How powerful are my PCs?

[Thanee]

Definitely more powerful than what PCs get in my game, though I'm probably slightly above the by-the-book level.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thomas Percy]

As powerful as I can (in the limits of reason), but it isn't enough to be more powerful than the rest of my players-veterans.

 

[shilsen]

Here is the thread where I first brought it up and hashed it out.

Here is more succinct explanation of it on my wiki.

And, Here is an overview of the actual draft I ran for my "Second Son of a Second Son" campaign.

Cool system. Doesn't really fit my tastes, but it's an interesting combination of randomization and player control.

And so ends the reason to play a rogue class...

In theory, but since the extra skill pts thing got added as a rule well into the campaign, it never affected anybody's class choices.

No. Let's be very blunt on this one: You are on the "a LOT" higher scale.

Guilty as charged But no need to push the respondents in any particular direction, right?

OK. This, imo, is where it gets silly. Those are epic level enhancements. You get the Monty Haul award there - but I think you already knew that.

After detailing the above... You already know the answer to that - don't you?

Pretty much, but I wanted a little corroboration. The amusing thing is some of my players are still a little whiny about wanting more stuff. On the silly angle, I figure that's only in comparison to many other people's games (which is what I was curious about). Inside our campaign, there are clear explanations for why the PCs have such benefits, and on a mechanical level, it doesn't get in the way of me challenging them with much lower level opposition. So it all works out nicely.

Nice to meet you, Monty!

Howdy

 

[shilsen]

Definitely more powerful than what PCs get in my game, though I'm probably slightly above the by-the-book level.

So I've gathered from your posts on other threads. About your PCs being slightly stronger than standard levels, I mean.

As powerful as I can (in the limits of reason), but it isn't enough to be more powerful than the rest of my players-veterans.

Your players are as tough as my PCs? Damn!

 

[monboesen]

+4 enhancement bonus to all six stats, +4 resistance bonus to saves, +4 enhancement bonus to natural armor, +3 deflection bonus to AC, fast healing 1 (which only kicks in 1 minute after they take damage, so effectively no healing needed between fights if they have enough time).

Since you do your own adventures and run about 1-2 encounters a day why are all these bonuses needed ?


Why not just downscale opponents a bit. With classed opponents it makes no visual difference. Just use a level 8 instead of a level 10 orc barbarian.


Essentially you just play with bigger numbers. For PC's and opponents both.




Oh and as to your question. Way way more powerful than our standard 25 point buy, by the rules core PC's



PS. Using the UA rules for metamagic in a 1-2 encounters a day kind a game makes spellcasters much better. If your encounters last about 4-6 rounds (as ours do, or at least the outcome is often determined by that time) the spellcasters will be able to metamagic almost every spell.

 

[diaglo]

Character Creation: 3d6 in order. str, int, wis, con, dex, cha

Hit pts: rolled at every level. keep what you roll.

Skill pts: n/a. skills are based on race, class, stats, and background.

Feats: n/a. race and class only

Spellcasting: clerics get spells at lvl 2. magic users must find or research all spells beyond their init spellbook

Spells available: see Spellcasting

Equipment: found, made, or purchased. no one with a weapon above +1 currently.

And exactly how Monty Haul am I ?

yes.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

The characters are pretty powerful, but there are other things to consider.

a) Do you players prefer playing high-powered games?
b) Do YOU like running high-powered games?

If both are Yes, then who cares how powerful they are?

It's a game.

I run a medium-powered Eberron game, but play in a high-powered planar campaign.

I love both for different reasons.

 

[shilsen]

Since you do your own adventures and run about 1-2 encounters a day why are all these bonuses needed ?

They aren't so much a necessity as a luxury, mainly for me. With a wizard, two druids and one cleric, the party does a whole lot of going into fights with buffs on, so having the permanent buffs takes care of them - and me - having to track what buffs are up and what aren't, what changes when one of them gets dispelled, and so on. Plus the players joke about the fact that they need to buff up to get the newspaper since my Sharn is so dangerous, so they're always buffed now.

Why not just downscale opponents a bit. With classed opponents it makes no visual difference. Just use a level 8 instead of a level 10 orc barbarian.

As I mentioned above, the players like to play really tough PCs with lots of options. So I give them that and then adapt my NPCs, tactics, circumstances, etc. to still challenge them. I generally run encounters that are horribly tough for their CR/EL, because lot of places in Eberron just don't have high CR enemies and encounters of normal power level would be a walkover for their PCs. So I won't just level up my NPCs, but I make them tougher for their level. Plus it's mostly an interesting challenge for me, to see whether I can use, for example, an EL 12 encounter and still give the PCs a fright.

Essentially you just play with bigger numbers. For PC's and opponents both.

Definitely. As I've told my players, I'm willing to DM on a fairly large continuum of power, and will just adapt to PC power based on where they choose to fall on it.

PS. Using the UA rules for metamagic in a 1-2 encounters a day kind a game makes spellcasters much better. If your encounters last about 4-6 rounds (as ours do, or at least the outcome is often determined by that time) the spellcasters will be able to metamagic almost every spell.

Pretty close.

The characters are pretty powerful, but there are other things to consider.

a) Do you players prefer playing high-powered games?
b) Do YOU like running high-powered games?

If both are Yes, then who cares how powerful they are?

It's a game.

The answers are:

a) Yes
b) I'm fine with it, but would ideally prefer to run slightly lower power than this one

And there's no problem with the game or their power level. I was just discussing them with a player in comparison with PCs in a number of other games the players and I are in (all of which have way weaker PCs), and I wondered later how they measured up against what people are playing out there. Just academic (and idle) interest, actually.

Believe me, I know that my question boils down to asking if my players' imaginary friends are tougher than the imaginary friends all you guys have

 

[monboesen]

I know. I know. I just can't help myself

As I mentioned above, the players like to play really tough PCs with lots of options. So I give them that and then adapt my NPCs, tactics, circumstances, etc. to still challenge them.

But tough in comparison to what? Normal regular human beings are worms beneath their notice at this level. They could settle down as gods and people would have to treat them accordingly.

And everyone they are supposed to fight just gets their toughnes level scaled accordingly up.

So I won't just level up my NPCs, but I make them tougher for their level. Plus it's mostly an interesting challenge for me, to see whether I can use, for example, an EL 12 encounter and still give the PCs a fright.

By that you are just changing what a level is. In some ways you are actually scewing things in the direction of fighter types who with those perma buffs funtion as they are about 2 levels higher. Casters will still only have access to lower level spells, so they benefit less. The instant metamagic and few encounters might (over)compensate for this.

So CR 12 fight should be a scare. At least one with mainly fightery opponents who gains more from your rules than the PC's.


And even though levels don't increase, you are changing the power structure of Eberron. I'm not even trying to imply it's wrong, it just looks completely needless.

Personally I do not like your houserules. But to each his own.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Hmm... I'm not as generous with the point buy or with HP rolling, but they have about double the standard wealth from the DMG in equipment plus perhaps around 100k tied up in assets (two strongholds, adamantine and mithril mines, etc) that they could liquidate if they found it necessary. Plus I give them mostly full access to all books, so the spellcasters have access to the Spell Compendium in its entirety, for example.

I'll go with equal.