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<blockquote data-quote="Sadrik" data-source="post: 6095059" data-attributes="member: 14506">This is the exact sentiment I was going to point out. It really goes to the heart of adventure design. If you lean more toward sandbox style games having DCs have an integral and more realistic value, quality lock means quality lock, not some abstract meaning of character level 20 lock (or worse good lock plus some wacky modifier to make it harder based on the character's level). So in the standard railroad game model you can tailor all DCs to be an appropriate challenge for PCs but in an internally consistent sandbox design it is better to say a good lock is a good lock, then how characters interface with it is based on the intrinsic value. Not the other way around. To me it strikes me as funny to look at it the other way... so characters will have x bonuses over x levels so to make it a challenge we have to add what amounts to a level penalty to bring the DCs in line and make them still a challenge. Finding hard secret doors and traps based on level and not on quality of said devices (yuk). Really it is a matter of scaling. I think challenges should become easier as characters level up. I also think things like searching and lock DCs should be looked at as what they are rather than as a way to fit in with a scaling system that makes character level so important.Last point, if the scaling is extremely important to a certain segment of D&amp;D gamers, and it sounds like it is a feature for some. It is very easy to add back in. Abdulalhazarad, you can simply add +1/2 level to all characters and +1/2 level to all DCs. An extremely simple fix, but it will give you the same feel you are looking for.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Sadrik, post: 6095059, member: 14506"] This is the exact sentiment I was going to point out. It really goes to the heart of adventure design. If you lean more toward sandbox style games having DCs have an integral and more realistic value, quality lock means quality lock, not some abstract meaning of character level 20 lock (or worse good lock plus some wacky modifier to make it harder based on the character's level). So in the standard railroad game model you can tailor all DCs to be an appropriate challenge for PCs but in an internally consistent sandbox design it is better to say a good lock is a good lock, then how characters interface with it is based on the intrinsic value. Not the other way around. To me it strikes me as funny to look at it the other way... so characters will have x bonuses over x levels so to make it a challenge we have to add what amounts to a level penalty to bring the DCs in line and make them still a challenge. Finding hard secret doors and traps based on level and not on quality of said devices (yuk). Really it is a matter of scaling. I think challenges should become easier as characters level up. I also think things like searching and lock DCs should be looked at as what they are rather than as a way to fit in with a scaling system that makes character level so important. Last point, if the scaling is extremely important to a certain segment of D&D gamers, and it sounds like it is a feature for some. It is very easy to add back in. Abdulalhazarad, you can simply add +1/2 level to all characters and +1/2 level to all DCs. An extremely simple fix, but it will give you the same feel you are looking for. [/QUOTE]

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