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Why is level 5-10 the "sweet spot" in D&D
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<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 6865122" data-attributes="member: 2067"><p>It's a complex answer.</p><p></p><p>First, in 5e, not all levels are created equal. Following the XP model, you don't spend as much game time in LV 1 or LV 2 as you do in LV 5 or LV 7. So in terms of "quantity of sessions where PC's are fragile or mighty," you're looking at a small number.</p><p></p><p>Second, 5e maintained some of the best lessons of 4e, and one of those is "low-level PC's should be able to survive, and high-level PC's shouldn't be able to cast a few spells to make all their problems go away." So even though you have fragile and mighty characters, the ends of the bell curve are closer to the center.</p><p></p><p>5e also iterated on 4e's design, though. See, 4e was designed to (in an ideal scenario) extend that "sweet spot" through all 30 levels of play. Level 1 or Level 30, you would have some non-dominant resources that helped you survive. This is part of the reason for 4e's tight math...but also part of the reason that 4e could feel like a treadmill, because sometimes it felt like the only thing to increase was the size of the numbers, not the actual play experience. So 5e brought back "fragile low-level" and "powerful high-level" play, though with a magnitude toned down from pre-4e editions. </p><p></p><p>So <em>some</em> degree of frail-to-powerful arc is really part of the fun of gaining levels for a lot of players, and if you try to make the whole game the "sweet spot," it mostly just feels samey, like being 20th level doesn't really mean much. </p><p></p><p>With that said...</p><p></p><p></p><p>I think cramming the "zero to hero" arc into ~10 levels would've made a lot of sense, but 20 levels are a brand thing in D&D, one thing that sets it apart. 10 levels would've been a significant change, and, I imagine, would've left some people feeling <strong>mightily irate</strong> at a PHB that only went to level 10 for each class (even if each level was conceptually a bigger change), no matter <em>how</em> impractical a full 20-level spread tends to be in practice. </p><p></p><p>If I had my iron-fisty druthers, D&D would presume 10-level play and after that come things like rules for domain management (founding your own fortress / chapel /wizard college / thieves' guild), prestige classes, and epic world threats that used binary blocks to encourage higher-level dungeon-delving (think: you can't hurt the werewolf without silver). </p><p></p><p>But that might not even be <em>good</em>, so I can't blame them for sticking with 20 levels just like they stuck with "The Monster Manual will be an alphabetical list of various creatures with short descriptions and a stat block" and with under-utilized ability scores and all sorts of other personal bugaboos. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 6865122, member: 2067"] It's a complex answer. First, in 5e, not all levels are created equal. Following the XP model, you don't spend as much game time in LV 1 or LV 2 as you do in LV 5 or LV 7. So in terms of "quantity of sessions where PC's are fragile or mighty," you're looking at a small number. Second, 5e maintained some of the best lessons of 4e, and one of those is "low-level PC's should be able to survive, and high-level PC's shouldn't be able to cast a few spells to make all their problems go away." So even though you have fragile and mighty characters, the ends of the bell curve are closer to the center. 5e also iterated on 4e's design, though. See, 4e was designed to (in an ideal scenario) extend that "sweet spot" through all 30 levels of play. Level 1 or Level 30, you would have some non-dominant resources that helped you survive. This is part of the reason for 4e's tight math...but also part of the reason that 4e could feel like a treadmill, because sometimes it felt like the only thing to increase was the size of the numbers, not the actual play experience. So 5e brought back "fragile low-level" and "powerful high-level" play, though with a magnitude toned down from pre-4e editions. So [I]some[/I] degree of frail-to-powerful arc is really part of the fun of gaining levels for a lot of players, and if you try to make the whole game the "sweet spot," it mostly just feels samey, like being 20th level doesn't really mean much. With that said... I think cramming the "zero to hero" arc into ~10 levels would've made a lot of sense, but 20 levels are a brand thing in D&D, one thing that sets it apart. 10 levels would've been a significant change, and, I imagine, would've left some people feeling [B]mightily irate[/B] at a PHB that only went to level 10 for each class (even if each level was conceptually a bigger change), no matter [I]how[/I] impractical a full 20-level spread tends to be in practice. If I had my iron-fisty druthers, D&D would presume 10-level play and after that come things like rules for domain management (founding your own fortress / chapel /wizard college / thieves' guild), prestige classes, and epic world threats that used binary blocks to encourage higher-level dungeon-delving (think: you can't hurt the werewolf without silver). But that might not even be [I]good[/I], so I can't blame them for sticking with 20 levels just like they stuck with "The Monster Manual will be an alphabetical list of various creatures with short descriptions and a stat block" and with under-utilized ability scores and all sorts of other personal bugaboos. :) [/QUOTE]
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