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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 1768983" data-attributes="member: 3146">One of the things people often overlook is how wealth levels effect class choices. The RPGA's living campaigns are an interesting case study of this:In year one Living Greyhawk, there was hardly anyone I knew of who didn't multiclass. The typical fighter was a multiclassed barbarian/ranger/fighter/rogue or fighter/cleric or fighter/wizard. Year 1 was very much a low-treasure environment. In Year 3 and 4, the campaign came much closer to a DMG standard wealth level environment. Now, at conventions, I'm not surprised to see straight class characters among the people who began playing in year 3 and year 4. There's still a fair amount of powergame multiclassing (as I imagine there is in any large group of players) but there's a whole lot more single classed characters too or so it seems.I think the wealth level has a lot to do with it.If you're a 4th-6th level character with barely 2,000gp of random equipment to your name and you run into a troll, you have to know that you're going to get ripped to shreds. Sword and shield or chain shirt and barbarian levels, it doesn't make too much difference. The biggest factor in how much damage you take is not going to be your armor class but rather how quickly you kill your enemy. Hence the marked preference for bbn 2/fighter 4 characters with extra rage and two handed weapons.On the other hand, if you have 10,000gp in equipment, it's a different story. The guy with gauntlets of ogre power, a +1 chain shirt, a +1 amulet of natural armor and a +1 greatsword will dish out damage a bit faster than his counterpart but the guy with +1 fullplate, a +1 large shield, a +1 ring of protection, and a +1 bastard sword will have a high enough AC that he can survive a noticably greater number of rounds. Defensively focussed characters need wealth to be viable.In the same way, as a fighter 6 with a bastard sword, you need to look for ways to increase your damage. 1d10+5 might be good at level 5 and 6 but by level 8, you need to do better. If you're looking at getting a +1 flaming bastard sword, you can bump your damage. If you're just looking at getting a +1 bastard sword, it's too little too late. (At this point, the two handed weapon fighter still dishes out enough damage to be a credible threat and, in a normal wealth game is looking for a way to up his AC. In a low-wealth game, he knows there's no way to do that so he looks for a way to boost his hit points).Similarly, in a standard wealth environment, Ftr 2/Clr 4 is an interesting choice. You get better saves and some domain powers and some minor spells. However, your advantages over a Ftr 6 are greatly exaggerated in a low-wealth environment. All of a sudden, he doesn't have magic armor or a ring of protection. Neither do you but you can cast shield of faith. He doesn't have a magic weapon. Neither do you, but you can cast magic weapon. Etc.That's the reason why lower magic environments like Wheel of Time add class defense bonusses to the game. Without magic or class based defense, offense outstrips defense very quickly. Similarly, it's why games like Midnight offer special abiltiies to characters as they increase in level. There may be no magic but there are bonusses to make up for it and to make the system work at higher levels.</blockquote>

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