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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mustrum_Ridcully" data-source="post: 4492335" data-attributes="member: 710">To infest this thread with my inapproriate* Torg fanboyismn: Torg had an interesting mechanic to make low level monsters more difficult threats. There were two types of Scenes - Standard and Dramatic Scenes.The Drama Deck that is also used for determining initiative and special effects each round had a line for Standard and one for Dramatic Scenes.In Standard Scenes, most of the effects are benefitial for the PCs - get an extra rerolls, win initiative, or get an extra action, or the enemy gets setbacks, breaks off or is fatigued.In dramatic scenes, the enemies suddenly get intiatives, extra actions or extra rerolls, while the party gets setbacks and fatigue. (Not all cards are bad for the PCs, but the ratio gets worse).Of course, Torg is not a level based system, so bringing a similar idea to D&D would be hard. But from a simulation perspective - the NPCs don't become more powerful in the dramatic scene. They just have more luck this time.If the .5 bonus per level (and the +6 hp per level) for some NPCs just stand in for the extra luck they have in the particular scene, the same could apply here, and I suppose that goes in the direction of pemertons point of view. (Though I wouldn't be surprised if pemerton just takes this point to facilitate an interesting discussion - considering he at least used to play a lot of Rolemaster which certainly doesn't use much of these assumptions. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> )Of course, I am not so much a fan of assuming that all of the .5 bonus per level or the +6 hp per level represent extra luck for any NPC. But I can live with a "trade" between hit points and the level bonus, and support "minionizing" regular monsters and similar things, possibly treating the XP value of each monster or NPC as the sum of their luck, skill and destiny, allowing to "transform" it into Solo low levels, Elite Medium Levels, Regular High Levels, and Minion Extreme High Level monsters. (At least that's one of my approaches. I might also be willing to change the XP value. Honestly, I'd prefer a move up/down along the Tiers - a 3rd level Elite becomes a 13th level Regular and a 23rd level Minion. But maybe using the XP value feels more... "honest" or fair? The XP gained from an encounter against the city guard stays consistent, but at low levels, you would need to beat 4 encounters with a lot of regular NPCs, and at high levels, only one encounter against a lot of minions... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> And I think as a player, this shouldn't feel "cheated" - you will notice quite a difference between finding the fight against 5 guards challenging and the difference of finding the fight against 20 guards challenging...)*)inappropriate because I did play it less then 4E by now. And Torg is around for a decade or more, 4E for a few months. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></blockquote>

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