Treasure and leveling comparisons: AD&D1, B/ED&D, and D&D3 - updated 11-17-08 (Q1)

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And the 3e crowd takes the lead.... whoops. Heh.

I have to admit, Q, that I probably find your evidence compelling because it parallels my own experience so closely.

But, yeah, thanks for this.
 

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AD&D1 - Against the Giants - Hall of the Fire Giant King

Continuing the AD&D1 Giant Series, to the last lair.
Against the Giants - Hall of the Fire Giant King by E. Gary Gygax

AD&D1 party begins at: (383,477 xp each)
Fighter 9
Paladin 9
Cleric 9
Magic-User 11
Illusionist 10
Thief 11

D&D3 party begins at: (82,111 xp each)
Fighter 13
Paladin 13
Cleric 13
Wizard 13
Illusionist 13
Rogue 13


Total gp value: 1,061,319 gp (yes, that's over 1 million)

Total xp value:
AD&D1: 1,618,746 xp (not including the xp value of using or selling magic items, nor the 10% bonus for ability scores over 15)
D&D3: 156,168 xp

Total magic treasure:
+4 attack/+6 damage flaming greatsword ("huge")
+4 mace ("giant-sized")
+4 plate mail
+3 hammer
+3 battleaxe
+3 ring of protection (x2)
+2 red dragon slaying longsword ("determine abilities randomly")
+2 plate mail
+2 shield
+1 axe
+1 morning star (x4)
+1 longbow
+1 arrows (x20)
javelin of lightning (x4)
-2 shield of missile attraction ("giant-sized")
-2 longsword
white dragon hide cloak
hellhound cloak
mirror that shows invisible or magically changed creatures in their real form
gauntlets of ogre power
ring of invisibility
ring of contrariness
ring of commanding water elementals
ring of delusion "with contact poison inside (die, no saving throw)"
ring of three wishes
ring of shooting stars
rod of cancellation
pipes of the sewers
lesser purple tentacle rod
lesser russet tentacle rod
greater purple tentacle rod
gem of controlling fire elementals
wand of viscid globs (79 charges)
potions: fire giant control (x2), delusion, mammal control, ESP, extra-healing (x3), invulnerability, undead control, poison, dimunition, healing, human control, philter of love, philter of persuasiveness, poison, polymorph self, fire resistance (x4), speed (x2), plus four randomly determined
demon staff
amulet of the planes
tome of clear thought
bolt of power (x3)
cleric scrolls: detect lie, true seeing, continual darkness, cure critical wounds, symbol of persuassion, word of recall, gate, unholy word, restoration
magic-user scoll: wish, plus 7 spells ("any")
"a scroll with feet randomly determined 7th level spells---cleric, druid, or magic-user, matching the class of the first such character who examines it" [sic]
scrolls: protection from lycanthropes
"12 potions and eight scrolls, determined at random, but no poison, delusion, cursed, or otherwise harmful items"
"One black cloak, one pair of black boots, (man-sized), give 75% chance to be invisible/move silently in dungeons"
7 carved statues (each gives a -1 curse on "hits, damage, saves, etc.", cumulative)
+5 chainmail (x3 - drow item)
+4 short sword (drow item)
+4 mace (drow item)
+3 dagger (drow item)
+3 shield (x3 - drow item)
+3 buckler (x9 - drow item)
+3 short sword (x2 - drow item)
+3 chainmail (drow item)
+3 mace (x2 - drow item)
+2 short sword (x9 - drow item)
+2 chainmail (x16 - drow items)
+2 shield (x18 - drow items)
+1 short sword (x55 - drow items)
+1 chainmail (x40 - drow item)
+1 shield (x19 - drow item)
+1 plate mail (drow item)
+1 shield (drow item)
+1 dagger (x46 - drow item)


AD&D1 party finishes at: (653,268 xp each)
Fighter 10
Paladin 9
Cleric 10
Magic-User 11
Illusionist 11
Thief 12

D&D3 party finishes at: (108,139 xp each)
Fighter 15
Paladin 15
Cleric 15
Wizard 15
Illusionist 15
Rogue 15
The AD&D1 party averages level 10.5, and the D&D3 party averages level 15. 4.5 levels difference.

