that level, if they need to be more powerful they need to level up.
delericho
Legend
Three things:
1) More hit points: At levels above 1st, characters get a fixed number of hit points: 3/4/6/8/9 for d4/6/8/10/12.
2) Protection from death: No direct damage can reduce a PC from having 1 or more hit points to -1 or fewer hit points. This does not apply to PCs with 0 or fewer hit points, does not apply to anything that doesn't affect hit points (ability damage, save-or-die, coup de grace...), and doesn't apply to anything other than PCs (so, no cohorts, familiars, mounts, animal companions, or NPCs the party have to keep alive).
If both 1 and 2 don't do the job then:
3) Play at a higher level.
1) More hit points: At levels above 1st, characters get a fixed number of hit points: 3/4/6/8/9 for d4/6/8/10/12.
2) Protection from death: No direct damage can reduce a PC from having 1 or more hit points to -1 or fewer hit points. This does not apply to PCs with 0 or fewer hit points, does not apply to anything that doesn't affect hit points (ability damage, save-or-die, coup de grace...), and doesn't apply to anything other than PCs (so, no cohorts, familiars, mounts, animal companions, or NPCs the party have to keep alive).
If both 1 and 2 don't do the job then:
3) Play at a higher level.
Dog Moon
Adventurer
Ouch, that's a lot of XP. Out of curiosity, how many of your players actually choose to do this?
For me, what I will be doing when I start my campaign is give two extra skill points which can only be used on Craft, Knowledge, Perform and Profession, an occasional extra non-combat feat [not sure how often], and the characters begin play at second level as a character race of up to +2 LA to give them a wider variety of options [campaign will also be set in a land inhabited by 'monsters' ; main groups are Kobolds and Svirfneblin cause they're cool].
One current DM gave us 5d6, drop lowest two, in order, can switch any two once for stats, we gain 6+ Int skill points per level [Rogue gets an extra one, sucks for Rogue chars in comparison though, which is annoying], we were given a template of up to +2 LA cause we were expiramented on, we gain a bonus feat every four levels, we can do PrC in both halves of Gestalt instead of just one, and we have personalized Legacy Weapons based from the book, but not actually using any from the book. [He likes giving away power, can't you tell?
]Second DM is giving us half Gestalt, so long as one of the two is somewhat stealthy. He likes that sort of campaign and didn't want non-sneaky people to suck, so we're all sneaky and the half-gestalt gives us a little power boost. We also get an extra feat every 5th level.
Buttercup
Princess of Florin
I tend to be stingy with magic items, so I always start with a higher point buy. Actually, I use a variant method which I tweak from campaign to campaign, but it allows generous ability scores. Sometimes I award extra skill points which can only be spent on craft, knowledge and/or profession skills. I'm toying with the idea, for my next campaign, of also giving every character (at creation) their choice of one of the "add +2 to two skills" feats.
Oh, and I always give max hit points for first and second levels.
Oh, and I always give max hit points for first and second levels.
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To be honest, if I want the pcs to be more powerful / heroic, I find it easier and more controllable to simply start them at first, no extra powers and make the WORLD weaker around them, ie: more people are simple 1st level commoners, the royal guard are maybe 4-5th level only, most enemies are low HD etc. This allows the power curve to be controlled without throwing things out of whack and also allows the villains to be easily created and players to get the sense of power and heroism.
However, having said that I have a couple of house rules that make PC's slightly more effective. Namely that ALL skills cost 1 point per point, class skills only effect the MAX number of ranks and for hit dice you roll a die equal to half your hit dice + Half the maximum of your hit die (ie d12 is d6+6, d4 is d2+2 etc.), this allows characters to be a bit more flexible and avoids the annoying "the mage has more HP than my barbarian" effect.
However, having said that I have a couple of house rules that make PC's slightly more effective. Namely that ALL skills cost 1 point per point, class skills only effect the MAX number of ranks and for hit dice you roll a die equal to half your hit dice + Half the maximum of your hit die (ie d12 is d6+6, d4 is d2+2 etc.), this allows characters to be a bit more flexible and avoids the annoying "the mage has more HP than my barbarian" effect.
MoogleEmpMog
First Post
1. Start at 3rd level or higher.
2. 32 pt point buy.
3. Bonus feats for every five levels of favored class/no multiclassing restrictions.
4. All stats increase by 1 every six levels (ala Mongoose's Conan).
5. Human regional packages providing small feat/skill bonuses.
6. Flexible, stackable masterwork system.
7. Almost no restrictions on class choice.
However, many of those compensate for the absence of sub-artifact-level magic items. I expect an 'iconic D&D party' could handle most of what the party could do using their Christmas tree of magic whatsitz, or an Iron Heroes party using their expanded class features. Does that still count as a powerup?
I'll probably use 1, 2 and 3 in a more traditional Spelljammer campaign soon, though.
2. 32 pt point buy.
3. Bonus feats for every five levels of favored class/no multiclassing restrictions.
4. All stats increase by 1 every six levels (ala Mongoose's Conan).
5. Human regional packages providing small feat/skill bonuses.
6. Flexible, stackable masterwork system.
7. Almost no restrictions on class choice.
However, many of those compensate for the absence of sub-artifact-level magic items. I expect an 'iconic D&D party' could handle most of what the party could do using their Christmas tree of magic whatsitz, or an Iron Heroes party using their expanded class features. Does that still count as a powerup?
I'll probably use 1, 2 and 3 in a more traditional Spelljammer campaign soon, though.
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