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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ExploderWizard" data-source="post: 5041811" data-attributes="member: 66434">Advancement and the speed of it, are very mutable in any system. Umbran had a great point-just slow progression to taste.  Older D&D systems didn't feature as large a gap in effectiveness between levels. Power scaling wasn't as absolute so as to make a contest between two entities separated by 5 levels a foregone conclusion. Module D1 was intended for 9th level and higher adventurers but the caves featured a tribe of bugbears which was a credible threat. Bonus bloat can create gaps in effectiveness that a d20 roll cannot cover.  As far as NPC's are concerned, they may have adventuring levels but consider the 1E DMG assumption stating that PC's will usually be "the most aggresive types in the area". This means that while Joe Bob the town sheriff has been a fighting man for 15 years, he is only 3rd level because the risks of the adventuring life are not worth the rewards to him. A comfortable job seeing to town law enforcement suits him just fine. The odds are that if he had sought out fortune and glory then he would have been melted by green slime or become orc food long before level 3.  I have no problem with systems that use similar rules to mechanically represent PC's and NPC's. PC's are special and rise above the normal folks by virtue of what the chose to do rather than by a mechanical representation of unique abilities.</blockquote>