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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6283256" data-attributes="member: 42582">I think that a level-based system can make the requirement of "minimum level" more or less demanding.Of your examples, one is not really story-based, the other two are. Off the top of my head I can't think of a "head of a religious order" option in 4e, but by default that would be a paragon path. (Much as being a Knight Commander is a paragon path.) And being a Legendary Sovereign is an epic destiny. 4e doesn't accelerate access to these ways of being a character.But the one that is more closely related to personal capabilities - being a weapon master - is more easily available at low levels, I think. If your 3rd level fighter has Footwork Lure, Passing Attack and Sweeping Blow (or Rain of Blows instead, depending on weapon), s/he is going to play like a weapon master, even if the fights are against goblins and orcs rather than trolls and giants.I think this is part of what inspired 4e to do Neverwinter - that realised that the mechanics of Heroic tier can fully support the full sweep of story options, provided you reflavour your challenges appropriately. Approached this way, 4e would make it easy to play a 7th level warlord as a legendary sovereign - it's not like that character is going to feel deficient in play.One solution is for that improvement to be framed in story terms rather than "puissance" terms.In 4e, for instance, 7th level PCs have 3 encounter powers; 9th level PCs also have 3 daily powers; and 10th level PCs have 3 utility powers. A 7th level 4e fighter can be played as a plausible weapons master, because s/he has access to Come and Get It, which is about the best martial control ability in the game.Higher level abilities in 4e tend to amp up the gonzo, but apart from a few abilities - invisibility, flight, stun and dominate - they don't necessarily change the basic mechanical scope of play. The growth is more in breadth - more powers to choose from in a given situation - and in flavour - "Look, we're fighting Demogorgon!" - than in effectiveness relative to typical challenge.I don't want to exaggerate - it's not Traveller. But I think it does a better job of letting you play the character that you want to play from the get-go, while making that work within a traditional D&D level-up framework.</blockquote>

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