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<blockquote data-quote="CovertOps" data-source="post: 5069812" data-attributes="member: 65152">4e does not handle a wide range of character and monster levels.From the start I remember reading that the designers claimed that monsters &quot;could be viable opponents for more levels&quot; and according to DMG1 you can use creatures of PC level - 4 to PC level + 7 as viable encounters.While it is possible for a DM to do this, according to Stalker0's anti-grind thread/article there are serious side-effects if you do.&nbsp; I have seen this in my own game and for this reason I now generally follow his encounter building guide from that thread.The only way I can see under their system to accommodate their claim and prevent the problems caused is to lower the underlying scale of the game from it's current +1/level.&nbsp; We can debate how much this should/could be lowered without having other serious changes to flavor (100 1st level's can beat up a 20th level dragon easily...etc.), but I recommend as a minimum going with + .5/level which then allows creatures of up to +/- 4 levels for only a 10% swing in to hit chances.&nbsp; If we replace the current + 1/2 level with + 1/4 level and keep the current +6 enhancement bonus and lower the number of stat bumps to just 2 stats at 5/15/25 and the +1 all at 11/21 then you wind up with:+7 (1/4 level)+6 (enhancement)+2 or 3 (+5 max to one stat and the +3 only applies to a stat that started below 18 at some odd value - stat bumps)+15 TotalThe other choice could be to get rid of scaling in to hit completely and move to + 1/2 level or even + level damage and scale HPs accordingly.&nbsp; This messes with a ton of things including what to do about enhancement bonus and stat modifiers in the to-hit calculation.&nbsp; And really....what would D&amp;D be without magic weapons and armor?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="CovertOps, post: 5069812, member: 65152"] 4e does not handle a wide range of character and monster levels. From the start I remember reading that the designers claimed that monsters "could be viable opponents for more levels" and according to DMG1 you can use creatures of PC level - 4 to PC level + 7 as viable encounters. While it is possible for a DM to do this, according to Stalker0's anti-grind thread/article there are serious side-effects if you do. I have seen this in my own game and for this reason I now generally follow his encounter building guide from that thread. The only way I can see under their system to accommodate their claim and prevent the problems caused is to lower the underlying scale of the game from it's current +1/level. We can debate how much this should/could be lowered without having other serious changes to flavor (100 1st level's can beat up a 20th level dragon easily...etc.), but I recommend as a minimum going with + .5/level which then allows creatures of up to +/- 4 levels for only a 10% swing in to hit chances. If we replace the current + 1/2 level with + 1/4 level and keep the current +6 enhancement bonus and lower the number of stat bumps to just 2 stats at 5/15/25 and the +1 all at 11/21 then you wind up with: +7 (1/4 level) +6 (enhancement) +2 or 3 (+5 max to one stat and the +3 only applies to a stat that started below 18 at some odd value - stat bumps) +15 Total The other choice could be to get rid of scaling in to hit completely and move to + 1/2 level or even + level damage and scale HPs accordingly. This messes with a ton of things including what to do about enhancement bonus and stat modifiers in the to-hit calculation. And really....what would D&D be without magic weapons and armor? [/QUOTE]

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