Level advancement rate in 3rd- vs. real life
- Thread starter buzzard
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BiggusGeekus
That's Latin for "cool"
hong said:
A level 20 commoner would have a BAB of +10. TOTALLY REASONABLE I SAY! NOTHING TO CRITICIZE HERE! MAKES TOTAL SENSE! MOVE ALONG NOW!
Henry
Autoexreginated
First of all, d20 doesn't cater well to real-life tales of bravery - truth be told, something like original Call of Cthulhu would handle "oh, my God, this bullet will kill you" much better.
However, the point does stand - even if audie murphy was only 8th level or so, that's pretty fast advancement. I've seen some DM's complain that characters shouldn't gain more than 6 levels inside of 10 years on average! Even using the d20 Call of Cthulhu system, he could still be pretty high level, because all it takes is one good shot.
Let's face it - those who do take risks and succeed are usually vastly more experienced, and quicker, than those who don't and go slowly up the advancement ladder. I would value a commander in an army with actual battlefield experience over one who had only trained in ROTC any day. Similarly, who would you rather have training you in parachute jumping - someone with 500 successful jumps logged, or someone who read everything about them and never made a jump?
However, the point does stand - even if audie murphy was only 8th level or so, that's pretty fast advancement. I've seen some DM's complain that characters shouldn't gain more than 6 levels inside of 10 years on average! Even using the d20 Call of Cthulhu system, he could still be pretty high level, because all it takes is one good shot.
Let's face it - those who do take risks and succeed are usually vastly more experienced, and quicker, than those who don't and go slowly up the advancement ladder. I would value a commander in an army with actual battlefield experience over one who had only trained in ROTC any day. Similarly, who would you rather have training you in parachute jumping - someone with 500 successful jumps logged, or someone who read everything about them and never made a jump?
I think you're mixing two different things, game time and real time. Talking about game time gets a little silly because you can manipulate time however you like . PC's want to take a month off, bam-it takes 15 minutes for every PC to tell the DM what everyone is doing for 4 weeks. But one battle that takes 1 min. takes an hour to play out.
So I think its the question of power progression per gaming session that most people have a problem with. Sure leveling up is fun, but when you are doing it every gaming session in the beginning, and then every two or three later on, the anticipation of leveling up has less build. It didn't take you a year of actual play to become 12th level. It took 3 months. So everyone gets bored and rolls up another character, rinse, repeat. Maybe this time it will be more fun with this class/PrC/magic items/etc.
The real life example of Audie is a little off as well. I would wager to say anyone who fights on the front line and lives to tell the tale gained a lot of experience, even if they don't all become sargents and get metals of honor at the end. Heck, even the people at home had "more than normal stress/experiences" because of war.
I think of experience points and levels as relative things, i.e. how powerful/skillful/experieced am I compared to this guy. They're a mechanic, and the devil's in the details of how you use that mechanic.
suzi
So I think its the question of power progression per gaming session that most people have a problem with. Sure leveling up is fun, but when you are doing it every gaming session in the beginning, and then every two or three later on, the anticipation of leveling up has less build. It didn't take you a year of actual play to become 12th level. It took 3 months. So everyone gets bored and rolls up another character, rinse, repeat. Maybe this time it will be more fun with this class/PrC/magic items/etc.
The real life example of Audie is a little off as well. I would wager to say anyone who fights on the front line and lives to tell the tale gained a lot of experience, even if they don't all become sargents and get metals of honor at the end. Heck, even the people at home had "more than normal stress/experiences" because of war.
I think of experience points and levels as relative things, i.e. how powerful/skillful/experieced am I compared to this guy. They're a mechanic, and the devil's in the details of how you use that mechanic.
suzi
buzzard
First Post
Larcen said:
Hey, even a low level PC can roll a crit.
Actually this reminds me of DC heroes. In that game if you rolled doubles, you got to re-roll and keep summing. Thus, enough doubles and a kid takes out Superman with a popsicle stick- or Luke blows up the Death Star.
buzzaard
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