Power Level and Classes

[Doomhawk]

Yet another way to give the PC's additional power is to introduce action points. It gives a nice "cinematic" feel to things, because it makes it difficult for the PC's to screw up on important tasks.

I find that I'm usually a fairly generous DM... I don't make any across-the-board increases to class power level*, but I usually hand out somewhat more wealth than the DMG says. On the other hand, the average encounter for my PC's is one or two above their level, instead of equal, so it still works out to be pretty challenging (most combats see at least one character dropping to dangerously low HP's).

*I give each class an extra skill point or two, but that's about it, and they usually use it for non-crucial type skills, like craft or profession, so it doesn't affect balance noticeably.

 

[Roman]

Interesting ideas!

Has anybody done any actual tinkering with the classes themselves, though, in order to decrease or increase the power level of the campaign?

 

[Roman]

Nobody has tinkered with the classes themselves?

As to the Gestalt idea - I like it but it does seem to me that certain combinations are much more beneficial then others.

 

[the Jester]

To power up a fighter, give him 4 skill points/level and a bonus feat at every level. To power him down, give him bonus feats at 2nd and every three levels thereafter. Also, make him pay a feat for heavy armor or tower shield proficiency.

To power up a cleric, let him cast his domain spells as cleric spells. Or let him cast all his spells spontaneously. To power him down, take away spontaneous healing, lower his hit die to a d6 or reduce his number of spells per day at each level by one.

To power up a wizard, give him a d6 hp, give him 4 skill points/level, let him ignore arcane failure in light armor, give him bonus feats at 1st and every three levels thereafter (4, 7, 10, etc) or give him an extra spell of each level. To power him down, drop the bonus feats, make him pay a feat to have any weapon proficiencies, or reduce his number of spells at each level by one.

To power up a sorcerer, give him a d6 hp or give him Eschew Materials at 1st level and a bonus metamagic feat at every fifth level (or more often, if you power up the wizard I recommend putting the sorcerer's feat aquisition on par with him). To power him down, lower the number of spells per day he can cast at each level by 1-2.

Etc.

 

[ShorelisNailo]

Many Methods

You can tinker almost anything....
For powering down...the best method i think is to place the party in a world with low magic objects....when the +1 weapon is something like a relic try to imagine what the +5 is...non-existant... ...I've played a campaign like that for 2 years and whas like nightmare...
For power up ...gelstat char,which i've seen in action aren't that powerfull...they are good characters but as the book says they can do 1 thing per round...Powerfull characters come from better stats and objects...and of course a good prestige class... use the 4d8+4 (drop low d8)(i thing DarkSun had this in second,or something like that)...create more prestige...we make a great effort in creating pr classes and this has been quite successful as the PrClasses has taken the PC in same power level...And last but not least Allow feats...but from my exp this can be very bad for your karma (a.k.a. the munchinism level of the players...-hey a construct...let's sneak attack it )

 

[Roman]

To power up a fighter, give him 4 skill points/level and a bonus feat at every level. To power him down, give him bonus feats at 2nd and every three levels thereafter. Also, make him pay a feat for heavy armor or tower shield proficiency.

To power up a cleric, let him cast his domain spells as cleric spells. Or let him cast all his spells spontaneously. To power him down, take away spontaneous healing, lower his hit die to a d6 or reduce his number of spells per day at each level by one.

To power up a wizard, give him a d6 hp, give him 4 skill points/level, let him ignore arcane failure in light armor, give him bonus feats at 1st and every three levels thereafter (4, 7, 10, etc) or give him an extra spell of each level. To power him down, drop the bonus feats, make him pay a feat to have any weapon proficiencies, or reduce his number of spells at each level by one.

To power up a sorcerer, give him a d6 hp or give him Eschew Materials at 1st level and a bonus metamagic feat at every fifth level (or more often, if you power up the wizard I recommend putting the sorcerer's feat aquisition on par with him). To power him down, lower the number of spells per day he can cast at each level by 1-2.

Etc.

Actually, I must say I like these ideas.

 

[the Jester]

Actually, I must say I like these ideas.

Okay, in that case:

To power up a paladin, give him a smite evil at 1st and every 2 levels, start giving him spells at 2nd level or give him a bonus feat at 1st and every 5 levels. To power him down, give him 1e-style restrictions on how many magic items he's allowed to own, drop the cha bonus to saves, drop spells entirely or reduce the number of spells he gets at each spell level by one.

To power up a monk, increase his unarmed damage by one step, increase his AC bonus by one, or give him more bonus feats from a list. To power him down, reduce his unarmed damage by one step, make him keep the attack penalty with flurry of blows, or give him only two good saves.

To power up a ranger, give him full BAB, d10 hp or more bonus feat/combat style power ups, or else simply move the ones he gets to an earlier level (allowing him to use them a couple of levels before anyone can normally quality for them). To power him down, remove the combat style goodness, drop his skill points to 4/level, or remove a couple of choice abilities.

I guess that leaves barbarian, bard, druid and rogue... these take some thought, so I'll get back to you on those ones...

 

[Chun-tzu]

Those are some good ideas, Jester, but some of those upgrades are seriously powerful. Fighters with bonus feats every level and clerics who can cast spontaneously are probably better off than gestalt characters.

Here's how I'd power them up (to PrC levels):

Fighter - Add in Warmain and Unfettered style abilities at some of the "empty" levels. For example, a light-armor fighter would get Monk-like AC bonuses and a Duelist/Swashbuckler boost to damage with light weapons; a heavy armor fighter would get the ability to use oversized weapons (at high level) and some armor penalty reductions (i.e., they get better at maneuvering in heavy armor). I'd also add a few skills to their list and give them 3 skill points/level (they should still be on the low side).

Wizard - More bonus feats. Every 3 levels sounds good. In addition to metamagic and item creation, they can take spell focus and spell penetration.

Sorcerer - Free intermediate bloodline, from Unearthed Arcana. The bloodline rules give characters bonuses like a feat, some skill bonuses, small energy resistance, and spell-like powers based on powerful bloodline (demon, celestial, dragon, vampire, etc.). An intermediate bloodline gives bonuses of some kind every other level. They should also get Eschew Materials free at first level. Another possibility is to give them draconic feats (from Complete Arcane) at the same rate as Wizards get their bonus feats.

Cleric - Spontaneous casting of domain spells. A small skill bonus to the skill that best represents their deity (+2 at first level, add one every four levels). At level 10 and every third level (mirroring the Rogue's special abilities), they get a bonus divine or exalted feat.

Rogue - Give them the Rogue special abilities earlier, say, starting at level 6 and every third level. Give them special Sneak Attack options at level 10 and every third level (replacing the previous Special Abilities) that are basically the Sneak Attack feats (like trading in 1-2 dice of sneak attack damage to do ability damage, or a wounding attack, or whatever).

Basically, we're talking about selecting a small class-appropriate list of the feats and options from books like the Complete series and Unearthed Arcana feats, for free.

 

[Roman]

Thanks for the further ideas Jester and Chun-Tzu!