Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Tom B1" data-source="post: 7949064" data-attributes="member: 6879023">In every version of D&amp;D we played through, from original bare bones 1E to 5E, there are some minor sweet spots and some weaker choices. (but there are so many throughout any rules set, and every patch has a side effect, that you need to look to entirely different ways of understanding what balance means at the table). It's nice to be able to gauge what to throw at your players, but we used to play with up to a 4 level disparity and there was always stuff for the weaker characters to do - waves of enemies often had some flankers to take on, there's always a need for extra eyes and for trying to hit enemy leaders or casters with ranged fire, or for getting up some of the bigger characters after the enemies target their greatest threats. Level difference that is pronounced can kill in some situations - like the player who was supposed to join the group who were about Level 5-7 and he would have been level 4 but demanded to pay a 1st level character... and he ended up getting backsplash from a fireball, taking full damage, and dying. If he'd been even 2nd level, he'd likely have survived (definitely at 3rd or 4th). That said, up to 3 or 4 level difference can work for a short time and the extra XP for 'working in an environment too rich for your blood' and XP curves will pull you up pretty fast.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tom B1, post: 7949064, member: 6879023"] In every version of D&D we played through, from original bare bones 1E to 5E, there are some minor sweet spots and some weaker choices. (but there are so many throughout any rules set, and every patch has a side effect, that you need to look to entirely different ways of understanding what balance means at the table). It's nice to be able to gauge what to throw at your players, but we used to play with up to a 4 level disparity and there was always stuff for the weaker characters to do - waves of enemies often had some flankers to take on, there's always a need for extra eyes and for trying to hit enemy leaders or casters with ranged fire, or for getting up some of the bigger characters after the enemies target their greatest threats. Level difference that is pronounced can kill in some situations - like the player who was supposed to join the group who were about Level 5-7 and he would have been level 4 but demanded to pay a 1st level character... and he ended up getting backsplash from a fireball, taking full damage, and dying. If he'd been even 2nd level, he'd likely have survived (definitely at 3rd or 4th). That said, up to 3 or 4 level difference can work for a short time and the extra XP for 'working in an environment too rich for your blood' and XP curves will pull you up pretty fast. [/QUOTE]

Verification