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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mmadsen" data-source="post: 1724896" data-attributes="member: 1645">Could you be more specific about what the Epic-Level Handbook provides that you like?I don't think that making a typical person 1st-level is flawed because atypical people are 20th-level; I think the problem is that a 1st-level character isn't particularly competent at what he does (compared to a character with no ranks in the same skills).Then there's the entirely separate issue that any 1st-level character who becomes more competent at anything (one more level) becomes vastly more competent in combat (one more hit die).What does this get us?  Why not go in the exact opposite direction and declare 10th-level superhuman?If you normalize the entire system to a new scale, what changes?  Not relative power, obviously, just absolute power.  In D&D, that means absolute skill ranks, number of feats, and overall magic level.You can easily argue that a competent adult should be 5th- to 10th-level, so that he is, in fact, more competent than an untrained adult -- at whatever skill we're discussing -- given the nature of the d20 roll.  So absolute skill ranks do matter.With the dramatically increased number of feats available, we've enumerated so many things that a character can do -- things that used to be abstract, before the additional rules were printed.  If you want to design a quasi-Mongolian steppe nomad, he needs the appropriate mounted archery feats; he won't be convincing as a 1st-level Barbarian (or Fighter, or Ranger, or Expert).  If you want to design an Arthurian Knight, he needs the appropriate mounted combat feats; he won't be convincing as a 1st-level Fighter (or Paladin).  So that absolute number of feats matters.The biggest thing that changes with level though is magic.  If a competent blacksmith is a 5th-level Expert, and a competent sell-sword is a 5th-level Fighter, then a competent wizard is 5th-level too -- and having lots of 5th-level spellcasters cruising around certainly changes the feel of the game (and of the game world in general).  The overall magic level scales dramatically with the character level of typical, competent characters.</blockquote>

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