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Message: <blockquote data-quote="A'koss" data-source="post: 821138" data-attributes="member: 840">Gothmog, I use story-based awards as well (and implemented the same way as you have), and for the same reasons.I'm just going to brainstorm some random points on how one might reign in 3e's "power creep".1. Rule #1. The game should be geared towards having combat last a certain number of rounds, regardless of level, when facing "equivalent CR" opponents. 6 to 8 rounds for example. Once you have such a philosophy in place, build the game around that. Secondly, your d20 is your random element in the game, make sure you do not remove said element in the game against equivalent CR opponents. Stacked bonuses can easily do that now.2. HP creep and HP disparity. I'm thinking that Wiz-types should get a bump to 1d6 HD, Rogues to 1d8, and everyone else stays the same. You get to apply your Con bonus until 10th level, then just your straight HD until 20th level. After 20th level, a further reduction/compression is probably in order (everyone goes to d4?) but I'm not sure how much... The Wizard bump helps them down the line as they generally don't have the Con the other classes do. It's much easier to design around having 80 - 100 HP difference between the PCs than 150 - 200+... Wizards get re-balanced spell-wise.3. Stats. Unlike earlier editions where stat bonuses were hard to get and you didn't get as much out of them, 3e is very generous in both. Stats aren't really an issue until higher levels where stat discepencies can throw things off. Spell DCs for example (which simply should not be modified by your stats)... and especially so in combination with stat boosting spells. No real suggestion here, more of an observation. Should there be a cap for PCs (even a moving cap x/lvl) or should it be left open-ended and rebalanced in other ways? Con offers a massive, and long-term benefit that simply wasn't possible in earlier editions.4. Spells. Andy Collins has the right idea for Save or Die spells - turn it into damage. Again, spells should be designed from the standpoint that combat should last X amount of rounds, regardless of level, when facing equal strength opposition. That will involve reducing the effectiveness of their spells that allow a single roll to determine the outcome - save or die, save or nerf. Hold could be turned into Dex damage, you cannot polymorph someone into something that cannot survive in the current environment. Turn someone into a fish, and they're amphibious. If there is a large disparity in power, naturally, anything goes. 5. Combat. This will depend on whether you do anything towards reigning in stat accrual. Again, the d20 is your only random element, and it is easy to have massive combat disparities at high levels. I feel that combat progression should start reigning in after 10th level. Maybe warrior types advance as a cleric after 10th level, everyone else as a wizard. At 20th level, everyone advances in BAB as a wizard. The fighter-types have inordinate strength, magic weapons and combat feats to make up for any loss here. Compression is good here and really helps DMs in designing challenges.6. Saves. Saves need to be easier at high levels to ensure long-term survivability, especially since the price of failure keeps going up and up. In previous editions your HL saves we're easy, but your low level ones were hard. I'd suggest we add a "Med. Save" like we see in some other d20 products. At 20th level we should be seeing something like Good +12, Med +10, Poor +8. Unlike in earlier editions, you could have +10 to one save at this level, and +0 to another simply from stats alone. This is hard to design encounters around, especially if that +10 is towards your good save (which it usually is) and that +0 is towards your poor save (which it usually is).7. Skills. One poster on this MB had what I thought was a brilliant suggestion here. Certain skills were treated like BAB or Saving Throws in that you gained ranks in them every level. These adventuring skills would be Sense Motive, Spot, Listen and Search. 8. AC. Class-based AC bonuses... If someone could make that work and balance it out with armor and magic that would be ideal. I think that's enough for one post... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />Cheers,A'koss.</blockquote>

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