Will adventures be sorted by level?

[Frostmarrow]

The new adventures for 4E that has been slated are marked H1 Keep on The Shadowfell and H2 Labyrinth of Lost Souls. The H in this case stands for Heroic. We know 'heroic' levels are from 1-10. We will also see P for Paragon and E for Epic.

I wonder if the old model of making adventures "suitable for 4 characters of levels 3-4" is going out. Maybe the H in H1 is all we get. As in all Heroic adventures are all suitable for levels 1-10.

They have mentioned that monsters will be challenging for a greater span of levels. They are also rearranging spell-levels. I hear there will be level 25 spells, is this correct?

I'm thinking that there will only be 3 levels of spells that actually matter; heroic, paragon, and epic. This way they can sort powerful stuff to where it belongs. Heroic spells might be stuff like Knock and Fireball, paragon spells things like Detect Evil and Raise Dead and Epic levels powers such as Invisibility and Teleport.

It would be easier to make modules if you know what kind of powers will be available to players. As a writer it would be nice to know no one is going to fly around invisible in a Heroic adventure. On the other hand in an Epic adventure such behaviour should be expected.

Now, the thing is maybe H1 Keep on the Shadowfell will be suitable for characters level 1-10 and not just 1-2. Why you ask. Because they don't want to fragment the market too much. What do you think?

 

[theredrobedwizard]

I think that your description of what spells fit into what classifications is a bit - well, a lot - off. Also, the description of Keep on the Shadowfell says that it's for a group of adventurers between 1st and 3rd level.

Seriously, Detect Evil is higher level than Fireball, both of which are lower level than Invisibility?

More like Heroic: Fireball, Paragon: Meteor Swarm, Epic: Apocalypse From the Sky.

-TRRW

 

[Hussar]

I'm kind of curious why you would consider detecting evil to be more powerful than leveling small buildings with large balls of flame. Sure, it has campaign effects, but, since when has setting been the deciding factor for the power level of spells?

I find it strange that you would consider a spell that renders all locks irrelevant to be of minor power in that context as well.

 

[Frostmarrow]

I'm kind of curious why you would consider detecting evil to be more powerful than leveling small buildings with large balls of flame. Sure, it has campaign effects, but, since when has setting been the deciding factor for the power level of spells?

I find it strange that you would consider a spell that renders all locks irrelevant to be of minor power in that context as well.

Well if you are to have any murder mysteries you better have them before detect evil comes along and ruins everything. Murder mysteries sounds like something people who enjoy low level adventuring will enjoy.

Fireball is not more powerfull than alchemist fire (only more effective). You could have fireball at level 1. 1d6 fire damage save for half?

If you are adventuring you are going to run into an awful lot of doors and it makes sense that you can open them, so to advance the plot. Fly on the other hand is epic, you don't want characters to simply jump the Gorge of Eternal Peril.

I think they are hard at work re-evaluating all spells. Designers of the Coast have mentioned several times that invisibility is available too soon. I think there are more spells that need adjusting.

Pick a spell at random and think about it: is it heroic, paragon, or epic?

I picked Baleful Polymorph. It is simply a spell to get rid of an opponent. It even spares the life of the victim. It's kind of flashy and surreal. - I'd say it's paragon. I'll leave mechanics for Development to sort out.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Also, the description of Keep on the Shadowfell says that it's for a group of adventurers between 1st and 3rd level.

I just don't get it. Why do they keep fragmenting their market? I can't believe they are this stupid. The people who pioneered collectible card games thinks it's a terrific business model to make products that will only appeal to a fraction of the audience?!

 

[theredrobedwizard]

It's a mite too difficult to make an adventure plausible for 1-10 range. Far too many "if your group is such'n'such" sidebars taking up valuable adventure space.

-TRRW

 

[DarkKestral]

Plus, it's an intro adventure to 4e's system. I expect a lot of campaigns will be doing the "ok, the campaign's wrapping up. once we're done, you guys should start building 1st level characters in 4e" thing. So it's not entirely unreasonable to expect that players will want a 1st-3rd level the soonest, and it's probably going to be a lot easier to design for, at this stage in the game. They have to design the encounters without full knowledge of how the system's going to work in the end in order to make ship date, so 1st level encounters head that off the easiest. This way, they don't have to trust that the other designers didn't change a class or ability being used late in development that the character was using as much, because there's a lot less being used.