If we add in the 10% bonus for prime requisite ability score(s) above 15, the paladin, cleric, and illusionist would gain a level.

Quasqueton
 
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Ironically, until this week, I'd never heard of the 'measure of challenge' stuff in 1E. If you killed an orc you got like 10xp, regardless of how tough it was to do so.

I'd heard of it, but never used it.

I never knew a GM who split XP up with henchmen. They fought, sometimes, but only PC's ever gained XP.

We didn't use henchmen that much - but I would do the split if it happen.

Also, I've never, ever seen people get XP for treasure or gold found. Ever. As in, not even once. Those columns might as well have not existed in the DMG. The only XP we ever got was for killing things, or, later on, for solving particularly knotty problems if you had a nice GM or one who ran a lot of non-combat stuff.

XP for gold was definitely part of my experience. I detested 2e removing that rule and not giving a proper guideline as to its replacement.

(Q. - please note the Gygax quote a few posts back you were asking for!)

Cheers!
 

Fighting giants is hard

One thing that I would like to throw out there is that the levels for the D&D3 party are rather appropriate given their environment. We see the party at 9th for the Steading, 11th for the Rift, and 13th for the Hall. I would say that this is even at the lower level of survivability for characters in this environment, translated to 3rd edition.

I ran a translation of the Steading for 15th level characters under 3.0. It was easy for them, but they still took a beating at the end. I guessed that after the fact a party at 12th level, again at 3.0e, would be the optimal starting level for a challenging game. It would be tough to run the Steading with a party of 9th level characters.
 

MerricB said:
Q. - please note the Gygax quote a few posts back you were asking for!
Yes, I saw it. Thanks much for posting it.

***

Regarding the “drow item” notation in the Fire Giant adventure: I identified these items because they are “special” cases. They will lose power and corrode over time, outside of the underdark, but so long as the party delves into the Depths of the Earth after the drow, the items will work just fine. So, for the rest of this series of adventures – Descent to the Depths of the Earth, Shrine of the Kuo Toa, Vault of the Drow, Queen of the Demonweb Pits – those 3 suits of +5 chainmail, that +4 mace, and all the other +1, +2, +3, and +4 stuff can be used by and fully functional for the PCs. But, technically, they aren’t truly “permanent” items.

Quasqueton
 

Looking at the data for this iconic AD&D1 adventure series:

Below AD&D1 “name level,” the PCs were gaining levels at about a [AD&D1] 1:1 [D&D3] ratio.

After AD&D1 “name level,” the AD&D1 level advancement started slowing down, while the D&D3 level advancement stayed about the same rate, something like a [AD&D1] .5:1 [D&D3] ratio.

Quasqueton
 

WayneLigon said:
I never knew a GM who split XP up with henchmen. They fought, sometimes, but only PC's ever gained XP.
On the surprisingly rare occasions when a PC in my game bothers with a hench, the hench (usually) gains half ExP if-when it finds itself involved in an encounter. I say "usually" because on the very rare occasions when the hench's contribution is critical (e.g. luck of rolls where hench can't miss while boss is flailing away at nothing) it'll get full ExP.

That said, how often do people find henches being used in their games?

Lanefan
 

Lanefan said:
On the surprisingly rare occasions when a PC in my game bothers with a hench, the hench (usually) gains half ExP if-when it finds itself involved in an encounter. I say "usually" because on the very rare occasions when the hench's contribution is critical (e.g. luck of rolls where hench can't miss while boss is flailing away at nothing) it'll get full ExP.

That said, how often do people find henches being used in their games?

Lanefan

In my experience we used them rarely, often much more of a hassle than they were worth, again IME. We often fought not to get those pesky apprentices and followers. I realize that for others they were quite common.

