Should published adventures contain an "optimization level"

[Glyfair]

A recent comment from a game designer got me thinking about the assumed power level of adventures. Most d20 adventures today have a suggestion for character levels ("This adventure is suitable for 4th level characters.") The question is "what sort of 4th level characters?"

Some adventures seem designed for characters of that level that are "tweaked" at just below munchkin level. Other adventures are cakewalks for tweaked characters of that level. A few adventures are very roleplaying centered so that the "optimization level" of characters doesn't affect the adventure very much at all. For example, I've seen a lot of comments about how the first adventure of "The Age of Worms" was incredibly difficult for characters that were slightly optimizated/

Should adventures contain suggestions for how tweaked the characters are expected to be? Should be an explicit industry standard, instead? (For example, assume characters that are close to being min-maxed.) This would allow the DM to adjust the adventure or the level he introduces it based on his PCs.

 

[Nightfall]

Only if I get to run them the way I want to! And any optimization is inherent, I just optimize my encounters!

Besides how well can anyone prepare for an ambush by invisible stalkers hiding behind air elementals?

 

[Rystil Arden]

I've heard that Shackled City is meant to be very very hard for a party of 4 ordinary PCs (having been designed for 6), but I think it varies based on a lot of factors, and not just how 'tweaked' the characters are. If you had a 'tweaked' tag, you'd have to include a 'good tactics' tag too.

For instance, our SCAP group of 5 has defeated the first three adventures without any deaths (we met with several close calls, but no deaths). Notably, we cleared out the entire final dungeon of Flood Season without resting, including several fights where the GM combined many rooms into one because it didn't make sense not to (the spider halfling guy was fought together with every single spider, ettercap, etc--ouch!).

We didn't win because we were particularly twinked out. Our group is kind of weird but *definitely* not optimised--it isn't the least optimised group I've ever seen, but it is kind of haphazard:

We have a Cleric with 10 Strength who has Negotiator, Skill Focus (Diplomacy), etc, and lots of cross-class Perform. His goal is to get into the Cusp of Sunrise inn and to become a renowned wine conoisseur (he beat Valanthru at the drinking contest by using an idea of mine to cheat).

We have a Gnomish Illusionist who gets Evocation and Conjuration spells two levels late and so basically carries around lots of Colour Sprays (admittedly, his DC on Colour Spray is quite high) and Images of various sorts that we use in strange gambits (we pretended to summon Grazz't against the boss of Life's Bazaar and the beholder failed his Will save and made his pet mage teleport them both there to make sure it was a fake).

We have a Ranger who really really wants to two-weapon-fight (has the feats and all), but due to being the only real meleer in the party, he is constantly forced to pretend he's a barbarian and two-hand his longsword for better Power Attack.

We have a Mountebank who is basically just around to check for traps and turn into a Skulk so that we can tell the GM "That's what you get for making us fight so many Skulks". Also, he sometimes makes the enemies flat-footed, but we don't really have anyone who can exploit that.

Then there's me--I'm a halfling Archivist with 26 AC (yay for small size and Full Plate!) but 6 Strength. I refuse to prep healing spells, but I generally load up on buffs and maybe an attack or two. I like to wade into combat and trick the enemies into attacking me because I'm otherwise worthless.

This is not a powerful group, but we have some solid tactics. For each of the big high-CR fights in the final dungeon of Flood Season (except the Gnoll--we sort of underestimated him, but it went alright), I can describe the weird hijinks we used to eventually come out on top. [SBLOCK=Flood Season spoiler]The best may have been when Triel's awful door trap nearly got us killed, but our quick-thinking gnome put up an illusion that our guy got away and shut the door, so they opened the door and undid the trap for us [/SBLOCK]

So, I rambled a bit, but my point is that there is no single 'tweaked' factor that can decide this. As another example, I heard the Worldwide D&D Gameday scenario was hard, but my group beat it with no casualties (and everyone shared the same awful awful characters for that one--Cha 10 Paladin, augh!!!).

 

[Destil]

The game allready has a baseline power level: 4 PCs with DMG wealth and default array ability scores using core classes(most likely Fighter, Cleric, Rogue, Wizard but many adventuers are good about telling you how the class breakdown will affect the adventure). If an adventure states that it's for X level PCs than this is the level of power one should expect.

Actually, one thing I liked about 5 nations (eberron) was a lot of the NPCs had a CR that wasn't by the book, with notes like "So and so is 2 CR higher than standard for his class levels because of his excelent equipment and higer than average ability scores".

 

[Nightfall]

Flood season is pretty tough. But I always felt the Demonskar Legacy was much tougher.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Flood season is pretty tough. But I always felt the Demonskar Legacy was much tougher.

Well, we only just beat Flood Season (don't get to play much--just on holidays). My point is that we beat the whole thing without stopping to rest, and I've heard of groups who were being TPKed despite stopping to rest. Plus we are definitely not 'tweaked' (the Cleric has Negotiator )

 

[Nightfall]

Rystil,

Well at least he'll be good for getting you deals on ressurrected! I think the dice gods must have smiled on you.

 

[howandwhy99]

Optimization doesn't just apply to character rules and creation. Depending on the adventure design it can be a cakewalk or a TPK depending up on the Players' Ability.

This point has been brought home to me again and again as my players breeze through some challenges without skipping a beat and get hung up on others for hours.

 

[Nightfall]

How,

And having the dice roll for you or against you can also add things up.

 

[howandwhy99]

How,

And having the dice roll for you or against you can also add things up.

When you're a player, dice are the enemy. If you are depending on dice rolls to win, try going to Vegas.