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Message: <blockquote data-quote="HeritageTTRPG" data-source="post: 9628285" data-attributes="member: 7051970">Howdy all <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I'm currently working on a story-driven sandbox TTRPG campaign where players can form and follow their own paths. They can explore where they want, tackle what they want, and write their own story (through various types of core systems). But this raises an important design question:How do you keep the world consistently dangerous and exciting in a sandbox game without breaking the feeling of progression?I often hear people praise progression in TTRPGs where characters grow broader in their abilities rather than just becoming untouchable superheroes. But what about the world? If players get stronger, but the world remains static (due to monster stat blocks), then certain challenges eventually become trivial and not challenging at all. I am aiming to write a campaign, where this is not the case. Encounters should have a certain sense of danger/importance to them, at all levels. But on the other side, if the world constantly levels up with the players, it can feel like the players aren’t progressing at all.So, I’m experimenting with a player-level-based monster progression table to strike a balance.<h3>The Idea of a monster progression table</h3>The aim of the system/table will be, to allow any type of monster to be used at any player level by scaling its stats according to the party’s average level. However, there are very important factors to keep in mind:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Player progression is steeper than monster progression.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">This means the world always stays dangerous, but not equally dangerous forever throughout the campaign.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Eventually, the players do outscale certain lower threats and make impossible missions possible.</li> </ul>Trying to keep combat deadly, but not hopeless, I want to have encounters remain tactically interesting throughout the campaign. The table lets you quickly generate monster stats (e.g. HP, damage, armor, resistances, etc.) based on factors such as:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Player level</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Monster type (minion, brute, elite, boss, mythical, etc.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Monster size and archetype (small goblin vs. massive wyrm)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Danger rating (used more as a narrative threat scale than raw CR)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Monster abilities, and so on ...</li> </ul><h3>A Quick Example</h3> <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">At Level 1, the party wanders into a dragon’s lair. The dragon’s stats are based on a Level 1 “mythic” monster. It’s strong, terrifying, probably going to roast the party.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">At Level 4, they return. The dragon’s stats have scaled just like the player's, but less steeply. If they are feeling lucky, they are free to tackle the dragon, but have to take the risk of heavy losses.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">At Level 10, the same dragon (scaled according to their level) still poses a real threat. But the players now have powerful gear, better tactics, and experience. The challenge has changed, and is still present, but the players have decent chances of success!</li> </ul><h3>Feel of Progression</h3>This table will allow the odds of success against different encounters to grow, depending on the players level. This means:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Players feel stronger over time.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Monsters remain relevant, especially elites and bosses.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Small threats (like goblins) eventually become trivial (as they should).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Mythical foes (dragons, liches, demon lords) remain dangerous throughout the campaign, just less so than when the party was at low level.</li> </ul>The system/table also leaves room for special monsters who break the rules. Fixed threats that don’t scale and exist to surprise or pose deeper challenges.<h3>Main Questions/Thoughts</h3>One of the main goals for such a table would be to not have to keep a monster stat block for every single monster. The table will weight in enough factors to differentiate between varying types of monsters/enemies.The question I mainly want to try to ask with this is, if such table has been done before? Would such a system be enhancing the experience of a sandbox TTRPG or are fixed statblocks more interesting to face in battle?Would love to hear thoughts from others who’ve used similar systems or seen them work (or fail). Any advice or aditional ideas are welcome! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><h3>TL;DR:</h3> <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Monsters scale with players to stay relevant — but not equally.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Player progression is faster than monster scaling.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dragons stay deadly, but become beatable.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Goblins stay weak, and eventually become fodder.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Perfect for story-first sandbox play where any monster can be faced at any level — at your own risk.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Would this work for a sandbox TTRPG campaign?</li> </ul></blockquote>

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