What you describe is what I've experienced and used for henchmen counting as 1/2 people for xp unless they are kept in the back/protected then nothing for henchmen. When we did use henchmen losing one was awful, (1) playing good aligned character's we felt we had some responisibilty to them so heal spells were used on them, (2) people back in town ask questions when they don't come back, then there is the wereguild, and name-calling, then you were unlikely to get more ;) unless they were the scum of the earth; and then they would stab you in the back at the first chance. Never good in IME, so we angled for trained war dogs and mules. ;) With a druid to talk to animals some trained dogs can be quite good..."What is it boy? Timmy's trapped in a well? No, oh you smell a demon from hell! Time to run."
 

Interesting data, but not really surprising.

IME the main three variants from 1st ed AD&D "by the book" campaign modules to homebrew adventures were:

1. No xp for gold

2. Reduced treasure handed out.

3. More "realistic" treasure - i.e. no Gem of Seeing inside an Ankheg gizzard, no orc grunts walking around with 200 gp gems.

Nobody wanted to run a Monty Haul campaign, so invariably a DM would run a module, get to the treasure part and raise an eyebrow and mutter to himself "That can't be right..."

The problem, if there really was a problem, was that DM's would alter their adventures as above but not compensate in other areas. This indeed made progression in the 1E games I played in much slower than today.
 

AD&D1 - Descent to the Depths of the Earth - Descent to the Depths of the Earth

Delving into the Underdark.
Descent to the Depths of the Earth - Descent to the Depths of the Earth by E. Gary Gygax

AD&D1 party begins at: (653,268 xp each)
Fighter 10
Paladin 9
Cleric 10
Magic-User 11
Illusionist 11
Thief 12

D&D3 party begins at: (108,139 xp each)
Fighter 15
Paladin 15
Cleric 15
Wizard 15
Illusionist 15
Rogue 15


Total gp value: 324,458 gp

Total xp value:
AD&D1: 511,476 xp (not including the xp value of using or selling magic items, nor the 10% bonus for ability scores over 15)
D&D3: 60,751 xp

Total magic treasure:
+3 ring of protection
+2 bastard sword
jug of alchemy
javelin of lightning x2
rope of entanglement
lurker cloak
cleric scrolls: find traps, neutralize poison (x2), tongues, cure critical wounds, heal, stone tell, cure light wounds, tongues, conjure animals
potions: healing (x3), polymorph self, extra healing (x3), plant control (x4), longevity
portable hole
dust of sneezing and choking
staff of striking
scarab of protection from evil clerics
magic-user scrolls: knock, tongues, minor globe of invulnerability, wall of ice, stone to flesh, charm plants, symbol of fear
scarab of death
scrolls: protection from undead, protection from demons
poisonous cloak
bead from a necklace of fireballs (9-die fireball)
Plus lots of +1 through +5 drow weapons and armor


AD&D1 party finishes at: (738,514 xp each)
Fighter 10
Paladin 10
Cleric 11
Magic-User 11
Illusionist 12
Thief 13

D&D3 party finishes at: (118,139 xp each)
Fighter 15
Paladin 15
Cleric 15
Wizard 15
Illusionist 15
Rogue 15
After the descent down to the "doorstep" of the kuo toa's shrine, the AD&D1 party averages level 11.2, and the D&D3 party averages level 15 (still).

The descent adventure is ~90% low- to mid-level enemies. Bugbears, troglodytes, trolls, and most of the drow are just worth 0 xp for the 15th-level D&D3 party, but still add up enough (with their treasure) to keep the 9th- to 12th-level AD&D1 group advancing a little.

The Descent to the Depths of the Earth adventure module [D1-2, which includes Shrine of the Kuo Toa (not yet included in this data)] says, on the cover, "An Adventure for Characters Levels 9-14." This closely matches the levels this party came out of the Giants series at, (levels 9-12). The Vault of the Drow adventure module says it is for levels 10-14, and that is probably what this group will be when they reach that adventure. So it seems that Gygax pretty well figured the level gains an AD&D1 party would be making through these adventures. And that makes sense, since he ran these for his personal campaign, and saw them run through tournaments.

It should be noted that the descent adventure was designed to have a lot of random encounters along the way. But random encounters are just that - random. So I didn't/couldn't include them in this data. The above numbers are just from the set encounters.

Quasqueton
 

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