Tratyn Runewind
First Post
Hello!
Didn't Col. Pladoh admit, perhaps on these very boards (or an earlier incarnation), that the level titles existed largely for the purpose of getting the actual words under copyright, so that competitors who used them in their games could potentially be tied up in litigation? I seem to recall him saying something of the sort, somewhere.
To me, one of the best things about 3e is that it keeps campaign-world considerations like politics largely distinct from personal-skill advancement game mechanics like character levels. Even 2e had taken good steps in this direction - Birthright, one of my favorite 2e worlds (and one which concentrated heavily on matters political), often had rulers of 5th level and lower. Players were less likely to blithely assume of, say, a noble they might be rescuing, "oh, he's got to be 9th level or higher, he can hold out long enough for us to finish this fight without expending any spells or item charges."
So without a designer-ordained "proper level" to become a "player" in politics, the question of "what is name level" starts to look like "when will the character have the power and money to intervene effectively in politics" or "when will the character have the power and money to keep politicians from meddling in his affairs". The answer to this will depend on a lot of things, foremost of which is the power level of the politicians in question. You can look at the tables in the DMG to get an idea of how powerful the typical major characters are in areas from small hamlets to the largest cities of continent-spanning empires. Just line your character up against those NPCs, and you'll see what weight class he's competing in.
And as far as taking "level titles" goes, I always liked the approach of the sorcerers in the AH version of RuneQuest: "journeyman" sorcerers were called Adepts, and masters were called Magi. You could just start calling yourself Magus anytime you felt like you had the skill to back it up, and then hope you hadn't bitten off more than you can chew...
There's been plenty of discussion around here about speed of level advancement in 3e as compared to earlier editions, but I'm not sure just what you mean by "too fast" in this matter. If you're powerful enough to get involved with politics at level n, then you're powerful enough to be involved with politics. How fast you can get to that level has little to do with the question of which level actually gives you the necessary amount of power.
Hope this helps!
Didn't Col. Pladoh admit, perhaps on these very boards (or an earlier incarnation), that the level titles existed largely for the purpose of getting the actual words under copyright, so that competitors who used them in their games could potentially be tied up in litigation? I seem to recall him saying something of the sort, somewhere.
To me, one of the best things about 3e is that it keeps campaign-world considerations like politics largely distinct from personal-skill advancement game mechanics like character levels. Even 2e had taken good steps in this direction - Birthright, one of my favorite 2e worlds (and one which concentrated heavily on matters political), often had rulers of 5th level and lower. Players were less likely to blithely assume of, say, a noble they might be rescuing, "oh, he's got to be 9th level or higher, he can hold out long enough for us to finish this fight without expending any spells or item charges."
So without a designer-ordained "proper level" to become a "player" in politics, the question of "what is name level" starts to look like "when will the character have the power and money to intervene effectively in politics" or "when will the character have the power and money to keep politicians from meddling in his affairs". The answer to this will depend on a lot of things, foremost of which is the power level of the politicians in question. You can look at the tables in the DMG to get an idea of how powerful the typical major characters are in areas from small hamlets to the largest cities of continent-spanning empires. Just line your character up against those NPCs, and you'll see what weight class he's competing in.
And as far as taking "level titles" goes, I always liked the approach of the sorcerers in the AH version of RuneQuest: "journeyman" sorcerers were called Adepts, and masters were called Magi. You could just start calling yourself Magus anytime you felt like you had the skill to back it up, and then hope you hadn't bitten off more than you can chew...
There's been plenty of discussion around here about speed of level advancement in 3e as compared to earlier editions, but I'm not sure just what you mean by "too fast" in this matter. If you're powerful enough to get involved with politics at level n, then you're powerful enough to be involved with politics. How fast you can get to that level has little to do with the question of which level actually gives you the necessary amount of power.
Hope this helps!
