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<blockquote data-quote="Storm Raven" data-source="post: 4557805" data-attributes="member: 307"><p>Going from no guidance at all (or at best guidance that has to be inferred by going through a labor intensive process of cataloguing supplemental material and comparing the results to the levels the characters are expected to achieve in those supplements) to some guidance is definitely an improvement.</p><p></p><p>It gives the DM an idea of the relative power PCs are expected to be at by the designers. If the DM modifies from this baseline, he will have at least some idea of what to expect. This is also what I consider to be a misunderstood issue - the baseline is not a hard-coded requirement (although some DMs seem to have taken it as such). It is an indication of what the designers assumed when they crafted the system. That way, a DM will know that if he is giving out half as much treasure as they designers assumed he would be, then the PCs won't be as powerful as the baseline and can make adjustments to the encounters he prepares accordingly (I also note that DMs who like to give out twice as much treasure as "expected" never seem to think the baseline being spelled out is a problem, only those who want to run a "low-magic" game do).</p><p></p><p>Of course, now with 4e, the entire decision has been removed from the DMs purview. Instead of magic items, players have powers hard-coded into their class levels. In 4e, a character isn't dependant upon having a selection of magic items - he is dependant upon a collection of innate abilities that happen to work like magic items would. So now you can run a "low magic-item" game and feel virtuous without having to run a low magic-item game, because WotC cleverly hid where the magic items are. What an improvement!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Storm Raven, post: 4557805, member: 307"] Going from no guidance at all (or at best guidance that has to be inferred by going through a labor intensive process of cataloguing supplemental material and comparing the results to the levels the characters are expected to achieve in those supplements) to some guidance is definitely an improvement. It gives the DM an idea of the relative power PCs are expected to be at by the designers. If the DM modifies from this baseline, he will have at least some idea of what to expect. This is also what I consider to be a misunderstood issue - the baseline is not a hard-coded requirement (although some DMs seem to have taken it as such). It is an indication of what the designers assumed when they crafted the system. That way, a DM will know that if he is giving out half as much treasure as they designers assumed he would be, then the PCs won't be as powerful as the baseline and can make adjustments to the encounters he prepares accordingly (I also note that DMs who like to give out twice as much treasure as "expected" never seem to think the baseline being spelled out is a problem, only those who want to run a "low-magic" game do). Of course, now with 4e, the entire decision has been removed from the DMs purview. Instead of magic items, players have powers hard-coded into their class levels. In 4e, a character isn't dependant upon having a selection of magic items - he is dependant upon a collection of innate abilities that happen to work like magic items would. So now you can run a "low magic-item" game and feel virtuous without having to run a low magic-item game, because WotC cleverly hid where the magic items are. What an improvement! [/QUOTE]
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