Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 6257115" data-attributes="member: 20323">The WotC site was having problems reading my post, so I'll share my thoughts here:I'd like to challenge the framework of how tiers are divided. Since this is a Wandering Monster article, why not look at the monsters as a tier defining feature?Spell access is certainly a useful feature, but I wouldn't say it is what defines a tier.BECMI organized it around "scale of exploration" (dungeon > wilderness > city > kingdom > planes & gods). The rules that opened up thru BECMI showed that something new was happening - they really defined the tiers. Of course, the much loved Planewcape challenged those assumptions by putting low-level PCs out in the planes. And even BECMI adventures were mixed, so you'd have dungeons at Expert-tier for example.Even though bounded accuracy means that monsters can be a threat across a greater span of levels, I think that the biggest sign a party has crossed a tier boundary is when they face their first dragon or when a few trolls are no longer a terrible threat (but giants are!). To me that would be a defining feature in the same sense as the BECMI rules defined a tier; just like you can still explore dungeons at epic (albeit they're probably very very different), you can still fight kobolds at paragon (though they'd better have some GREAT tactics to pose a threat). But the trend of paragon is, I don't know, maybe giants and dragons are your featured enemies...or maybe it's rakshasa and devilish intrigues.A lot emerges from determining what monsters PCs usually face at which tier beyond combat statistics. If giants aren't suitable for Adventurer Tier but are for Expert or Paragon tier, then does that suggest that PCs avoid mountains where giants dwell at low-level? Does it mean you don't encounter giants at all or that a challenge with a giant at low-level becomes role-playing or stealth instead of hopeless combat? Or are there servants of giants at low-level? Maybe since giants can't readily seek power in the world of men they subvert lords with promises of riches to pave the way for their reign in the lowlands? But I wouldn't stop there. I'd combine all these elements to describe what the bounds of each tier are. So you have your typical Adventurer Tier experience (environments, monsters, spell capability, expectations of PC impact on the world, the stakes), and then you have what is the standard deviation from that? In Planescape, the environment for 1st-3rd level was meant to br Sigil...but are the expectations of what the Adventurer Tier  PCs can accomplish in Planescape the same as a Forgotten Realms? What about an Athas? What about an intrigue campaign vs. a war campaign? The 4e DMG had some good setups for the latter.I would get a solid idea of the range of play styles within each tier as a general snapshot of D&D, then I would apply that thru the lens of each campaign setting. Or, if a multiplicity of campaign settings are being embraced, provide those examples in the section that gives Tier advice to the DM.</blockquote>

Verification